Voices have been raised mainly
by the traditional groups of Pakistani politicians against the recently
announced requirement that a person aspiring for a seat in the federal or in a
provincial parliament will have to be at least a university graduate to qualify
as a candidate. Although the new condition is generally acknowledged as having
been laid down not for any ulterior motive of the incumbent rulers but merely to
ensure minimum caliber of public representatives, its vehement opposition
particularly by the landed aristocracy, underlines the continuing bane of
politics being dominated in the country by feudal lords. Feudal lords don't
allow to built colleges in Pakistan.
Feudalism and education are anathema, indeed, to each other. One derogates
the other. Different feudal dynasties control half a dozen political parties,
including the two main formations - the Muslim League (N) and the PPP.
Ironically enough, the so-called Peoples Party is headed by a prominent
aristocrat/landlord, Benazir. She talks all the time about elections but has
opted to be the chairperson for life of her own party!! That is in keeping with
the feudal spirit.
The end of the British rule in South Asia also marked the beginning of the end
of feudalism - the British system of indirect control - in all countries of the
region with the glaring exception of Pakistan. Education has perhaps been the
biggest casualty of this act of omission. The exigencies of the early years of
the new state, allowed the establishment to put on hold land reforms. The feudal
elite, with the connivance of civil and military bureaucracies, managed to
establish their hold on the country’s politics and for decades to come. The
rapacious rural aristocracy became the biggest force for the maintenance of the
status quo in politics and policy making. No wonder the first general elections
could not be held before 1970 - 23 years after the creation of Pakistan. The
feudal lords of West Pakistan, masquerading as socialists under Bhutto’s Peoples
Party, refused to hand over power to a commoner from the Eastern wing despite
the fact that the latter had won an overwhelming majority in the parliament.
Bhutto was their leader then and his daughter, Benazir, heads the coterie now.
Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan, a blue-blooded landlord, is holding the fort for her
as she is unwilling to return to her country to face the corruption charges
against her in courts of law.
During the entire history of the country, education has remained sadly
neglected. Educational reforms, whenever carried out, like those of President
Ayub or of Prime Minister Z.A. Bhutto, touched the issues only superficially
without developing a questioning mind among the youth of the country to
challenge the feudal domination. The result of such a criminal neglect of the
educational sector is that today nearly a third of 5-9 year olds are out of
school and literacy rate is 38 per cent only. Allocations for education have
lingered for years around 2.3 per cent of GNP per annum as against a minimum of
4 per cent recommended by the UN. Here in the US, highest priority is given to
education.
Readers of this column would recall that the single most significant factor in
their ability to reach this country, has been their education back home.
Reverting to the situation in Pakistan, one finds that now the students who opt
for science subjects fail to apply a scientific approach to their subject, as
the educational system stifles their imagination, creativity and curiosity. It
is the spirit of inquiry which makes a nation, and its absence mars it and
relegates it to the dustbin of history. Pakistan is producing now only 40 PhDs.
annually as against 5,000 by India! Education is not, lamentably, considered
crucial, the very life-blood for the society’s survival and progress.
Ten per cent of some 42,000 schools in Sindh, for instance, had become schools
on paper only. The percentage in Punjab was no better. The children of the
workers in the Middle East, particularly those hailing from remote villages, had
acquired the means to go to schools but there were no schools within easy reach.
So they went to the religious schools attached to local mosques where they could
hardly get the education that would enable them to eke out a living. The
supremacy of the landlord remained undisturbed. The opportunity went to waste.
In this depressing scenario, the projects launched by the present government
hold out a ray of hope of change in the obnoxious system. Expansion of
educational facilities from elementary school to post-graduate levels,
registration of religious schools, introducing secular subjects in their syllabi
and enabling them financially to hire teachers for the new subjects, expansion
of higher level education in science and technology in concert with other Muslim
countries, are some of the salient feature. But, the most important factor is
the change in the value system and the mind-set concerning education.
The negative and hypocritical approach of the landed aristocracy will have to
yield place to genuine appreciation and effort to spread education in the
country. That can come only when the elected representatives are themselves
educated. Some Pakistani newspapers have published lists of prominent landlords
who are non-graduates. Some have not even crossed high school level. Being thus
sidelined would hopefully awaken them to the reality that the days of inheriting
power and pelf by birth have come to an end. If they do not see the writing on
the wall, the wind of change will sweep them down into dust.
Name: hafiz abdullah
From : Lahore