DOUBLE STANDARD
A few days back I happened to attend a “mingle party” for the
freshmen in my university. The agenda of the party was to introduce the new
comers to their seniors so that they can cope up with the different and
challenging environment of the university and also to encourage them to take
maximum part in the university’s events, since it was up to them to add to the
achievements and name of the university. The idea, as it seems, is simply remarkable
and no doubt a healthy effort on part of the administration except for a single
fact that the party was just for the “A-levelers”. The intermediate qualified
students were not considered to be of such caliber to be made part of the
meeting. Primarily because the intermediate students come from diverse areas of
the country and due to a clear education standard distinction between the two
modes of education systems prevailing in the country, generally lack the proper
English language communication skills and confidence. Ironically, this is not
the only difference between the qualifiers of the two disparate systems. The
differences among the two are quite evident as day from night.
The GCE and BISE represent two totally different genres of
education. The former is a well organized system that targets the excellence in
education by designing a curriculum that mold brains into creative, analytical
and innovative entities and provides modern education in such a way as to
ensure maximum knowledge acquisition by students. Whereas the latter is a
poorly administered system with outdated curriculum, that falls decades behind
the modern education standards. A system much indifferent to the quality of
education it is providing to its young generation, a system that is violating
the very basic purpose of education- to widen the thinking dimensions of the
people, enhance their innate abilities and induce new skills in them. Apart
from the curriculum, the other major differentiating element is the
extracurricular. As the GCE system does not approve overburdening students with
study load, its students get ample opportunities to propel in extracurricular
activities and discover their hidden talents and polish them, which add self
confidence to their personalities. Whereas on the other hand, the BISE Pakistan
has overstrained its students with the heap of books laced with information
that is not meant to be acquired for the sake of knowledge and enlightenment
rather just to cram every word of it and copy paste it in exams, like a
photocopier machine. The students, so preoccupied with this tiring task, hardly
ever find time for extracurricular and hence get little opportunities to
discover and enhance their abilities and skills, which obviously leave a vacuum
in their personalities because beyond their crammed knowledge they are not
capable of much, obviously except their God gifted talents.
Here, many people will differ and argue that the situation as
mentioned above is however not so bizarre and is unwittingly and extravagantly
sketched. They will probably argue that the ratio of BISE graduates to GCE
graduates is considerably high and hence we cannot put all the BISE students in
one box and judge, their ground of argument will be that in higher educational
institutions the proportion of inter qualified students is much higher than
those of A-levels which explains the fact that there lies not much difference
among the two groups. But what they might be overlooking is a fact that BISE
caters to a wide range of public from low class to upper class of the society,
from rural to urban natives of the country, from people with literate
backgrounds to those with not even a slight shadow of education on their far
off relatives leave alone the instant ones. So it is the responsibility of BISE
that irrespective of the background these students come from, they must enjoy
the same education induced intellectual level, they must be equally proficient
in communication skills, there should lie no difference between these students
depending upon the education they have acquired with equal vigilance and hard
work as any other student, it is their right- a right that shouldn’t be
violated.
Apart from the curriculum, the BISE has also failed in
providing an efficient education system in Pakistan. The education of the
native residents is the responsibility of the state but our state has
repeatedly failed in providing this basic right to its citizens. There are no
doubt many government schools in our country which provide education for the
minimal cost but their situation is so bizarre that attending them is like
wasting one’s energy and time. The infrastructure and maintenance of schools is
so poor that they depict the façade of derelict historical ruins rather than
that of a school. The teachers are least interested in teaching the students,
whom they think more of animals than young humans prone to mistakes. Physical
and verbal abuse is common in such schools. The teachers don’t bother to attend
their classes; all they are concerned with is the cheque that they receive at
the end of each month for doing absolutely nothing. They have no check and
balance from higher authorities whatsoever. Most of the teachers are not even
hired on merit rather on the basis of nepotism, reference or bribe. It is not
unusual for the government teachers in the remote areas to have no knowledge of
their assigned subjects at all. One of my class fellows, who was from a rural
area and had no education background, told that he studied in the government
school of a far off district till 10th grade. The teachers there
were least competent and hardly knew anything about their subjects. He was a
sharp student so he would study the topics himself and his teacher would ask
him to teach the class while he himself enjoyed coffee and snacks with his
colleagues. But now that he has made his way into the university, he is facing
many problems because of his lacking in English communication and writing
skills, analytical and critical thinking skills etc. He, who was the topper of
his district, is now finding it hard to survive in the competent environment of
university where most of the students have come from high standard private
schools of the city. This depicts the standard of education that BISE provides
for its students. Contrarily GCE teachers are most competent individuals with
PhD degrees in their respective subjects. They focus on conceptual clarity of
their students and use various techniques to develop analytical and critical
thinking skills in students to enhance their learning which subsequently helps
them in their higher education and jobs as well.
The acute difference in the two education systems does not
only develops disparity among the students based upon their knowledge and
skills but also upon their level of confidence, which in recent times is
essential for success. When the students of the two systems encounter each
other in higher education, they develop complexes. The GCE graduates become the
victims of superiority complex whereas BISE students develop inferiority
complex which is majorly because of language skills and confidence. This by no
means imply that GCE students are more intelligent than BISE students, it just
becomes their perception that they are the superior ones which normally makes
them over confident while BISE students not being able to compete in just
language skills and confidence develop inferiority complex and recede in their
shells, not discovering their full potentials and using them to bring out the
best in them.
So what should we do in such a predicament? The answer is
clear, we should learn from educational policies of developing countries like
India and China where just a single education system prevails in the whole
country. Their student body is not bifurcated into two distinct groups rather
is homogenous in nature. They do not allow any foreign education system to
enter their market. They have their own system of education which they keep
updated with the technological advancements in the world and try to provide
international standard education to their students through their own system.
When there will be a single unbiased education system for all classes and areas
of the country in Pakistan, the education standard will rise in due course.
When the children of ministers and industrialists will have to study the same
curriculum as those of poor people, the education standard will eventually
improve giving us more number of highly talented and competent professionals.
Thus by adopting correct measures to improve education standard and system in
Pakistan, we can bring radical change in society with more proficient labor
force working towards the development of the country and its economy.
