Are We Spreading Knowledge or Ignorance?

For a moment, I think of snubbing him, but the very next moment, I realise that after all, he is not so much wrong in his approach. The reason is that like all the other students, he too has come to the college with the single objective of being able to get high marks in the examination. By getting through the examination, he will get the degree, which will enable him to get a lucrative job. This is the one point agenda which motivates the parents to spend their hard earned money for sending their children to public and private educational institutions and this is the only target which the teachers are expected to achieve. Only those of our students are awarded with medals, trophies and cash prizes who secure maximum marks; only those of our teachers are described as successful who tell their students some useful tricks and tips for getting excellent marks; and only those institutions are rated among the best ones whose students secure top positions in the examination. In simpler terms, our entire educational system and all its activities are wholly and solely concentrated on preparing and training the students for performing well in their examinations.

But should it be the only objective of education?

All the ancient and modern intellectuals, thinkers and philosophers including Aristotle, Plato, Ghazali, Iqbal and Russell, etc. are unanimous in their opinion that education is a wide ranging process involving the mental, moral, physical, spiritual, emotional, and psychological training and growth of individuals. Besides developing their individual skills and abilities, to the fullest extent, it facilitates them in fully adjusting themselves to their particular social set-ups. It makes them useful, responsible and productive citizens, having elevated ethical standards, exemplary characters and ideal personalities. By inculcating a strong moral and spiritual sense in them, it distinguishes them from animals and brings them closer to human beings as well as to God. Such multiple objectives can be achieved by both formal and informal forms of education and for this particular reason, Islam urges the people to acquire knowledge from the cradle to the grave. But it is not merely bookish knowledge, assisting man to attain formal degrees required for getting employment. Instead, it is a life long experience involving continuous mental, moral and spiritual grooming, besides enabling him to meet his physical and economic needs. In short, good education aims at producing good human beings, who are confidently successful in every sphere of life and make positive contributions to the over all development of their society, nation and the whole world.

But all such noble aims and objectives of education have been completely set aside in our educational system which only revolves around getting degrees, by hook or by crook. The consequences of this approach are disastrous for the individuals as well as for the society. Apparently, for the last three decades, the subjects of Islamic Studies and Pakistan Studies have been compulsory till graduation, but have they produced good Muslims or good Pakistanis? Of course not, for the simple reason that students read them purely from the examination point of view and not for adopting some moral or patriotic values from them. For five years during Musharraf’s rule, all the parliamentarians were graduates, but did they make any contribution to the development of the country? We all know how they looted and plundered the country with both hands despite their graduate and even post-graduate degrees, which many of them had gained through illegal means. Even today, the presence of several fake degree holders in our parliament is a stark reminder of the fact that the thing which matters in our educational system is degree and not character and even the highest degree can easily be obtained by greasing the palm of the concerned clerks. Degree is only a piece of paper and can never be expected to raise the mental, moral or spiritual level of a person. Practical moral training which should be an integral part of education creates in the people a strong sense of accountability in this world and the world hereafter, makes them aware of the difference of right and wrong and urges them to shun the path of evil and adopt the path of good. Since there is no such practical moral training in our educational system, the most highly educated people are in many cases, the most corrupt ones. The massive and widespread corruption rampant from the lowest to the highest level in all sections of our society, including civil and military bureaucracy, politics, judiciary and police, etc. is the inevitable outcome of the fact that the education which was given to such corrupt officials never created in them the fear of God and love for humanity. Instead, with no moral sense, it only sharpened their mental faculties to explore new and more sophisticated techniques of corruption, fraud and debauchery. By passing some examinations those who become bureaucrats and army officers often regard themselves as superior human beings born to rule others, whom they consider to be low, inferior and contemptible creatures.

Gone are the days when students used to regard teachers as their spiritual fathers. In the increasingly privatised and commercialised education, where teachers are mainly concerned with their salaries and job security and students are pre-occupied with their examinations and degrees, the old concept of teacher as a spiritual father only seems to be a bookish idea, quite irrelevant in the present context. The students produced by our institutions devoid of moral training are generally rude, insolent, dishonest and disrespectful, having a casual and carefree approach towards life. When they are disrespectful and disobedient to their real fathers, how can they be expected to show any reverence to their spiritual fathers? Teachers too are part of the same rotten system and therefore, they are also not free from the devastating impacts of the over all moral decay and degeneration. Instead of becoming role models for their students, the behaviour of many of them deserves scorn and condemnation, rather than respect and admiration. At all levels in all institutions, emphasis is being laid on the extensive use of computers. Computers surely give knowledge and information, but can they give that sort of spiritual guidance and moral training which can only be imparted by the blessed company of a noble and pious teacher? Surely not. The result is that quite often highly skilled computer and IT experts provide full technical support to the terrorists who carry out deadly attacks on innocent civilians.