FLAWS AND REMEDY OF OUR EDUCATION SYSTEM

OUR EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM :

The nature of our educational system is betterly described by one of the famous Urdu personality :

Jab Taleem ka Bunyaadi Maqsad Naukri ka hasool ho To.   Mashray mai Naukar hi Paida hote hain Rehnuma Nahi…

Both our teachers and parents are responsible for the loop holed educational system which is already installed here. They both push and nourish the students with the poison, which is, in order to accomplish better place in a society we (students) have to acquire good jobs and good jobs can be acquired only and only when we acquire a better quality of education. This is the basic reason responsible for our flawed educational system that is whyI remember one of the couplet of  Dr Iqbal in which he criticizes the modern teachers as;

Shikayat Hai Mujhe Ya Rab! Khudawand-E-Maktab Se
Sabaq Shaheen Bachon Ko De Rahe Hain Khaakbazi Ka

Slaves of custom are all the schools of old;
They teach the eaglet to grovel in the dust.

One of the most dreadful loop hole of our education system is that we only acquire that knowledge from our schools, colleges or universities which fulfils our job criteria but we are not aware of the fact that the ilem(knowledge) and adab(refinement, good manners , morals, decorum, decency, humaneness)  are the two faces of same coin, it means that when you  are acquiring  true knowledge then automatically you will acquire adab also which unfortunately is not seen in our education system. With this installed system we will occupy the last place in every field of our life. We all know that we have to change this system but we all know how difficult is it to change this as said by world’s richest person Elon Musk;- “it is easier to land a man on the mars than to change the educational system.” but there is noother option for this. What kind of education we must nourish to our students is well mannerly defined by Shayr-e-mashriq Dr Allama Iqbal. 

All great educators have been great philosophers. It is true that Iqbal was not an educationist in the strict sense of the word; but one cannot deny his contribution to our educational ideology. He did not present any specific educational technique or methodology; but he directed our attention to those basic and fundamental principles of education which underlie all the sound educational practices.

 

EDUCATION

 

Education, which signifies the development of personality, is a purposive process; it is a process which is consciously directed towards some end. Iqbal is of the view that there are three qualities which should be cultivated by education. These are courage, tolerance and faqr. Iqbal believes that the cultivation of an attitude of courage is essential for the proper education of character. Education should be such which should eradicate all types of fear. Love weakens the self and it becomes the source of all kinds of corruption in the individual’s character. It is the parent of all vices characteristic of the weak, deceit, hypocrisy, meaner, cowardice, flattery.  Courage can be cultivated as an attribute of character by making Tawhid an active working principle of conduct. This according to Iqbal implies a rejection of all fears except God, a surrender of our will. When it becomes a guiding principle of conduct, it gives human beings a sense of self respect and courage. The second quality which Iqbal considers to be an essential constituent of good character is Tolerance. He remarks, “The principle of the ego sustained deed is respect for the ego in myself as well as in others. It clearly implies that unless education strengthens in us a sense of respect for the other’s individuality their opinions and belief their thoughts and behaviour, our own will remain distorted and incomplete. The third quality according to Iqbal is Faqr or Istighna. It is a kind of intellectual and emotional asceticism which does not turn away from the world as a source of evil and corruption but uses it for the pursuit of good and worthy ends.  Our education on the contrary tends to instill in the minds of youth an attitude of selfishness and a mean desire to fight for petty jobs and secure them at the cost of every thing else. When a few of them manage to gain high offices or a little of the riches of the world, many of them lose their humanity in the process and spirit in them turns into stone.

 

A CREATIVE VISION OF EDUCATION

In Rumuz-i-Bekhudi, Allama Iqbal wrote. 

 

You have drunk of the flagon of Khaled. 

Your blood is warmed up by his wine. 

Strike the sword of “there is not god but God”. 

Over the head of this Untruth, masquerading as truth 

Light up the darkness of this age. 

Share with all what has been revealed to you in full measure. 

I tremble to think of your shame when, on the judgment day. 

God will put you the question. 

You learnt the word of truth from us. 

Why did you fail to pass it on to others?

 

Iqbal is of the opinion that world is moving toward destruction it is the responsibility of students to make earth a place worth living. Further giving the details of educational system, he says that education should be dynamic and creative which would help to release the creative spirit in man and which will arouse aninterest in students to conquer new realms of arts and science, knowledge and power. Science will occupy a prominent place in it because it is through science that a man can gain not only control over nature but also through the use of scientific methods he can consciously reconstruct this world. But giving importance to science should not mean neglect of religious education. For the man without Faith, The pen and the sword are alike worthless When there is not Faith. Neither the pen nor the swords have any value. Iqbal is of the opinion that religion has always elevated individuals and transformed whole societies. He was of the view that this religious education should be radically different from present religious education. Because the present religious education does not take into account modern, social political, scientific and philosophic problems. According to Iqbal, education should be such which would bring the human being toward life of action, development of individuality should be the objective of education. Thus a man should appear as an active agent, a doer, a shaper of purposes who is not only engaged in the reconstruction of his world but he would also try to unfold & perfect his own individuality. Finally Iqbal was of view that this education must be conducted in the most liberal and broadminded spirit so as to develop in youth an all embracing humanism and a truly international outlook and to arrest the growth of narrow, political, racial, sectional or geographical loyalties. The conflict and tension have acquired such a momentum that they are seemingly out of control of man and the leaders of the world are unable to solve them. Every increase of power political or technological is making the situation worse. The only defense is to humanize the educational system which should be built up with love and patience in building up of such system the study of Iqbal’s ideas can offer most valuable guidance

IDEALISM IN EDUCATION

He agrees with the idealists that the material and the physical universe, as known to science, is an incomplete expression of reality. Man has a peculiar power which manifests itself in the form of intellect, intuition, culture, art, morality and religion. These are peculiar to man and are certainly beyond the range of positive science.

Idealism is bitterly opposed to naturalism, in so far as it regards that the real aim of education is to mould the environment according to ideals or the individual values and not to yield oneself to the physical environment which is an eternal embodiment of human will and intelligence; much of it is the result of man’s capacity for inventiveness. Iqbal beautifullygives expression to this idea:

تو شب آفریدی چراغ آفریدم

سفال آفریدی ایاغ آفریدم

بیابان و کوھسار و راغ آفریدی

خیابان و گلزار و باغ آفریدم

من آنم کہ از سنگ آئینہ سازم

من آنم کہ از زھر نو شینہ سازم

You (God) created the night, I the lamp;

You created the clay, I the vase.

You created the jungle, mountains and deserts

I created gardens, orchards and flower-plots.

It is I who make glass out of stone

It is I who extract elixir out of poison.

 

So far as the cultural and the spiritual environment is concerned it is entirely a product of man’s creative activity. Man sets before himself philosophical and cultural problems and has been tackling them since long. Hence, he cannot be said to be a slave of environment in any sense. To set about questions, to inquire into the origin of things and to strive for something better than the given are distinctive marks of man alone. The cultural environment consisting of religion, science, art, and literature is overgrowing. To it many sages in all ages have contributed. It welds together all mankind. Underlying this cultural environment are three eternal values which man can apprehend by his spiritual capacity. They are “Truth, Beauty and Goodness”. To these three eternal values Iqbal adds a fourth, viz: apprehension of God, having the eternal values as His attributes. 

Iqbal further makes a fervent appeal for the adoption of ideological system of education. According to him culture and ideals of society should be the guiding factors of our education. He therefore very aptly remarks

زندہ فرد از ارتباط جان و تن

زندہ قوم از حفظ ناموس کہن

مرگ فرد از خشکی رود حیات

مرگ قوم از ترک مقصود حیات

“Life of the Individual depends on the relationship of the bodyand soul.

Life of the nation depends on the preservation of its tradition and culture.

Individual dies if the life-flow ceases.

Nation dies if the ideal of life is spurned”.

Further, according to Iqbal, education is the only means to establish a balance between individualism and collectivism. He regards the development of Individuality as the fundamental value, but does not ignore, at the same time, the growth of social sense and collective responsibilities. While, he holds that man must not lose his individuality in the social collective, he also enjoins the Individual to subscribe to the social good. Therefore an ideal system of education will always aim at the establishment of balance between the development of Individuality and social consciousness of the individual.

فرد قائم ربط ملت سے ھے تنہا کچھ نہیں

موج ھے دریا میں اور بیرون دریا کچھ نہیں

Individual exists by virtue of his social contacts. He is nonentity without that association.

“He is like a wave in the river and has no existence outside it. Again he says

فرد میگرد ز ملت احترام

ملت از افراد مے یابد نظام

“The Individual derives dignity from his nation.

A “millat” is constituted when the Individuals group together.

To conclude, Love of God, His qualities of perfection and Beauty is the innate urge of the child. The educator must see to it that the innate urge of love is not diverted into the channel of any other ideal and that his love for God actually determines his action.