A few years back, we
day-dreamed of reforming Education in Pakistan. This was 1998 or 99. Pervez
Hoodbhoy had come to Chicago for a talk and we gathered around trying to see
light at the end of the nuclear tunnel. We were a diverse bunch; history,
physics, economics, anthropology phd-candidates. Most had had their initial
schooling in Pakistan and recognized very well the horrendous system. The
discussion dwindled after the initial euphoria, when we realized that we were
powerless in the face of a military and civil bureaucracy that invited no
meddlers. Some of us went to work for Micro$oft, some started teaching and some
are writing lame blogs. Except Hoodbhoy.
Pervez Hoodbhoy is fiercely smart and dedicated. He currently teaches at the
Quaid-i-Azam University in Islamabad – the flagship university of Pakistan. In
two installments, he has just written the clearest denouncement of Pakistan’s
higher education in the highest circulation English daily in Pakistan, Dawn. I
cannot urge you more strongly to click here and here and read.
His message is clear. Pakistan has no framework of higher education that can
match up to the rest of the world. The universities are a quagmire of despotic
clerks and professors. The PhDs cannot function in the real world. There is no
standard of research in the country in hard sciences or social sciences. There
are more mosques on campuses than bookstores. Knowledge is passed by rote and
memorization in an endless loop from teacher to student to teacher. Teachers do
not engage in or tolerate critical thinking. Any old place can slap a university
sign on the door and become an accredited institution to qualify for govt.
subsidy. JNU? IIT? forget it, we cannot even match Tehran University in a
country cut off from the world for 25 years.
Let me tell a small anecdote. Last spring, I walked into the Oriental Collection
in Punjab University Library and asked to see the catalogue. After proving my
authenticity as a student, I was asked by the clerk to write down the name of
the manuscript that I wanted to see. I said, well, I don’t know which manuscript
I want to see because I don’t know what is in your holdings. I was asked to go
to the Old Campus and purchase the catalogue. Sure thing. Next day, I came back
and had a specific call# or two. I was told to, then, write a petition to the
Oriental Librarian requesting permission to see the manuscript. When presented
with the petition, she didn’t even glance up from her desk and told me to go
back to Old Campus and get the petition stamped by the Chair of the Persian
Dept. for validation that my research agenda necessitated that manuscript. She
also threw in a lecture on my bad English for good measure (this damn yankee
accent). I went to see the Chair of the Persian Dept., explained my research,
showed him my petition and asked for his assistance in this matter. He let me
sit out there for a while before grilling me on why I would want to study such
odd things and shouldn’t I be making good money as a computer engineer in
Houston. Finally, he signed the petition. The next day, I returned to the
Oriental Librarian. She did not even LOOK at the petition I was handing out to
her, simply stated to the clerk to go get what I wanted. Power play. Anyways,
the clerk says to come back the next day and they will pull the manuscripts from
the archives. Sure thing. I returned the next day and was given the stack of
manuscripts and a desk to work on.
So yeah. bureaucracy sucks. And it has sucked in the Higher Education Commission
which was created to reform and modernize Pakistan’s universities. Instead, it
got marginalized in union-politics and fear-mongering.
Hoodbhoy has some excellent suggestions. Requiring all graduate applicants to
take the GRE; instituting tenure review and administrative review; re-starting
student unions on campus; invigorating cultural and social discourse and, most
intriguingly, attracting Indian teachers.
One wishes it could be otherwise. It would be a major breakthrough if Indian and
Iranian teachers could be brought to Pakistan. Indians, in particular, would
find it much easier to adapt to local ways and customs than others and also have
smaller salary expectations. The huge pool of strong Indian candidates could be
used to Pakistan’s advantage – it could pick the best teachers and researchers,
and those most likely to make a positive impact on the system. In the present
mood of rapprochement, it is hard to think of a more meaningful confidence
building measure.
Couldn’t agree more. One of my dream short-term gigs would be at JNU. I am sure
there are scholars and researchers in India who would want to try out decadent
Pakistan for a few months/years.
There are some bright spots. Lahore University of Management Sciences [LUMS] has
attracted foreign capital, foreign teachers and a higher caliber of students by
adhering to international standards. It should act as a model just as Hoodbhoy’s
op-ed should act as a declaration for reforms.