State of education

The state of education in Pakistan today is dismal and appointing. Every day, I come across several parents who go from pillar to post to have access to the heads of different educational institutions. It is also a fact that our varsities have become only ‘degree producing factories’ and money minting mills. They just award degrees, diplomas and certificates. They are in a race to produce as many PhD degree-holders as is possible. Our educational institutions, at all levels, are facing an acute shortage of qualified teachers. Our educational institutions and even training institutes prefer to hire such visiting faculty members/resource persons that do not have the knowledge or the wisdom to respond to the educational needs of students or trainees.Trained graduates in science and technology based disciplines can help our country find effective, cost-efficient, home-grown solutions to pressing development problems. Just increasing student enrolment, or producing MPhil and PhD degree-holders without quality is not the solution. How will Pakistan’s public-sector universities and the HEC maintain their relevance in what our rulers call Naya Pakistan? What is the role of the emerging private-sector universities? All these questions call for some sort of soul searching to improve the state of education in Pakistan. Smart and bold approaches are required, not cosmetic measures.Hashim AbroIslamabad

from The News International - Newspost http://bit.ly/2OYO2Gc