Libre Magazine

The Higher Education Dilemma- Case Pakistan

A few weeks ago, while discussing the future of Pakistan, I hit some clichés which although vital can be considered redundant in terms of thought and creativity of development in Pakistan, as they are equivalent to banging on the old closed door, ‘for and against’ a rhetoric of education which lacks creative insight.

In this issue I would want to refine my emphasis on education as I quoted earlier ‘the quantity and quality and the deepening of the system in the only way to prosperity’ - For one, lets over look technical education, rural education, the education outside the mainstream, the quality of the local metric, the administrative, managerial, political problems within the masses system.

Let us consider the short coming of the some of the best and lime lighted Institutions in the country, with a specific focus on the Institute of Business Administration (IBA) as a case study, given my first hand exposure and eventual opportunity to progress and move further away.

The Institute had its high days, produced some of the highest achievers in the country and probably even does so today- but more due to its social name which in the first place leads to an influx of quality minds relative to its nurturing capacity and consequent positive effect on the students. Simply said, it takes from, rather than gives back it’s the student, if anything, a social stamp, which surely is not the progressive purpose of education.

I believe, in the current day- the IBA effect- has a positive social, yet negative mental (empowerment) fall out on each individual that goes to that university. The cost-benefit can be weighted on the current standing of the institute. Although, the cost-benefit is tilted in favour of the benefit today, it will certainly be offset in the near future by the cost due to the availability of better alternatives of education specifically the external education programs and the inability of the Institute to change progressively.

The Institute today is a lost soul, an army prototype machine- which although is a job creating factory for its graduates, lacks the juice to motivate learning. Its fame is predominantly driven by the lack of better alternatives to the school instead of the bounties you may associate with a tier one institution and the knowledge it disseminates to its students. What a great education model that is? - given the purpose and meaning of education discussed in an earlier post by Mona Shahzad. [Multiple Education Systems or Single System of Complete Education?]

However, its social standing and running today will inevitably change as better options mature and spread through our society.

In terms of practice, the Institute demands a lot of work from its students, and fairly so. However, the demands are based on quantity relative to quality. In the developed world (for lack of a better word), education is purposed to empower the human mind, instigate a road to on-going learning and trigger confidence (on a absolute rather than relative level) - not measured in terms of domestic value but in terms of drivers of unbounded boundaries. The system is complemented by state of openness, access and free (libre) thinking.

Up-to-date research papers, comprehensive discussions groups, question answers with progressive study, questioning the very gut of the best of the best, with no absolute answer and all relative ideas- the student as the king, the student as the focus, their mentality and personality as their differentiation attributes, learning and education is disseminated in its true form (a further inspiration to learn). The system triggers a set of belief and support in the student and maps the roads to unbounded development.

However in the current IBA (not the one 15 years from ago), learning is based on books from the past decades, rout learning and a ‘yes’ sir attitude is the demand of each day, no questions- and very little answers, the teacher is the king and a reproduction of doctrine rhetoric rather than any creative input of the best of the best is the map for a successful grade, exceptions apart. Therefore, let alone the epidemic of no education, the educated are also being cursed with the plague of our surroundings.

However recently (2004), the National Curriculum Revision Committee for Business Schools (Pakistan) revised and standardised text books across business schools in the country. Paradoxically enough, the majority of text books approved are written by Western authors, particularly American. Most books listed by Pakistani authors are predominantly based around subjects specific to Pakistan and Islam (Sarah Khan, 2007). One wonders why such a classification exist, what happened to context specific application? If anything, alternatives from India and other developing countries which face similar business environments to Pakistan would be better relative to models from business environments which are alien to our surroundings- given the practical purpose of BBA and MBA programs (which are run in the IBA) relative to the academic scientific tone provided by BSC and MSC programs (not provided in IBA). Further, does this indicate incompetence of our authors on the international arena or exposes our mental dependence on the west?

Undoubtedly, the graduates from the University are very hard working, goal oriented individuals- even if the goal is to meet deadlines, get through course work, achieve the IBA stamp and attain a high paying job, they are being nurtured and tuned in a mentality of dependency which is not surprising given the feudal mentality grilled in our surroundings. This is further evident, given the lack of students the school inspires to go attain a PHD, which truly shows that education has become the consequence rather than the cause of our lives.

Today, the future is at stake, if we don’t identify and rectify these bottlenecks, we will be plagued for decades to come, until we will be so far behind- that the current foreign exchange burdens would have exponentially multiplied- given the infiltration of external programmes coming into the country plus our very graduates going abroad- let alone other indirect strains on the foreign exchange.

As always, even today we strive for freedom but we do not know what to do with that freedom- as we rarely will, if we do not have a matured and progressive domestic platform. We need to break free from the strings of our traditional mentality, the doctrines of our system- especially given that by definition, the University in question produces the future leaders of our nation.

It is believed that education drives change, however, in Pakistan education itself is caught in the vicious circle. Mind you, as a policy perspective this requires no money- not at all, only foresight, belief, the acceptance of our shortcoming and willingness to change.