Need to change the system of education

Education system in Pakistan:

It is heartening to see the recent step taken by the Government of Punjab to organise the Punjab Youth Festival 2012 in order to promote youth development. Unfortunately, it is a reality that successive governments, both federal and provincial, in Pakistan have seldom planned large-scale events for the betterment of youth.

However, the large number of participants in the festival proves that lack of opportunities, not lack of spirit is the problem. It is high time that the incumbent federal and provincial governments formulate and implement policies focusing mainly on academic programmes for students.

Or, perhaps, even if they are doing so, it’s just not good enough! They need to “do more”. If the governments sincerely want children to grow into productive members of the society, then change should be brought at the grassroots level.

Pakistan’s education system has been criticised for not concentrating on youth development that is absolutely true. Therefore, first the governments should focus on revising or otherwise updating the current system adopted for Matric students, since it is deeply flawed.

The biggest flaw is that examinations are held annually for the students who opt for Matric than O’ levels. It would be better if  the semester system is effectively implemented at all levels throughout Pakistan, rather than the annual system. This, indeed, will help teachers, parents and students themselves to review their performances during the semesters, and also the mid and final exams, so that they can make up for the deficiencies gradually.

Further, since questions in the exams are selected only from the textbooks taught in class, the students rely more on rote learning, rather than understanding the concepts. In the long run, this will prove detrimental for the nation’s progress, because when students stop learning facts meaningfully, they stop asking questions and eventually they stop thinking and rationalising.

And if this happens, they will fail to bring about the much needed change that Pakistan so desperately desires. Hence, the shortcomings in the education system will spell disaster for the country’s coming generations; so they need to be eliminated as soon as possible.

The quickest solution would be to adopt an external examination system. Examination systems such as the International Baccalaureate (“an effective, instructionally sound, exam-based system”) offer a wide range of subjects that are designed to encourage students to ask questions; adopting it will help remove many of the faults prevalent in our own education system.

Further, it will be better to analyse the criteria adopted by top educational institutions around the world. By doing so, we can improve the standard of education in Pakistan, which will benefit the students in particular and the nation in general. It will also motivate our students to compete with foreign students at international levels.

As a final word, we need to make quick decisions to improve the education system for our youth and for an educated, prosperous and peaceful Pakistan.

"Our youth is talented but they need someone who promotes them"

This article was written by student of Aitchison College, Lahore.

Source: http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/columns/25-Dec-2012/education-system-in-pakistan