Education and its Functions
 

Education is inevitable, education is panacea for all the social evils, education is a matter of survival and death, we always hear these cliches, and everyone seems to be talking about education and its inevitability for the socio-economic development of the society.
But one can hardly find any effort, by the successive governments or non-governmental organizations, regarding evaluation and assessment about the functions and dis-functions of the present system of education in terms of its effectiveness, productivity, utility, and creativeness, for the society and the country as a whole; furthermore, there is hardly any research and study conducted by the government or experts about the links between the education-provided and the demands of the market, or contemporary trends of the market, and various other institutions. The inability of the successive governments to expand and increase employment opportunities is true without question, but the ineffectiveness of the education system is aggravating the already deteriorating conditions on the ground, and increasing unemployment ratio in the country.

In economic terms, the education should cater to the needs of the people regarding two basic necessities in the modern society, firstly it should be based on contents which enable the individual to find a suitable job according to his/her instinct and acquired capabilities , secondly, as in the developed and complex societies education and economic institutions are closely tied, therefore, the education should be based on the policies which can enable or ensure rapid pace of the growth of economy, scientific and technological development, and also enhance entrepreneurship, in order to boost up economic development and employment opportunities, this can only be done if the
link between market-demands and the human resources generated by universities are fully studied and policies are erected accordingly.
however, accurate judgement can only be passed after evaluating statics about educational achievements in reference with economy.

In political front, the education has to render several functions through political education and discourses, through research and simulation exercises, through workshops and seminars, and through constructive criticism and generation of new ideas, furthermore the political functions of education in universities are only extended through intellectual and theoretical means, not by practical involvement in politics. Ultimately the goals are to broaden one's vision, to expand the horizons of one's mind, to enhance political consciousness, to strengthen the system of administering and governing i.e democracy and good governance, to make the government inclusive and participatory, moreover the flow and dissemination of novice ideas should be facilitated and not suppressed or distorted. However one can not find any seriousness by the part of faculty members, students, and the whole society regarding research and its proper methodology, and also its importance and effectiveness for the society, mostly the students are involved in plagiarism; they are indifferent towards workshops, seminars and weekly study circles conducted by many departments of the universities, the culture of reading books is extinct,
the way education is being dealt by our people and policy makers is not going to yield any positive result.

On Social and cultural arena the role of education is equally dis-satisfactory, swathes of lands in developing countries like Pakistan still could not get the insights rendered by globalization, civilization,science and technology, many people still believe in heinous traditions, viz. burying girls alive, throwing acids on their faces, and honor killing are the worst of its kinds.
On moral and behavioral grounds people seem to be following practices which really irritates other sober people of the community, like pulling out the silencers of their motor bikes just for fun, firing when Pakistani team wins a cricket match, or using abusive language particularly in urban centers, where, it is believed that majority of the people are educated, reflects the ineffectiveness of the education which either lacks contents about morality and ethics or people are reluctant to follow these contents on civility. Additionally the people rejects pluralism and do not accept diversity of culture, as well as there is a general lack tolerance as is shown in the International Islamic university, where a simulation exercise by Model UN conducted by a group of students was disrupted by a student wing, affiliated with a mainstream political party, allegedly just because of showing Israel as a country in order to debate about the Palestinian crisis. This shows our way of thinking and our orthodox mentality.

Finally, the civilization and moral highness of some societies are really impressive, I can't help to share an habit, values and norms of one of my Iranian friend, which really shows and reflects the society he belongs, when I was doing Masters in university of Karachi, that Iranian friend had such sense of civility and responsibility that impressed many and compelled others to think in a right direction, whenever he had eaten some biscuits, cakes or chips, he used to put the wrappers into his pocket, until he would find a dustbin and throw the wrappers into it. we can hardly find such sense of responsibility in Pakistan. all this comes through quality education, and proper socialization. It is hoped that the policy makers ,seeking increasing literacy rate, compounded it with quality and channel its contents according to the contemporary trends.


( Seniors are requested to check the above article; my writing style, expression, grammar and extend your precious suggestions so that i can improve my writing capabilities in order to qualify for the upcoming CSS exam. Any constructive criticism would be appreciated.)