Surrayya Jabeen

Many people have been giving their views on improving education. I distinguish between education and schooling. Schooling is what we talk about when we use the word education. We are all educated, not everyone is schooled i.e. has been taught to read or write a language.

 Why don’t parents send their kids to school in the length and breadth of Pakistan? There are several reasons: 

Lack of infrastructure, roads, modes of transport in the area and teachers

Lack of buildings and teaching material (due to lack of funds, as well as corruption) 

It is generally believed that current syllabi focus on gaining worldly knowledge, and teach foreign values based on immorality being taught in a language of the Brutal British. Their system focuses on accents and social status hearkening back to the age of the Quraish. Students are taught pride in their abilities without acknowledging God’s benevolence.

They are encouraged to become Galileo, about whom it is said that he used to treat everyone around him like flies because he had knowledge they didn’t have. He was hanged by the ignorant Europeans for stating that the Earth was not the centre of the universe. Today the European scholars are shocked to learn that when the Islamic world was told this fact about the earth, it didn’t cause a storm, everyone simply accepted the fact that earth is not the centre of the universe. 

It is also believed that the current the syllabi are unsuitable for girls or ladies. The so called educated or ‘city folk’ dress their women up like the ladies from the days of the Quraish and other non Muslims. The girls who go to school refuse to cover their hair afterwards, start talking back to their parents (saying that they are backwards, lack etiquette or civilized behavior).

Civilization is defined as presence of large buildings in ones area. Fancy expensive clothing must be worn if one needs to be respected; a dress code is followed to visit certain places, eating with cutlery which is forbidden by the noble Hadith. Values from the foreign TV channels decide what is good or bad. The educated members of society bug girls walking on the streets, parents are unwilling to send their daughters outside. The govt. is too poor to build a world class school for each hamlet in the country. 

All these above mentioned values are alien to the masses of Pakistan and other non European countries.

Solution 

Focus on eastern values in education. This can be done on many levels. 

Teach Quran in every school as part of the syllabus along with its meaning in the language of the four provinces in every province. This would build trust of the parents and help enhance the education level of their progeny. Hadith must be part of the syllabus in the high schools. It would also make females comfortable to go and acquire knowledge. Females do not feel they will be harassed if they step outside the house. Arabic language must be taught at all levels all over Pakistan to familiarize oneself with God’s word and law.

The current legal system follows English law (which is based on Roman law). Basically it’s just a way for lawyers to maintain hegemony and mint money. The law is written in a coded form and the legal degree teaches to decipher the code. Unlike Islamic Jurisprudence, not everyone is in a position to understand the law. All politicians tend to be lawyers since they are ones who get to write the constitution and then interpret and apply it as they please. In Islamic view everyone who is a practicing Muslim can run a country, the criteria being devotion to God and an honest conduct. 

Teach the main Sufi poets of the world such as Rumi and local language ones. In Sindh we can teach Shah and Sachal. This will produce a kindness loving society not a building loving one.

Increase the budget for education by only a fraction. U.S spends $20 million on education per child per annum. We don’t have to spend so much but we will achieve more God willing. All we have to do is take away all the bad eggs from education system. We can use the media to create awareness among the people to send their daughters to school and provide equal education to them as the boys. They can be taught the pre-British syllabus like Gulistan and Bustan along with the major developments and contributions of westerners in any field that does not clash with our word view.

 Set up a school of Divinity in each University like in western universities like Harvard. All medical students must be taught Tibb –e- Nabvi, this is a famous book listing all the herbs with their medicinal properties. Non Muslim medical students at Harvard medical students have been seen to carry it in their bags.  

This action will help alleviate some of the problems people face when you mention it to them that they need to send their kids to school and universities.

 We can make other non Eastern scholars educate the world about our value system by translating the works of gems like Mirza Qaleech Baig  in the Western languages so that everyone can benefit from these pearls of wisdom. Molana Jalal-ud din Rumi said: 

If your knowledge of fire has been turned to certainty by words alone, then seek to be cooked by the fire itself. Don’t abide in borrowed certainty. There is no real certainty until you burn; if you wish for this, sit down in the fire.

I Read a letter in a newspaper once, the person suggested that Shah's risala should be made part of the syllabi all over Sindh. I think it should be made part of the syllabus all over Pakistan, which means teaching its translation in Urdu and English to students all over the Pakistan, this would pave the way for it to be part of the syllabi in Western universities also. Perhaps it will be far easier to make it a part of the syllabus in the US and Europe, because those populations are more receptive to Sufi teachings.
There is a movie out that uses the same idea:
Molana Rumi meeting Shams of Tabriz.

A guy meets an attendant at a Gas (petrol) station and the attendant takes a vertical jump going up several stories high, the character wants to know how he did that and can he teach it to him?
At that point the Sufi (attendant) tells him that all this is within you already, you just need to tap into it... and the so the story begins.
So he begins his lesson in spirituality and then re-lapses into old habits occasionally.
Eventually coming to the conclusion that in order to achieve the level he desires, he is going to have to change his life style... 

Every now and then I used to get the opportunity to watch the TV program presented by Dr. Wayne Dyer called Power of Intention on Public Television in the US. I have watched it about 15 times so far and every time I learn something new, would you believe it. He quotes Rumi as follows:

Sell your cleverness, be in a state of bewilderment, and always be in a state of bewilderment

When I read somewhere that Madonna read Rumi I was shocked, Madonna is an actress which translates as ‘airhead’ not someone who would be interested in something as deep and meaningful as Rumi’s Sufi teachings. Hadrat Shah Abdul Latif (R.A) shows a similar sentiment as Rumi’s line above in the following words: 

            PachaN ghaNa pachaaya toon pachaN khey ba pachai

Interaction increases understanding between peoples. There is a tradition in US and England as well as other European cities to go pick fruits on farms after harvesting as a sort of an outing for the day. Families go and pick strawberries or cherries for a day in the country side and whatever they pick they get to keep. This allows those who live cooped up in city houses to get out and enjoy a bit of nature.  They even take their tiny babies in their strollers. Since the farms have nice little paths built to walk and take a stroller easily it’s not a big deal. Asian families go to Kent in England driving from London for the day taking their children along and enjoy a day at the farm. 

We should introduce this in Sindh. This allows those who live cooped up in city houses to get out and enjoy a bit of nature.  Americans even take their tiny babies in their strollers. Since the farms there have nice little paths built to walk and take a stroller easily it’s not a big deal. It’s not just an outing but a learning experience. 

So far some Karachiites do go to farmhouses in the near neighborhood, or even as far as Hyderabad in the summer holidays; those who know someone in Hub (near Karachi) can enjoy private beaches (go scuba diving etc) in this Balochistani town. 

It is generally found that those who live close to nature are less proud, God Almighty does not love the proud. He is the only one who should be proud. We are just a creation among many, we can’t create a fly. Our education systems ought to focus on teaching people not to be proud. Salahuddin Ayubi used to get orders from slaves to sign papers without a frown, he is remembered today in Europe as the best among the people.  Let me relate an incident that I had the fortune of witnessing:

I was standing at the airport in Karachi; I came across a few villagers. The old man who came up the stairs, with an ajrak and his daughter who believed only knowledge she ever needs is the Quran which she can read otherwise she has no western education as such.

They were off to perform the Umra. The old man has been going to the Bait-ul Ateeq since he was barely a teenager but the daughter was going for the first time. I sat on the floor to talk to her, just like her. Every body was looking at me because they were all speaking Sindhi with me in very carefree way; which is typical of villagers. Most probably people were wondering why I was sitting on the floor. The reason was simple; I dislike class/caste systems. Allah had beckoned them to His house, they were worthy of visiting it...Allah loves the simple folk and hates the proud. When I was little my grandmother used to say to me “Pride only suits Allah”. They were unaware that the world around them is looking down upon them and seeing them with the eyes of the former enslavers the British; they didn’t have fancy clothing or English attire. To the onlookers at the airport they were of an inferior breed. ‘The educated’ ones ought to behave like Westerners’ is the thinking.  

We switch the TV on and see our parliament members fighting like dogs imitating the barbaric western practices…  

In the west the politicians used to fight duals at a drop of a hat to resolve disputes, now they consider that too uncivilized but engage in shouting matches instead in assemblies which sometimes leads to really uncivilized behavior from Eastern standards but our national assembly members engage in such behavior due to TV images being telecast from so called 'civilized' capitals of London and Rome so its ok for them to imitate that!!!!

 Our values must be brought about in Science and Medicine in our country not simply mimic Western trends. West is dogged by its own socio-religious past. Take for example, cloning. 

President Bush is not going to release federal funds for stem cell research. It is scary to think that someone might use those cloned humans (if they are permitted to be cloned) as an organ donating machine. Since there are no laws to protect clones, and western society is not ready to handle something that is not mentioned in the religious text. If some wack job takes gun and shoots them, what will happen, would they even be given a burial?
 

Since no one in the US believes that the cloned individuals have a soul, God help them.

Secondly the society finds anything they have not seen as 'crazy', in the Victorian era, anyone suffering from a headache was considered crazy... nowadays they have become a little advanced but you find the words 'you are freaking me out' or this is crazy' in everyday conversations... it used to be like this for anyone with a physical disabilities not long ago, everyone in the US thought that physical disability was contagious, still today they think it but dare not say it!!!! President George W. Bush released some physically disabled people from mental homes via a presidential order after his inauguration in 2001. 

Let me illustrate another point on different values in different parts of the world and how one must live according to one’s own, by the following example: 

A lady asked Oxford University for admission; she was refused on the grounds that she didn’t speak her mother tongue of English with a posh accent. She was a cockney, no one before her had the opportunity to apply to university before. So she went and applied to Harvard in America, which accepted her because to Americans her accent sounded posh, she was British!  

Sindhis are all already educated in the following manner which can be beacon of light to the world: We are teaching the next generation:

In helping others we enhance ourselves, for when you light another's path you can't help but cast light on your own path. Realize that no one stands taller in success than the one who bends down to help those in need. We become enriched by enriching the lives of others. By living a life that is helpful, one's life becomes significant. One needs to practice righteousness in privacy, generosity when needy, and patience during misfortunes, sense of control when angry and truthfulness even when fearful.

The Company of the generous is delightful. The generous focus on other than themselves, and their generosity not only makes them likeable but also makes the world a happier and better place.

Remember, we are here to enrich the world, and if we ever forget that we impoverish ourselves

In a humorous incident, a beggar asked a woman for money and she said; "I'll give you a dollar, not because you deserve it but because it pleases me". So the beggar said; "Thanks Ma’am, why don't you give me $100 and you could feel really, really good about it."

A missionary doctor was being interviewed on a Sunday morning by a religious TV anchor in America and she said she worked at a missionary hospital in Shikarpur Pakistan. She lamented the lack of infrastructure and the fact that she couldn’t go to a restaurant and eat with her other female colleagues, but she said she didn’t teach the local ladies anything, they taught her.

She was an American doctor lets not forget (The highest profession a person can be trained to achieve) who came to Shikarpur to convert people to Christianity but ended up learning from the simple ladies who never attended school. This is what Dr. Amartya Sen refered to when he declared that not everyone is schooled but everyone is educated. He was taught by MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the best science based institution in the world) in Boston. But he felt that ignorance around him and his experience in India came to his rescue, he found that the peasant farmers in India were more educated than what he had observed around him while in America. 

So everyone including Sindhis need to acquire the skills of ‘schooling’ then they will be in a better position to make the world a better place with their ‘education’.