Written By Uzma Sagheer
Introduction
Aristotle defined education as “a process necessary for the creation of a sound
mind in sound body.” Dewey ,in twentieth century ,, defines education in these
words; “ Education is a process of living through a continuous capacities in the
individual which will enable him to control his environment and fulfill his
possibilities “.Education in the limited sense ,include the influences
deliberately ,chosen and employed by the community for the welfare of its coming
generations.(Khalid.T 2003. An Introduction to Educational Philosophy and
History.National Book Foundation Islamabad.)
Main objectives of education in Pakistan are
• Ensuring the preservation, promotion and practice of the basic ideology of
Pakistan and making it a code of individual and national life.
• Building up national cohesion by promoting social and cultural harmony
compatible with our basic ideology through the conscious use of educational
process.
• Building up and nurturing the total personality of the individual to cope with
current needs and demands to face the truth as it emerges from the objective
study of reality.
• Mobilizing the youth for leadership roles through active participation in all
sectors related to social sector responsibilities.
• Eliminating illiteracy within the shortest conceivable spell.
• Designing curricula relevant to national goals and objectives.
• Providing comprehensive programme of studies including technical education.
• Provide academic freedom to educational institutions within the framework of
national objectives and requirements.
• Ensuring active participation of educators, scholars and representatives of
parents, and the community at large in educational concerns.
• Generally promoting the welfare, dignity and the sense of responsibility of
teachers and students.
Mohammad rafiuddin( 1961,1983) writes in his book First Principles of Education
that every scheme of education necessarily touches life at every point .He
quoted the words of Percy Nunn that Sir percy nunn realises that the aim of
education has to be the ideal of life itself and unless our aim of education is
concrete enough it will not be able to provide us with any definite guidance .he
also realises that the ideals of life and conceptions of education may vary so
our aim of education will not be correct unless our ideal of life is correct.
(World Chaos by McDougall ,pages 9,59,112,115).
The ignorance of the present –day intellectual world about human nature which
these writers deplore so much in reflected plainly in the educational theories
of the modern educationists .we know that a truth is always consistent with
itself and with all other truths,it is only a truth that can defend and
another truth ,and every truth is defended and justified by all other truths.A
philosophy that is worth its name is a family or system of truths defending each
other. All truths which are outside this family or system of truths defending
each other .All truths which are outside this family have an affinity for it and
the family has an affinity for them ,because they belong to it .when a new truth
is discovered ,it is welcomed and absorbed by the family because it has a
natural place in it . on the other hand when a falsehood enters it,it is
repelled by all the truths there and such cannot hold its own. If we make an
effort to defend a falsehood –which is ,of course, always found mixed with
something of truth –by a system of truths ,truths refused to be harnessed into
our service and the coherence or harmony of the system breaks down at many a
point ,giving rise to logical discrepancies and contradictions.A true philosophy
of education can be only that which is internally coherent and externally
relevant to all the established facts of existence .if it does not satisfy this
condition we cannot be sure about the validity of any part of it .A s Brubacher
writes in his book “Modern Philosophies of Education ‘’.It is chiefly in the
light of some total harmony that the strength of any individual stand can be
assured .If any stand contradicts others ,then ,one must be on his guard against
weakness somewhere. It clarifies that our education system doesnot deal with our
philosophy of education that’s why it is based on UNEQUAL LINES which effects
our society as a whole .we have to realise that there can be no universal aim of
education we have to facilitate the educators to teach the learner in a way that
he/she can cope with real life situations effectively .So that we cansolve this
issue .