Rethinking Education in COVID-19 Environment

Preamble

Education has been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Iqbal Institute of Policy Studies (IIPS) is an independent research institute with the mission to generate, track, and advocate public policies towards the achievement of sustainable development in Pakistan. The institute organized a series of webinars on “Rethinking Education in the COVID-19 Environment” in an attempt to understand the future of education policy of Pakistan. The blog presents the importance of reviving public sector schools and what is the significance of mainstreaming technical education. The blog also sheds insight on Iqbal’s philosophy of an efficient education system and what measures can be taken to reform the existing education system of Pakistan.  

Research Questions

1. What is the importance of reviving public sector schools in Pakistan?
2. What is the significance of mainstreaming technical and vocational education and training?
3. How can educational dualism be rectified?
4. What is Iqbal’s philosophy of an efficient education system? 
5. What remedial measures for reforming the existing education system of Pakistan? 

Introduction

Education has been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. According to UNESCO, worldwide closures of education institutions have impacted 91 percent of the world’s student population. Due to government lockdowns, teaching is moving online. However, in Pakistan, only 36 percent of households have broadband Internet access, making it difficult for majority students to attend online classes. The massive disruption to education access has wreaked havoc on the country’s education system. This situation necessitates the need to formulate innovative and viable policy options for reforming Pakistan’s education system. 

Importance of Reviving Public Sectorstude

Admiral Asif Sandila (Retd), Chairman Moawin Foundation, Former Chief of Naval Staff, Pakistan Navy,  discussed the importance of public schools. The revival of public schools is imperative for providing quality education to our youth. The public schools cater to a large part of Pakistan’s youth population; however, it becomes difficult for students to attain jobs due to the substandard quality of education. A significant reason for this is that necessary attention has not been paid to technical and vocational education. In Pakistan, the number of technical and vocational training institutes is not adequate, and many are deprived of infrastructure, teachers and tools for training. It is high time to reform our education system and integrate primary education with technical and vocational training. 

He also stressed on the importance of primary education and the revival of the public school system. The public school system has become dysfunctional in Pakistan because most children do not get a quality education. The revival of public sector schools is the need of the hour as they have the most extensive outreach. We must first focus on the public primary and secondary schools and ensure that only quality education is imparted. The main focus of primary schools should be on conceptual learning. Furthermore, secondary education must be coupled with technical and vocational training so that the chances of employability for children who cannot afford higher education are not obstructed in any way. While talking about the Moawin Foundation, he said that we had established schools by signing MOUs with the government. The primary responsibility of running the school lies with the government while they act as facilitators. They provide vocational training to teachers, and as part of their agreement with the government, no teacher can be transferred to another school before a period of three years. 

Significance of Mainstreaming Technical and Vocational Education

Dr. Muqeem-ul-Islam, Director General, NAVTTC, highlighted three main objectives that any sound education system aims to achieve. These include personality development, societal development and economic development. In Pakistan’s education system, memorization of information is prioritized over instilling wisdom and knowledge. Furthermore, the emphasis on imparting necessary soft and technical skills is extremely lacking. Hence, there is a vital need to rethink our education system to align with these objectives. Pakistan has inherited its education system from the British. The British education system is based on the liberal market model of vocational education and training. In this model, one who receives vocational education and training is the one who pays for it. This implies that only the rich can afford higher education.

In addition to the liberal market model, there are two other models of vocational education and training. In the state-regulated model, the state controls the entire education system and ensures that only the highly intellectual people receive higher education. The French education system is based on the state-regulated model. On the other hand, in Germany’s dual corporate model, craft traders’ state-regulated chambers determine how vocational education training will be organized. Only some people with high intellect go for higher education (about 20%) while the rest is diverted to technical education which is equally prestigious with high employability rates. One of the reasons for Germany’s success is the enormous amount of focus they put in technical education and training.

By establishing more schools and giving out degrees, we are producing an army of unemployed people. What we need is a rapid shift in our education policy towards prioritizing technical training and personality development. We need an education system that focuses on imparting trade-specific technical skills and applied scientific skills relevant to the trade adopted. Furthermore, soft and lifelong learning skills that are missing in our education system must be incorporated with general education. These skills include entrepreneurship, team management skills, environment skills, communication skills, and persona branding.

Iqbal’s Philosophy of an Efficient Education System

Mr. Syed Raza Hamdani, Scholar of Iqbaliyat & Education Reforms Expert, focused on Iqbaliyat and rectification of educational dualism. He described Barbour’s (2000) model of the relationship between science and religion. There are four types of relationships between science and religion: conflict, interaction, independence, and integration. In the Conflict approach, the scientific-oriented view disregards God’s existence while the religious-oriented theory holds that the revealed knowledge is the only base of knowledge. In the independence approach, both science and religion are considered independent entities with no chance of interaction between them. Furthermore, the interactive approach holds that science and religion are two different entities, but there is great space for interaction between them. Lastly, the integration approach propagates that both science and religion have their own ontology about this universe’s realities. Only through the integration of science and religion can a unified view of the universe be obtained.

However, Iqbal negates all four approaches. He has levelled a detailed criticism against Cartesian dualism of body and mind. Likewise, he has rejected parallelism and interactionism because the dualism of body and mind is presupposed in these theories. Iqbal propounded the unification approach whereby science and religion are not considered two separate entities; rather, they are thought of as a unified whole having the same roots. In Islam, the ideal and the real are not two opposing forces that cannot be reconciled; instead, they are a unified whole. Hence, in Iqbal’s view, the solution for a single national curriculum lies in the unification approach. To conclude, an education system based on Iqbal’s philosophy will be one based on the unification approach encompassing both science and religion.

Reforming Existing Education System

According to Dr. Tariq Habib Cheema, Founder, World Congress of Muslim Philanthropists, Covid-19 has not only impacted the economy and mental wellbeing of people, but it has also put students across the globe at high risk due to the disruption of the education system. We must come up with innovative approaches to curb the learning gap resulting from the closure of schools. Online classes are not suitable in a country like Pakistan, where most people lack access to the internet. Therefore, Pakistan’s education system must be reformed to improve learning outcomes. One crucial step that must be taken is to integrate education with basic skills. Pakistan has the second-highest number of out-of-school children in the world. The bulk of uneducated youth has become a burden on the economy of the country. There is a need for immediate interventions to provide vocational training and enhance people’s basic skills to increase their chances of employability. The role of parents is pertinent in this regard. Sadly, parents in Pakistan rely on outsourcing children’s education to schools and teachers, forgetting that the children’s education and grooming is, in fact, a family affair. There is an urgent requirement to conduct parent-teacher training workshops so that parents can be trained to teach and impart the necessary skills to children at home. 

To mitigate the educational loss of children due to the closure of institutions, Alight Pakistan and the National Commission for Human Development (NCHD) in collaboration with the Education Department of Gilgit-Baltistan launched the Muallim program. The Muallim program is an online distance learning educational program on Radio Pakistan and FM channels for children in Gilgit-Baltistan districts. It provides the out of school children an opportunity to attain primary education. The reason for choosing radio as the medium of communication was that Radio Pakistan has the most extensive outreach in the country and is available even in remote areas with limited or no internet access. The program caters to children’s educational needs in Grade-I, II, and III who are taught by qualified and trained teachers even in hard-to-reach remote areas. Furthermore, this program will benefit hundreds of children who cannot attend regular school classes due to lockdown in the wake of global coronavirus pandemic.

Conclusion

As the pandemic imposed a lockdown on every type of social activity, students were prevented from attending their schools and educational institutions. The online education system is not suitable to the current educational system, as it is backward and the majority of the student body is unable to afford online education due to lack of required equipment and internet connectivity required to attend online classes. The solution to most of the challenges of Pakistan’s education sector is present in the revival of public schools. However, it is important to know that the redundant system of education has limited the cognitive abilities of the students which begs the need of reform and redirection in the public-school system. 

Key Takeaways

1. Online classes are not appropriate for a country like Pakistan, where most people do not have internet access. 
2. Personality development, societal development and economic development are the three objectives that the education system aims to achieve. 
3. Pakistan has inherited its education system from the British. The British education system is based on the liberal market model of vocational education and training, favouring the rich while obstructing education pathways for the poor.   
4. The public school system has become dysfunctional in Pakistan, owing to which most children do not get a quality education. Therefore, the revival of public sector schools is the need of the hour.
5. Primary education is imperative to foster the growth of young children. The main focus of primary education should be on conceptual learning instead of rote learning. 
6. Children’s education and grooming is, in fact, a family affair. There is an urgent need to conduct parent-teacher training workshops so that parents can be trained to provide primary education and skills to children at home.  
7. One of Germany’s successes is the enormous amount of focus they put in technical education and training. Therefore, the integration of general education with basic skills and vocational training needs to be prioritized over the memorization of information.
8. What we need is a rapid shift in our education policy towards prioritizing technical training and personality development. 
9. We need an education system that focuses on imparting trade-specific technical skills and applied scientific skills relevant to the trade adopted.
10. Iqbal has levelled a detailed criticism against Cartesian dualism of body and mind. Likewise, he has rejected parallelism and interactionism because, in these theories, the dualism of body and mind is presupposed. 
11. In Iqbal’s view, the solution for a single national curriculum lies in the unification approach. An education system based on Iqbal’s philosophy will be based on the unification approach encompassing both science and religion.

Bibliography

Iqbal Institute of Policy Studies. (2020). Water Scarcity in Pakistan & Our Policy Measures. Islamabad: IIPS. Available at https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=230540611246781