Policy matters: Revamping education

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We have been experimenting with education policy for the last 64 years and have reached nowhere. Our matriculates and graduates from government schools and colleges have failed to reach the required standards as is evident from reports of the Public Service Commission year after year. The crux of the problem seems to be our efforts to fit a square object in a round hole.

When I entered class one in 1929 (in Urdu medium), in a local primary school in Hyderabad Deccan, there was no fees, no textbooks and copies, no homework and no tuition after school hours. All the work was done on a slate with a piece of chalk.
The stress was on the three ‘R’s—Reading, wRiting and aRithmetic—necessary tools throughout life.

As education progressed only one book in the mother tongue was given to us for reading and writing purposes. Maths does not require a book. Tables up to 10 and the 10 fingers were all that was needed.

Socrates once said, “Education at the primary level is all the more important because whatever a child learns at this stage becomes engraved in stone.”

Second point is the capacity of a child to absorb what is being taught. All brains are not equally receptive. This has been our fundamental mistake. Loading a child with a bagful of books is damaging. The selection of fertile land and the money spent on it is bound to give good yield. Otherwise you are wasting the land and the money.

The plan
By the time a child completes class four, his talents are visible to his teachers and they can predict his future, provided he is given the opportunity. Based on the results of class four from every school, especially from the villages, the top four students be selected and the secretary of education of the province should supervise their grooming from then onwards.

All their expenses—boarding, lodging, tuition fees and a reasonable bursary should be paid to their families from a special fund kept at the disposal of the secretary. Zakat would be a legitimate charge for this purpose.

This is not expenditure but an investment which will give high dividends. These children will be our future CSPs, professors, ambassadors and leaders. On completion of class six at the village school the children should be transferred to the nearest city high school under the guidance of the education secretary. The government should bear all their expenses.

Their college education also should be decided by the secretary. They should be admitted in good colleges and universities.
All their expenses should be borne by the government. This is like sowing good seed in a fertile land.

You might have calculated by now that the child who completes class four in 2011 will graduate in 2021, i.e., in 10 years time.
When these talented graduates enter post-graduate courses, they will do wonders for their country, against the mediocre lot now entering the universities. Our children have proved this when they get an opportunity to enter foreign universities.

As the standard of English will be poor in these village children, they should be given special coaching in English language throughout. This way they will be able to compete with English medium students.

The syllabus
This is the core issue for the success of any education system, and some bold steps are needed to achieve our goal. Merely loading the child with a bagful of imported books right from class one is self deceptive.

• The first two years (class one and two) should be restricted to teaching the three ‘R’s in their mother tongue. Even if the child discontinues at this stage, he is literate enough to pursue any profession at the lower level and is much better off than his illiterate brothers.

• Then next two years should see the introduction of national language with two general subjects. Still the bulk of writing should be done on the slate as they cannot afford copies and pencils.

• From class five, English should be added as a compulsory subject.

• Class six is a crucial stage. The bulk of students leave at this level as with their rudimentary knowledge of English and further grooming they become experts in a wide range of professions. Therefore loading them with unnecessary subjects is a waste of time, money and talent.

By the time a child graduates (with a degree), he would have studied English for 10 years, which is enough to go to post-graduate courses (technical) as we have seen in the case of the Japanese, Chinese and Koreans, who are far better than us in technology and science.

Teachers
Much depends on the quality of teachers. Higher caliber of teachers demands higher salaries. A graduate prefers to become a police constable rather than becoming a teacher in some village therefore salary structure must be always under review.

Modern gadgets
Every new gadget helps in reducing costs while saving time. But this is not the case with us. Time has no value and living costs are constantly on the increase. We have become a consumer society, and sell our wheat and cotton to run other countries’ industries. Unless we manufacture these modern tools and their spare parts, we will always be at their mercy. The use of these gadgets should be restricted to hospitals, banks and research centres.

In conclusion
English-medium schools have only produced manpower to serve overlords, multinational companies, banks and talents that export themselves to other countries and earn foreign currency. But they have very little contact with the masses as they do not speak their language and terminology as a local would. Japan’s example is before us. A rugged country, with no rivers, no canals, situated in the far corner of the world, with seas frozen for six months, when they rose in 1947 after devastation in World War II, they decided to have their own language as a medium of instruction at all levels. They had determination and a goal. They gave due importance to the village boy, and everyone contributed in research work. They translated all foreign technical books in their own language, and made them available to everyone at affordable costs.

They are now far ahead of us and help us in every field. Most of them do not speak English. We must adopt the language of the masses to feel we are one with them and not their bosses.