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Meaning and Types of Education Meaning: Education is the process of bringing desirable change into the behavior of human beings. It can also be defined as the Process of imparting or acquiring knowledge or habits through instruction or study. The behavioral changes must be directed towards a desirable end. They should be acceptable socially, culturally and comically and result in a change in knowledge, skill, attitude and understanding. With the development of society; education has taken many shapes, such as child education, adult education, technical education, health education, physical education and so on. The other broad classification could be: 1. Formal Education 2. Non formal education and 3. Informal Education Formal Education Formal Education is: 1. Institutional activity. 2. Chronologically graded hierarchically structured. 3. Uniform. 4. Subject oriented. 5. Full time. 6. Leads to certificates, diplomas, degrees Non Formal Education Non Formal Education is: 1. Flexible. 2. Life environment and learner oriented. 3. Diversified in content and method. 4. Non-authoritarian and 5. Built on learner participation. 6. It mobilizes local resources. 7. It enriches human and environmental a potential. E.g. Agricultural Extension. Informal Education Informal Education is: 1. Life long process. 2. Individual learns from daily experiences. 3. Individual learns from exposure to the environment at home, at work, at play etc. Those who educate children well are more to be honoured than they who produce them; for these only gave them life, those arts of living well. Aristotle Education is the foremost among the five basic needs of human beings bread, clothing, shelter, education [itself] and medical aid. Besides being an essential condition of continuity of existence, it can be the only means of mans development, achievement and attaining the goal. In his primitive stage on the earth it was due to mans self-realization based education that he learnt about Ahimsa an eternal value permanently present in his nature1, and through its constant development he kept pace towards securing existence and making progress. Even

today progress is possible only through multifaceted lifelong education process; making this process conducive in prevailing situations of space and time. Hence, education plays a vital role in mans life. Recognizing its importance in life . An educated person is respected everywhere and education beats the beauty and the youth. Undoubtedly, it is more important in making mans life meaningful and worthy in comparison to any other available means and it is, to reiterate, indispensable for the complete development of man. In the absence of education the state of human life could be equated to that of an animal. Undoubtedly, in the absence of education a man is not a human being in the real sense; he is merely of the name and there is no place for him among those who are educated. An ordinary one, who never gets opportunity of attending a school and is deprived completely from the formal education, may be found saying: there is no future without education. Not only this, words like uncivilized, impractical and directionless are used about those uneducated. An uneducated is declared a body without a soul. The life of an uneducated man is as useless as the tail of a dog which neither covers its rear end, nor protects it from the bites of insects. Further, in this regard, from the academic world scholars-thinkers of repute have, along with declaring life to be meaningless of those uneducated, mentioned about floating universal order in the absence of proper and capable education process. Hence, to say, if there is no education process or if life is deprived of it, the universal order will not only squeak, but its conduction will also be difficult. In the context of importance and role of education in mans life nothing more is required to mention, but to accept necessarily that human life can become efficient, meaningful and worthy only on the basis and strength of education. Education: Meaning and Purpose Education, the word currently used in English, is, in fact, derived from the Latin word Educare, which is further originated from Educere and in its basic spirit, which is at the root of it, this is the manifestation or expression. If one goes further in depth of this spirit, it will become apparent that it reveals the inner capability of man that guides him continuously throughout at various levels in all walks of life. Socrates, the ancient Greek philosopher has categorically said that education is to draw out what are already withinwhile Plato his chief disciple, states that it is the acquisition of virtue by child.

"Education", says Aristotle, is the creation of a sound mind in a sound body". It encompasses in itself the all round development of an individual. The success of spreading education to the widest possible area lies in the way it is imparted. With the ever changing technology scenario, the methods of imparting education too have been undergoing changes. But education itself is an age old process, rather as old as the human race itself. It was man's education through Nature, our greatest teacher, that he learned how to make fire by rubbing stones or invented the wheal to make tasks easier. Education in real earnest helps us in restraining the objectionable predisposition in ourselves. The aims of education have been categorized variously by different scholars. While Herbert Spencer believed in the 'completeliving aim', Herbart advocated the moral aim. The complete living aim signifies that education should prepare us for life. This view had also been supported by Rousseau and Mahatma Gandhi. They believed in the complete development or perfection of nature. All round development has been considered as the first and foremost aim of education. At the same time education ensures that there is a progressive development of innate abilities. Pestalozzi is of the view Education is natural, harmonious and progressive development of mans innate powers. Education enables us to control, give the right direction and the final sublimation of instincts. It creates good citizens. It helps to prepare the kids for their future life. Education inculcates certain values and principles and also prepares a human being for social life. It civilizes the man. The moral aim of Herbart states that education should ingrain moral values in children. He is of the view that education should assist us in curbing our inferior whims and supplant them with superior ideas. This moral aim has also been stressed upon by Gandhiji in the sense of formation of character. The preachers of this aim do not undermine the significance of knowledge, vocational training or muscular strength. But simultaneously they have also laid stress on their view that the undisclosed aim of education is to assist development of moral habits. Then there is the social aim which means that education should produce effective individuals in the sense that they realize their responsibilities towards the society. And we all know that man is a social being. The interactive ability is a must as it is through interaction that we come to know of our responsibilities. Edmund Burke asks and he himself answers: "What is education? A parcel of books? Not at all, but an intercourse with the world, with men and with affairs." Only bookish knowledge takes a child nowhere. It should be further perfected by practical usage with experience. "Reading maketh a full man; conference a ready man; and writing an exact man" is a pithy and precise statement in which the essayist Francis Bacon sums up the advantages of studies. Even Wordsworth in his poem The Tables Turned advocated against bookish knowledge. Books! 'tis a dull and endless strife: Come, hear the woodland linnet, How sweet his music! on my life, There's more of wisdom in it. Wordsworth was a die-hard naturalist. He wanted man to consider Nature his teacher. Naturalists believe that instincts of the child should be taken as the basis of education. The

child should have freedom. Rabindra Nath Tagore was of the opinion that child should be left free in order to gather experience and to understand his own mistakes and shortcomings. The twentieth century saw the emergence of the concept of Pragmatism. Charles Pierce was the first man to introduce the concept of pragmatism in his philosophy. Later on it was popularized by John Dewey, William James, Kilpatrick and Schiller. They believed that the external world is real and the reality is being constantly created and is always changing. Knowledge and truth is one and the same thing according to them. Whatever the approach towards education, one thing we all agree: Education is for the betterment of the individual and in the long run for the society. Education helps us prepare ourselves for the life ahead. Darwin gave the theory of the survival of the fittest; we can say in a way that education prepares the individual for the struggle of life for his own survival. Knowledge combined with proper guidance can spell success. A dose of proper guidance should be commenced right from the base itself, that is, in school days. Here comes the role of the teacher in moulding a child's mind. Educating a child, especially in the beginning years of schooling, is a very tricky job. That is probably because the childs mind is like the unmoulded clay at that time. Therefore to get the best results and prepare wellinformed and erudite adults, proper guidance is a must. For a proper system of education the teacher should encourage a student both in terms of mental encouragement and in lending a helping hand as and when needed. A student needs help for training his mind in such a way that it develops a tendency to gather knowledge from all possible sources. While on the other hand too much help if lent to him will make him dependant and used to spoon feeding. Selfstudy is the most sought after quality in a student. It helps them at the later stages. But because the child is the father of man (Wordsworth) all the qualities have to be inculcated right in childhood. And teacher along with parents plays a very significant role. The aims of education should be kept in mind, although a thorough study of these aims may not be imperative. A teacher should make a child ready to face the society, inculcate moral habits in him and thus, assist him in his all round development. Education should not be considered synonymous with all that we learn. It does not signify the things we mug up before appearing for an examination. Education is what remains behind, when we fail to remember the mugged up portion. After we have left school, we realize that although we have forgotten quite a few things we learnt but still retain a very large part of it. The latter part is education. Education formally begins in school but actually it begins the day we are born and the process goes on for the whole of our life. This is where the aims of education come in. Education is not only the formal part we gain in schools, colleges or universities. It also includes the lessons life teaches us in various forms. For instance, when a child gets his finger pricked by a needle accidentally he learns that a needle is sharp and can hurt a person, so he will learn to avoid hurting himself in the future. This is only one example from thousands of other instances. We can even learn a lesson of a lifetime from a beggar. The birds inspire us to rise high. An ant motivates us for hard work. We learn some things just by doing them on our own, they are neve r taught in a school. A childs first teacher is his mother, then his home and then come the formal agencies of education. Nature too is a great teacher. English poetry too gives us quite a few guidelines for leading a better life. It was not for nothing that Wordsworth went on to remark:

"One impulse from the vernal wood May teach you more of a man Of moral evil and of good Than all the sages can." As long as there is life, we require education; we need ways to modify our views about life, to face it, to live it in a better way. And education teaches us all this. Even when you read a comic strip, it educates you in some way. They improve our language and make us realize that life isnt so bad after all that it cant get worse, as states Bill Watterson in Calvin and Hobbes. The witty humour of Dennis the Menace enriches us no end. The aim of education, says Walter Grophices, "is not the specialist but the man of vision who can humanize our life by integrating emotional demands with our new knowledge." In another way too, the insects and animals also teach you a lot. The easiest example is that of an ant. It inspires you to work hard. Therefore we can say there are innumerable modes of education, all that one needs is to have a discerning eye. Education enriches a person in terms of accepting a defeat. A student should first of all be taught so that he is encouraged to study. Side by side he should be readied to face a failure. As Charles F. Kettering rightly says, The chief job of the education is to teach people how to fail intelligently." This will help the child coping with the other adversities of life. Education, thus, makes a person an improved version of himself and the world a much better place to live in.

Education, Meaning, Aim and Function

The process of defining the meaning of Education is to problematize its lexicology and re-conceptualize it. An example is illustrated from real day-life. A multinational company involved in the making of advanced pharmaceutical products decides to get rid of its wastes in a cheaper manner rather then waste-treat them. They dump the wastes around the coast of a poorer African continent based on the company's policy of maximum profits. Are the board of directors in the company educated? They are, one can assume for rhetorical comfort. An illiterate, native-tribe living in the rainforest jungles of Papua New Guinea doesn't know the meaning of Environmental jargon: 'Reduce, Recycle & Reuse'; yet, they conserve and sustain the environment, based on the level of skills known to them. Are the people of the rainforest uneducated just because they are illiterate? The problems connected with narrowness of meaning called Education emerge within the contextuality of the above mentioned examples, and the conceptual difficulties involved in attempting to centre meaning upon Education is by all means complicated. So the meaning of education has to emerge from this narrowness to the broadness of meaning. In its broadness of meaning Education is the process of 'stimulating' the 'person' with Experiences, Language and Ideology, beginning from the time of birth and continuing till the time of death. This meaning of Education would give rise to the Aim, as disseminating formally, non-formally, culturally, nationally, scientifically and ritually-skills, literacy, knowledge, norm and values, as pedagogies of the institutions giving rise to the aim. This aim would be directly related to the perpetuation of that Society as an ideological structure. Aim would again determine the Function of Education The function of Education would be thus related to how meaning and aims are synchronized into processes called experience of application. The thesis statement of this paper is developed on three levels-one, the meaning of education as the stimulation of person a with language, experiences and ideology-two, aim of education being dissemination and perpetuation, and three, function, as synchronized processing. The development of the Meaning of Education as a stimulation of a person from birth to death with language, experiences and ideology makes the person, a Being of the process as an Ontology. This process starts right from birth as affective language, for example, a mother's cooing, to a process where the person becomes a cognitive structure, as I-the speaking subject or ego-subject. Here, the individual undergoes the norms, traditions of the

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society's culture and learns to adapt and appropriate the symbolic codes of the society. Along with this process, the individual also learns to formalize his or her adaptation and appropriation to a literacy process i.e. developing skills and competencies. Thus we find that the Meaning of Education to be multi-leveled as well as multiple -oriented, through both formalist and non-formalist institutions of society. The formalist institutions which procreate the Meaning of Education are the Schools, the Government, Law and Order etc. Other formalist institutions like family, religion and native-traditions can work both openly as well as silently to orient an individual to the meaning of experience as the educated. For example a mother's oral transmission of a folk song to the daughter is silent whereas a marriage function is a more open aspect as the performance of a culture's pedagogy. Thus language and experiences generate the codes for that society to experience the Meaning of Education, making possible for ideologies to exist. Thus the meaning of Education would give rise to the Aim, as disseminating formally, non-formally, culturally, nationally, scientifically and ritually-skills, literacy, knowledge, norms and values as pedagogies. Dissemination would mean the spreading of the Society's cultural norms and values. It would also mean the spreading of Nationalism as democratic-pluralism, multiculturalism, diversity and celebration or its reverse as intolerance, authoritarianism through pedagogies; it is also the development of systematized pedagogies- promoted as theoretical and applied within the Society's Scientific and Technocratic institutions. The Aim of Education would be directly related to the perpetuation of that Society as an ideological structure. The contemporariness of perpetuation would answer the questions related to the aim of Education being: empowerment, sustainability, preservation, minimization, conflict resolution, creativity and innovation. The Aim of Education as well as the Meaning of Education give rise to the Function of Education as meaning, that is the synchronized processing of Aim and Function into a materialist, operational process. Synchronization of the Meaning and Aim of education takes places at various levels action. They are Making, Transmission and Implementation and Cultural-Simulation. At the Making level, the Function of Education is connected with 'Policy Formulation' related to the Meaning and Aim of Education. Policy Formulation can reflect on multiple issues like development, sustainability, scientific progress, promotion of rights, dignity and culture, energy management, disaster management, peace and conflict resolution. Once policies are made they are transmitted and implemented through the society's institutional structures like the legal system, the education system, the society's welfare management etc. Cultural-simulation takes place both formally and non -formally as society's religious, cultural and familial institutions. They perform many social and cultural roles within the home as well celebration or mourning for an occasion. To conclude, it is pertinent to summarize the thesis developed that is, the Meaning of Education has been broadened to involve the stimulation of a Person, with Language, Experiences and Ideology. The Meaning of Education becomes vital to the Aim of Education as dissemination and perpetuation. The Meaning and Aim of Education becomes synchronized into the Function of education as Making, Transmission and Participation.

Essay on the Meaning of Education

by Neha Pansare

Education is one of the basic activities of people in all human societies. The continued existence of society depends upon the transmission of culture to the young. It is essential that every new generation must be given training in the ways of the group so that the same tradition will continue. Every society has its own ways and means of fulfilling this need. Education has come to be one of the ways of fulfilling this need. The term education is derived from the Latin educare which literally means to bring up\ and is connected with the verb educare which means to bring forth, The idea of education is not merely to impart knowledge to the pupil in some subjects but to develop in him those habits and attitudes with which he may successfully face the future.

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The Latin author Varro wrote. The midwife brings forth, the nurse brings up, the tutor trains and the master teaches\Plato was of the opinion that the end of education was to develop in the body and in the soul (of the pupil) beauty and all the perfection of which they are capable. It means, in short, a sound mind in a sound body mens sana in corpore sano). According to the Aristotelian conception, the aim of education is to develop mans faculties, especially, his mind, so that he may be able to enjoy the contemplation of the supreme truth, goodness and beauty in which perfect happiness essentially consists. As Peter Worsely says, A large part of our social and technical skills are acquired through deliberate instruction which we call education. It is the main waking activity of children from the ages of five to fifteen and often beyond. A large part of the budget of many developed and developing countries is set apart for education. Education employs a large army of people. Sociologists are becoming more and more aware of the importance and role of educational institutions in the modern industrialised societies. In recent years~ education has become the major interest of some j sociologists. As a result a new branch of sociology called Sociology of Education has become established. Definition of Education: (1) Durkheim conceives of education as the socialisation of the younger generation. He further states that it is a continuous effort to impose on the child ways of seeing, feeling and acting which he could not have arrived at spontaneously. (2) Sumner defined education as the attempt to transmit to the child the mores of the group, so that he can learn what conduct is approved and what disapproved.how he ought to behave in all kinds of cases: what he ought to believe and reject. (3) F.J. Brown and J.S. Roucek say that education is the sum total of the experience which moulds the attitudes and determines the conduct of both the child and the adult. (4) James Welton in Encyclopaedia Britannica (11th Edition) writes that education consists in an attempt on the part of the adult members of human society to shape the development of the coming generation with its own ideals of life. (5) A. W. Green writes: Historically, it (education) has meant the conscious training of the young for the later adoption of adult roles. By modern convention, however, education has come to mean formal training by specialists within the formal organisation of the school. (6) Samuel Koenig: Education may also be defined as the process whereby the social heritage of a group is passed on from one generation to another as well as the process whereby the child becomes socialised, i.e., learns the rules of behaviour of the group into which he is born.

THE IMPORTANCE OF EDUCATION IN ISLAM

November 20, 2006 moralsandethics

42 Votes

THE CREATION OF NABI ADAM (A.S)When Hazrat Adam (A.S.) was created, Allah S.W.T. said to the angels to bow down. Everybody bowed down except Iblis. The reason Iblis refused to bow down was because he said that Nabi Adam (A.S.) was made of clay and he was made from fire. How can fire bow down to clay? The angels looked at it in a different way. They looked at the inside of Nabi Adam (A.S.) because Allah S.W.T. gave knowledge to Nabi Adam (A.S.) In the Holy Quran, Allah S.W.T. says in Sura 2, verses 31-34: And he taught Adam all the names, then presented them to the angels; then He said: Tell me the names of those if you are right. They said: Glory be to thee! We have no knowledge but that which Thou hast taught us; surely Thou art the knowing, the wise. He said: O Adam! Inform them of their names. Then when he had informed them of their names, He said: Did I not say to you that I surely know what is ghaib in the heavens and the earth and (that) I know what you manifest and what you hide? And when We said to the angels: Make obeisance to Adam they did obeisance but Iblis (did it not). He refused and he was proud and he was one of the unbelievers. THE DUTY AND COMPULSION OF ATTAINING OF KNOWLEDGE Knowledge is the most important thing in ones life. There are two kinds of knowledge: Religious knowledge and Secular knowledge..These two kinds of knowledges are very important for a human being. Secular for this day to day dwelling and religious for his smooth life on earth and hereafter. The Holy Prophet of Allah (S.A.W.) has said: Atta libul ilm faridhatol kuli muslim. This Hadith means: Attainment of knowledge is a must for every Muslim. Imam Jaffer as-Sadiq (A.S.) has said: Acquire knowledge of religious jurisprudence. Any one among you who does not become efficient in religious jurisprudence is a rustic. Allah S.W.T. says in the Quran in Sura 9, Verse 121: .let them devote themselves to studies in religion and admonish their comrades when they return to them so that they may guard themselves against evil. Imam Jaffer as-Sadiq (A.S.) has said in this same subject: I would rather like my companions to be flogged on their heads so that they may (be compelled to) acquire religious knowledge. Allah S.W.T. says in the Holy Quran in Sura 107, Verse 1-7: Didnt you see the one who denies religion (din)? Such is the one who repulses the orphan and does not encourage the feeding of the poor. So woe to the worshippers, who are neglectful to their prayers; those who (want but) to be seen (of men) but refuse (to supply even) the neighborly needs. THE ACADEMY FOUNDED BY IMAM JAFFER AS-SADIQ (A.S.)

9 I f we talk about knowledge, we can not forget Imam Jaffer as-Sadiq (A.S.). Imam Jaffer asSadiq (A.S.) was born on 17 Rabul-ul-awwal 83 A.H. Imam Jaffer as-Sadiq (A.S.) has the same birth date as that of our Holy Prophet (S.A.W.). The Imam became the Imam of the time when he was 31 years old. Imam Jaffer as-Sadiq (A.S.) has three titles; they are AsSadiq, Al-Fadil and At-Tahir. It was during the time of our sixth Imam (A.S.) that the Khalifah transferred from the Ummayids to the Abbasids. It was because of this transfer and the fights that took place, that Imam Jaffer as-Sadiq (A.S.) had plenty of time to spread Islam. Many foreigners, other than Arabs, came to visit Imam Jaffer as-Sadiq (A.S.) and Islam spread further. Imam Jaffer as-Sadiq (A.S.)s knowledge of all branches attracted many students from far places until his students numbered four thousand. Apart from fiqh, hadith, tafsir, etc. Imam Jaffer as-Sadiq (A.S.) also taught science, and other arts e.g. mathematics, and chemistry. One of the famous students of Imam Jaffer as-Sadiq (A.S.) was Jabir Ibn Hayyan who was a mathematician and a chemist. Jabir benefited so much from the Imams knowledge and guidance that he was able to write 400 books on different subjects. Wasil IbnAta founder of the Mutazlites, Abu Hanifah, the founder of the Hanafi sect and Malik Ibn Anas, the founder of the Maliki sect were all students of Imam Jaffer as-Sadiq (A.S.). KNOWLEDGE OF THE IMAMS We believe that the Imam, like the Prophet, must be the best among mankind and that he must excel in all human qualities, such as bravery, generosity, chasteness, truthfulness, justice, prudence, reason, wisdom, and morality. The reason for this is the same as that of which we gave for the Prophets superiority. He derives his education, the Divine commandments and all his knowledge from the Prophet or from the previous Imam. When a new question arises, he knows the answer from the divine inspiration through the pure mind that Allah has given him. If he gives attention to some matter in order to know it, he will obtain a perfect understanding with no error, for the Imams do not derive their knowledge from the methodological reasoning or from the teachings of men of knowledge although it is possible for their knowledge to be increased and strengthened. For the Prophet of Allah (S.A.W.) has said: O Lord, increase my knowledge! It has been narrated that Imam Muhammad al-Baqir (A.S) was passing along with his companions and saw a group of people waiting for a Christian priest who was to come out from a cave after his meditation of one whole year. Imam Baqir (A.S.) also waited with other people; as soon as the priest came out he addressed everybody present there and addressed the Imam you are not among these people; the priest then asked Are you among the educated or illiterate? The Imam replied I am not amongst the illiterate. The Imam was the treasure of knowledge (Bakir al-Uloom). The Imam was carrying the same torch from Imam Ali (A.S.) of (Salooni) ASK ME? I HAVE KNOWLEDGE OF SKIES MORE THAN KNOWLEDGE OF EARTH. We as the followers of the Ahlul-Bait should acquire knowledge and part with knowledge whatever we can. LEARNED MEN ARE OF MANY KINDS Prophet Muhammad (S.A.W.) is quoted to have said: He who learns for the sake of haughtiness, dies ignorant. He who learns only to talk, rather than to act, dies a hyprocite.

10 He who learns for the mere sake of debating, dies irreligious. He who learns only to accumulate wealth, dies an atheist. And he who learns for the sake of action, dies a mystic. Imam Jaffer as-Sadiq (A.S.) has said about acting with knowledge: Accept not deed without knowledge, and there is not knowledge except with action. So, whoever knows, his knowledge leads him to action, and whoever acts not has no knowledge. DEATH OF A RELIGIOUS SCHOLAR Imam Musa al-Kazim (A.S.) has said: When a believer dies, the angels weep over him and so do the portions of the earth on which he used to worship Allah and also the doors of heaven through which his good deeds ascended. His death causes such a void in Islam that nothing can fill up because the learned believers are fortresses of Islam like the protecting wall built around the city. The above hadith is trying to tell us that if we have knowledge we will succeed in the hereafter and if you have knowledge, dont be proud of it. All the Imams and the Prophets were never proud of their knowledge and we should follow our Imams and the Prophets. To end this essay, I will caught the Prophet: O Lord, increase my knowledge! This above saying is trying to tell us that knowledge can never end, you can increase knowledge everyday. Written by: Shahid Juma

Education in Islam
1) Importance of Education
In a society where religion and knowledge in general and science in particular do not go hand in hand, it seems necessary to briefly describe the position of Islam vis--vis knowledge, Islam, in theory as well as in practice, has always promoted knowledge. Distinctive mark of human beings over the angels is knowledge: "And Allah taught Adam all the names (2:31) The first verses of the Quran began with the word: "Read. Read in the name of thy Lord who created; [He] created the human being from blood clot. Read in the name of thy Lord who taught by the pen: [He] taught the human being what he did not know."(96: 15). The Qur'an says. "Are those who have knowledge equal to those who do not have knowledge?!(39:9). The Prophet of Islam (peace be upon him and his progeny) has also emphasized the importance of seeking knowledge in different ways: (a) Time: "Seek knowledge from the cradle to the grave."

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(b) Place: "Seek knowledge even if it is far as China." (c) Gender: "Seeking of knowledge is a duty of every Muslim" (d) Source: "Wisdom is the lost property of the believer, he should take it even if finds it in the mouth of amushrik." The Prophet did not only preach about importance of knowledge, he also gave examples of promoting knowledge. In the very first battle between the Muslims and unbelievers or Mecca, known as the war of Badr, the Muslims gain victory and caught seventy kuffars as prisoners of war. One of the criteria of releasing the POWs devised by the Prophet was that those who were literate among the prisoners could go free if they teach ten Muslim children how to read and write.

2) What Type of Knowledge?

Knowledge in Islam is normally divided into two broad categories: there is a famous saying "al-'ilm "ilman: 'ilmuadyan wa ilmu abdan - knowledge is of two kinds: the knowledge concerning religions and the knowledge concerning [human and physical] bodies." What has been mentioned above on the importance of knowledge refers to both, the religious as well as the secular knowledge. The Quran has specifically talked about science also: "In the creation of the heavens and the earth the alternation of the night and the day, in the ships that sail in the sea with their load. in the rain which Allah sends down from the sky and thus revives the earth after its death; and then He spread in all kinds of animals; in the changing of the winds: in the clouds which have been left suspending between the heaven and the earth -in all these are clear signs for the people who understand (2:164) "We shall show them Our signs in the horizons and in themselves." (41:53) The backwardness of the Muslims in last few centuries, as far as education is concerned, is because of the following: The Muslims lost leadership in the field of physical science and technology because of arrogance which led to stagnation. The invasion by the Mongols, who were barbarians and did not appreciate the value of knowledge: they burned down the most prestigious libraries in Baghdad. In the nineteenth century, when the Muslims attempted to revive the process of education and knowledge in their societies, they naively adapted the western secular system which had completely separated the religious sciences from the secular sciences. (Example of the Turkish reformers of the last century and also Egyptian intellectuals of the early twentieth century, especially Dr. Taha Husayn in his Mustaqbilu th-Thaqafah fi Misr. We can also mention Sir Syed Ahmad Khan of India.) The Muslim world is still suffering from the dissection between the religious and secular sciences.

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This issue goes back to the basic difference between the Islamic and Christian view of knowledge. In Christianity, the Bible relates the fall of man to the sin of stealing the fruit from the tree of knowledge; whereas, in Islam, the Quran describes knowledge as the basis on which the man was given preference over the angels. Even historically, the Christian church is full of stories about its Inquisitors who censored the works of science and also tortured the scientists if they views were contrary to what the Bible said. In Muslim history, no such institutionalized censorship or suppression of scientists can be found. In the Muslim world, you find the harmonious combination of the two types of knowledge. For example, in the person of Ibn Sina, you had someone who had written al-Isharat on philosophy and metaphysics, and also al-Qanun fitTibbon medicine, a book whose Latin translation was used as a text in western universities till two centuries ago! This dissection between the religious and secular sciences is the root of all the problems in the area of education for the Muslims world-wide. The greatest challenge for the Muslims of the twenty-first century is the issue of the bringing together of the two sciences, religious and secular, in such a way that knowledge brings people closer to God and gives meaning to the life on this earth. This is not impossible because historically the Muslims have done that in the past. Right from the days of Imam Muhammad al- Baqir (a.s.) till the down-fall of the Muslim empire. We had Imam Muhammad al-Baqir (a.s) who taught theology to Hisham bin Hakam, Ahadithto Zurarah bin A'yan, and science to Jabir bin Hayyan. In our Imams, we see the example of a single source for religious as well as secular sciences. The western science is based on experimental method. Let me just quote something about the alchemy of Muslims from Will Durant's The Story of Civilization,1 Muslim developed experimental method which is the greatest pride and tool of the modern mind. When Roger Bacon proclaimed that method to Europe, live hundred years after Jabir bin Hayyan, he owned his illumination to the Moors of Spain, whose light had come from the Muslim East." But, for today, I would like to briefly look at this issue in the Western context and propose some ideas which hopefully would generate discussions in the workshop this afternoon.

3) Education at the Basic Level

What can we do to combine the religions and secular education for Muslim children in North America? There are two solutions to these problems: a short-term and a long-term solution.

a) The Short Term Solution

Send our children to the public or private school for secular education; and for their religious education, send them to the: Sunday schools and summer programs. This is what we are doing at this stage of our settlement in this continent. But this short-term solution is not a complete solution, its still suffers from the problem of separating religion from science; religion from real life issues. If the parents do not implement what is taught to the students at the Sunday schools, then there is the danger that the student might suffer from the double standard syndrome: behave as a Muslim in madrasah, masjid and majlis but. behave as a regular with others.

b) The Long-Term Solution

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Creation of full time Islamic schools. This will provide The Muslim students with a morally Islamic atmosphere turning the peer pressure in favour of Islam rather than against Islam. Secondly, a full time Islamic school would integrate the secular sciences with religious sciences science will became not only a servant of man but also a means of serving Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala.

4) Education at Advanced Level

At the present stage of our settlement, on this continent, we cannot think of the same solution for the advanced level or education as we presented about the basic level of education. Maybe, our future generations may explore the means and ways of establishing an Islamic university which our students can study the so-called 'non-religious' sciences not as anti-religious but as part of their 'religious' outlook. At the moment, however, our efforts should be concentrated on bridging the gap between the 'ulama and the scientists on the intellectual and mental levels. This may be done in two ways:

a) Short Term
There should be regular inter-action, dialogue and discussion between the ulama and scholars of secular sciences.

b) Long Term
(a) The 'ulama should become familiar with the modern scientific issues: their information on social, economic, and ethical issues of our time must be up- to-date and correct. In the old Islamic system, there was no separation between the centers of learning of religious and secular sciences. You could have gone to Baghdad, Hella, Najaf, Ray, Cairo, Fez, Qum or Cordova for seeking of religious as well as scientific knowledge. Even now, I personally know of examples among the 'ulama' of Qum who had hired a learned economist from the University of Tehran to visit them on a weekly basis to discuss the most modern and advance economic theories of the time. My own grandfather was an alim and also a tabib. (b) The Muslim scientists must familiar themselves with the basic texts of Islam: the Qur'an and sunnah. The Muslim scientists must become familiar with the Islamic literature related to the areas of their specialization. When the Prophet said, "I am leaving two precious things amongst you: the Book of Allah and my family; as long as you hold to them you will never be led astray," he was not only addressing the ulama': he was leaving these two guides for the entire ummah. Out of six thousand and some verses of the Qur'an, only five hundred arc on fiqh, The verses on nature and creation are still waiting explanation by the Muslim scientists. The ahadith on nature and science arc still waiting for explanation at the hands of Muslim scientists. Allamah Majlisi has compiled a 110 volumes encyclopaedia ofAhadith known as Biharul Anwar. In this compilation, there a complete volume on the verses and ahadith related to the earth and heavens; this particular volume is sub-titled as 'kitabu s-sama" wa 'l ardh" the book of the heaven and earth. Small steps have already been taken by some scientists to study the original texts of Islam on scientific issues. The fore-most example is that of Dr. Maurice BuCaille in his Bible, Qur'an Science. Also a group of Canadian science Lists from the University of Toronto were invited in early eighties by a university in Arabia to study

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embryology in the Quran and hadith. These non-Muslims were astonished to see that the Qur'an spoke about issues which have been discovered only recently by the modern science on embryology. My prayers is to see that Muslim scientists come up with ground-breaking theories based on the Quran andAhadith rather than wait for science to discover something and then say that it was mentioned by the Qur'an 1400 years ago!

5) Some more Suggestions

The Shi'ah community of North America is, al hamdulila-Lah, affluent to take care of its children. And I strongly believe that our organizations, specially the federal, national or umbrella organizations, must establish scholarship programs for those who want to pursue advance studies in all fields of knowledge. They should also establish 'awards' for those of our children who show excellence in their academic fields. Even Muslim scholars and scientists should be awarded for their achievements. Such projects already exist among other ethnic and religious groups. e.g., the Jewish people, who recognise the achievements of their own people. We should we not take pride in our community members and support them. If there are organizations which have such programs, then they should be more publicized among- our communities all over North America. I hope the ideas I have thrown around will help in generating discussion and formulating a vision and a view of future, which, I believe is optimistic. Remember, our Imams have said that if you have to select between wealth and knowledge, go for knowledge: wealth can he stolen but knowledge can never be taken away; wealth decreases with usage but the more you use your knowledge the more you increase in it. Look at the examples of our Imams: the rulers took away the wealth but they could not take away the knowledge which had been bestowed upon them by Allah. In spite of all the bitterness between Imam Ali and first caliphs, the second caliph used to approach Imam Ali whenever he could not resolve a legal or Qur'anic problem. We are in minority in this continent; when political stability and economic prosperity is there, we as immigrants or minorities are acceptable. But no one knows what will happen to the present tolerant environment when the economic indicator goes down or these countries lose their political stability. Look at the anti-immigrant, sentiments in Europe during the last two years. Our wealth may be taken away; but if we have knowledge, no one will be able to deprive us of it. With knowledge, we may regain our wealth; but with wealth, you cannot buy knowledge

The Importance of Education in Islam

To seek knowledge is a sacred duty, it is obligatory on every Muslim, male and female. The first word revealed of the Qur?an was "Iqra" READ! Seek knowledge! Educate yourselves! Be educated. Surah Al-Zumr, ayah 9 reveals: "Are those equal, those who know and those who do not know?" Surah Al-Baqarah, ayah 269 reveals: "Allah grants wisdom to whom He pleases and to whom wisdom is granted indeed he receives an overflowing benefit."

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Centuries old monarchy, colonialism and the oppressive rule of their own people have brought about moral and spiritual degeneration of Muslims throughout the world. To retrieve them from this degeneration, it?s about time that the Muslim Ummah restructures its educational priorities along Islamic lines, fulfilling the existing needs as well. By virtue of such an educational program, the future generations will become the torch-bearers of Islamic values and play an effective role in the present world. The challenges of modern times call for rebuilding the structure of our educational program on such a foundation as to fulfil our spiritual as well as temporary obligations. Today we need an education system which can produce, what the late Sayyid Abul A?la Mawdudi said, "Muslim philosopher, Muslim scientist, Muslim economist, Muslim jurist, Muslim statesman, in brief, Muslim experts in all fields of knowledge who would reconstruct the social order in accordance with the tenets of Islam." The Muslims today are the most humiliated community in the world. And should they persist in following the same educational program as given by their colonial masters, they will not be able to recover themselves from moral and spiritual decadence. Ibn Mas?ud (Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Messenger of Allah (S) said: The position of only two persons is enviable; the person whom Allah bestowed wealth empowering him to spend it in the way of righteousness, and the person whom Allah gave wisdom with which he adjudges and which he teaches to others. According to Tirmidhi and Ibn Majah, Ibn Abbas (Allah be pleased with him) narrated that the Messenger of Allah (S) said: A single scholar of religion is more formidable against shaytaan than a thousand devout persons. Islam is our greatest gift. We have to be thankful for this gift. We have to render to Allah His due. Allah has given us so much by making us a part of the Ummah of the Prophet Muhammad (S) so we must totally commit ourselves as followers of the Prophet (S). We must become true Muslims. Now how can we become Muslims in the true sense of the word? First let?s define what a Muslim is. A Muslim is not a Muslim simply because he?s born one. A Muslim is a Muslim because he is a follower of Islam, a submitter to the Will of Allah. We?re Muslim if we consciously and deliberately accept what has been taught by the Prophet Muhammad (S) and act accordingly. Otherwise we?re not true Muslims. The first and most crucial obligation on us is to acquire knowledge and secondly to practice and preach this knowledge. No man becomes truly a Muslim without knowing the meaning of Islam, because he becomes a Muslim not through birth but through knowledge. Unless we come to know the basic and necessary teachings of the Prophet Muhammad (S) how can we believe in him, have faith in him, act according to what he taught? It is impossible for us to be a Muslim, and at the same time live in a state of ignorance. It is essential to understand that the greatest gift of Allah ? for which we are so over whelmed with gratitude ? depends primarily on knowledge. Without knowledge one can?t truly receive Allah?s gift of Islam. If our knowledge is little, then we will constantly run the risk of losing that magnificent gift, which we have received unless we remain

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vigilant in our fight against ignorance. A person without knowledge is like someone walking along a track in complete darkness. Most likely his steps will wander aside and he easily can be deceived by shaytaan. This shows that our greatest danger lies in our ignorance of Islamic teachings and in our unawareness of what the Qur?an teaches and what guidance has been given by the Prophet (S). But if we are blessed with the light of knowledge we will be able to see plainly the clear path of Islam at every step of our lives. We shall also be able to identify and avoid the dangerous paths of Kufr, Shirk and immorality, which may cross it. And, whenever a false guide meets us on the way, a few words with him will quickly establish that he is not a guide who should be followed. On this knowledge depends whether our children and we are true Muslims and remain true Muslims. It is therefore not a trivial to be neglected. We do not neglect doing whatever is essential to improve our trades and professions. Because we know that if we do neglect, we will starve to death and so lose the precious gift of life. Why then should we be negligent in acquiring that knowledge on which depends whether we become Muslims and remain Muslims? Does such negligence not entail the danger of losing an even more precious gift ? our Iman? Is not Iman more precious than life itself? Most of our time and labor is spent on things, which sustain our physical existence in this life. Why can we not spend even a tenth part of our time and energy on things, which are necessary to protect our Iman, which only can sustain us in the present life and in the life to come? It is not necessary to study extensively to become a Muslim. We should at least spend about one hour out of twenty-four hours of the day and night in acquiring the knowledge of this Deen, the way of life, the Islam. Every one of us, young or old, man or woman, should at least acquire sufficient knowledge to enable ourselves to understand the essence of the teachings of the Qur?an and the purpose for which it has been sent down. We should also be able to understand clearly the mission, which our beloved Prophet (S) came into this world to fulfil. We should also recognize the corrupt order and system, which he came to destroy. We should acquaint ourselves, too, with the way of life which Allah has ordained for us. No great amount of time is required to acquire this simple knowledge. If we truly value Iman, it cannot be too difficult to find one hour every day to devote for our Iman. Knowledge is identified in Islam as worship. The acquiring of knowledge is worship, reading the Qur?an and pondering upon it is worship, travelling to gain knowledge is worship. The practice of knowledge is connected with ethics and morality ? with promoting virtue and combating vice, enjoining right and forbidding wrong. This is called in the Qur?an: amr bil-l ma?ruuf wa nah-y ?ani-l munkar. Not only should we seek knowledge, but when we learn it, it becomes obligatory on us to practice it. Though we must remember that correct knowledge should come before correct action. Knowledge without action is useless because a learned person without action will be the worst of creatures on the Day of Resurrection. Also, action should not be based on blind imitation for this is not the quality of a thinking, sensible human being. Knowledge is pursued and practiced with modesty and humility and leads to beauty and

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dignity, freedom and justice. The main purpose of acquiring knowledge is to bring us closer to God. It is not simply for the gratification of the mind or the senses. It is not knowledge for the sake of knowledge or science for the value of sake. Knowledge accordingly must be linked with values and goals. One of the purposes of acquiring knowledge is to gain the good of this world, not to destroy it through wastage, arrogance and in the reckless pursuit of higher standards of material comfort. Another purpose of knowledge is to spread freedom and dignity, truth and justice. It is not to gain power and dominance for its own sake. Obviously, what we may call the reservoir of knowledge is deep and profound. It is a vast and open field that is not limited. It is impossible for anyone to gain anything more than a fraction of what there is to know in the short span of one?s life. We must therefore decide what is most important for us to know and how to go about acquiring this knowledge. The following ahadith shows how important and how rewarding knowledge is. "He who acquires knowledge acquires a vast portion." AND "If anyone going on his way in search of knowledge, God will, thereby make easy for him the way to Paradise." We, the children, are the future. The future lies in our hands, but only through knowledge because whoever neglects learning in youth, loses the past and is dead for the future. May Allah (SWT) give us strength to behave and act just as He likes us to do and be pleased with us, and that should be the purpose of our lives. Rabbi zidnee ilma (O Lord, increase us in knowledge). Aameen.

The Aims of Education

Posted on April 19, 2010 by Sean Li

One book I read on my trip to the University of Chicago was a compilation of Aims of Education addresses, which are given at the beginning of the year to first-year students at the University of Chicago. Ill refer to the publication as The Aims of Education. (Note: This is NOT the book of the same name by Alfred North Whitehead.)

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Rockefeller Chapel, site of the Aims of Education address. Photo credits to The University of Chicago.

I had finished this book before stepping on campus, so it was good, in my mind at least, to have an idea of what the faculty thought of education and the university, especially the concept of liberal (or liberal arts) education and its meaning in the modern world. But the most compelling speech in the collection, I thought, was Andrew Abbotts Aims of Education Address of 2002. (Here is an online text of the speech.) The speaker is quite frank, admitting, This is only the third or fourth such oration that Ive given in my life. And youre not an easy audience. He then congratulates the entering class, saying they have already won. That is: [T]he real work predicting your future success is done not by prestige of college but by other factorsmainly the things for which you were admitted to that selective college in the first placepersonal talents, past work, and parental resources both social and intellectual. The estimate of your future worldly success that we can make on the basis of knowing those things already will not be improved much by knowing what you actually do here. Moreover, admission itself sets up a self-fulfilling prophecy; since you got in here, people in the future will assume youre good, no matter what you do or how you do while you are here. Why did I embolden that sentence? Because Abbott is basically saying it doesnt matterwhat you do once youve gotten in. Evidence? [T]he best nationwide figures I have seen suggest that a one-full-point increment in college GPAfrom 2.8 to 3.8, for exampleis worth about an additional nine percent in income four years after college. Now thats not much result for a huge amount of work. Im sorry to bore you with this income story but I want to kill the idea that hard work in higher education produces worldly success. The one college experience variable that actually does have some connection with later worldly success is major. But in the big nationwide studies, most of

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that effect comes through the connection between major and occupation. But within the narrow range of occupation and achievement we have at the University of Chicago, there is really no strong relation between what you study and your later occupation in later life. Here comes the interesting part. Abbott proceeds to give statistics as to which majors obtain which occupations, and which occupations are held by which majors, all from a sample of UChicago alumni. Take the mathematics concentrators: 20 percent software development and support, 14 percent college professors, 10 percent in banking and finance, 7 percent secondary or elementary teachers, and seven percent in nonacademic research; the rest are scattered. Physics concentrators are similar, but more of them are engineers and fewer are bankers. Biology produces 40 percent doctors, 16 percent professors, 11 percent nonacademic researchers, and the other third scattered. Obviously, there are a number of seeming pathways here. All the science concentrators lead to professorships and nonacademic research. And biology and chemistry often lead to medicine. But there are also many diversions from those pathways. Weve got a biology concentrator who is now a writer, another who is now a musician. Weve got two mathematicians who are now lawyers, and a physics concentrator who is now a psychotherapist. UChicago is known though for its economics program. What about it? [T]his is today identified as overwhelmingly the most careerist major24 percent in banking and finance, 15 percent in business consulting, 14 percent lawyers, 10 percent in business administration or sales, 7 percent in computers, and the other 30 percent scattered. Other social sciences? Historians are often lawyers (24 percent) and secondary teachers (15 percent), but the other 60 percent are all over the map. Political scientists have 24 percent lawyers, 7 percent each professors and government administrators, and perhaps 20 percent in the various business occupations; the rest are scattered. Psychologists, surprisingly, are also about 20 percent in the various business occupations, 11 percent lawyers, and 10 percent professors; the rest are scattered. Thus in the social sciences, the news is that there are lots of ways to got to law school and to get into business. And there are the usual unusuals: the sociology major who is an actuary, the two psychologists in government administration, the political science concentrator now in computers. Humanities? English majors have scattered to the four winds: 11 percent of them to elementary and secondary teaching, 10 percent to various business occupations, 9 percent to communications, 9 percent to

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lawyering, 5 percent to advertising; the rest scattered. Of the philosophers, 30 percent are lawyers and 18 percent software people. I defy anybody to make sense out of that. AGain, the connections include some obviousthings and some non-obvious things. We have two English majors who are now artists and one who is an architect. We have a philosophy major who is a farmer and two who are doctors. Now, whats really interesting is when the stats are seen the other way around, from occupations to majors. Of the lawyers, 16 percent came from economics, 15 percent from political science, 12 percent from history, 7 percent each from philosophy, English, and psychology; and 5 percent from public policy. There was at least one lawyer from each of the following: anthropology, art and design, art history, biology, chemistry, East Asian languages and civilizations, fundamentals, general studies in the humanities, geography, geophysical sciences, Germanic languages and literatures, mathematics, physics, religion and humanities, Romance languages and literatures, Russian and other Slavic languages and literatures, and sociology. You get the point. There is absolutely no concentration from which you cannot become a lawyer. He then goes on with doctors and bankers/financers, which have similarly large numbers of seeming anomalies. What you do here does not determine your occupation in any way. The next point Abbott brings up is the perceived notion that although a person will in the future forget specific knowledge learned from college education, he or she will retain the general skills. He states, however, Since this is the argument I have myself made most strongly in the past, I shall take special care to demolish it. College graduates, and especially those from elite colleges, are deemed to have these better general skills. But the question is whether or not college students already possessed such general skills when they entered. As Abbott put it: While we do know that people acquire these skills over the four years they are in college, we are not at all clear that it is the experience of college instruction that produces them. First, the kinds of young people who go on to college, and certainly to elite colleges like this one, are quite different from those who do not. If in our analyses we do not have perfect statistical control for all those differences, college may appear to have effects that in fact really originate in the differences between those who go to college and those who dont. To this selection bias effect (as it is called), we can add the equally difficult problem of unmeasured variables, Changes that we might attribute to college instruction could actually derive from other things. College students are likely to have more challenging jobs, for example, than students who dont go to college. They spend more time hanging out with smart people. They live in an environment where cognitive skills are explicitly valued. The differences of skill

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could be produced by these things rather than by the actual educational experience of the college classroom. Moreover, since many cognitive skills cannot be shown to differ seriously between those who have experienced college and those who have not, much of the skill increase could come from simple maturation. You could get more skilled just because youve lived a few more years. In other words, even though there is a positive correlation between a college education and critical thinking skills (which he later discusses), the tests are not normalized for age, and the increase in critical thinking skill might be a result of maturation, not only college education. Im going to jump forward in the speech a few pages. In the skipped sections he discusses further why a college education may not be so useful, especially one from an elite university. Yet, it seems ironic that he would be saying this to a group of students who are just about to begin four years of their life at such a place. So what, then, is the aim of education? So the long and short of it is that there is no instrumental reason to get an education, to study in your courses, or to pick a concentration and lose yourself in it. It wont get you anything you wont get anyway or get some other way. So forget everything you ever thought about all these instrumental reasons for getting an education. The reason for getting an education hereor anywhere elseis that it is better to be educated than not to be. It is better in and of itself. Not because it is a means to some other end. It is better because it is better. Note that this statement implies that the phrase aims of education is nonsensical; education is not a thing of which aims can be predicated. It has no aim other than itself. But surely education teaches us the skills to survive in a changing world! Abbotts response: Not quite. That is because the skills change, too. Writing was a far more important skill a century or even half a century ago than it is today. If education has no aim, then what is it? By education I am going to mean the ability to make more and more complex, more and more profound and extensive, the meanings that we attach to events and phenomena. When we are reading a text, we call this adducing of new meanings interpretation. When we are doing mathematics, we call this giving of meaning intuition and proof. When we are reading history, we call it a sense of historical context. When we are doing social science, we call if the sociological imagination. In all these areas, to be educated is to have the habit of finding many and diverse new meanings to attach to whatever events or phenomena we examine. We have lots of standard routines for doing thisinterpretive paradigms, heuristic methods, theoretical schemes, investigative disciplines, and so on. But education is not about these paradigms and

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methods and disciplines. Rather it is the instinctive habit of looking for new meanings, of questioning old ones, of perpetually playing with and fighting about the meanings we assign to events and texts and phenomena. We can teach you the paradigms and the methods, but we cant teach you the habit of playing with them. Thats something you must find within yourself. In this sense, education plays the opposite role of what we would conventionally expect: Education doesnt have aims. It is the aim of other things. Now, there is one passage that I wish to quote, not because it follows directly in the argument, but because of a tie to something I read on the flight back from ChicagoHerman Hesses Siddhartha. First, Abbott: As teachers, we try to entice you into this habit of education by a variety of exercises, just as a Zen monk tries to get a novice to achieve enlightenment by giving him a koan to meditate on. Note that the Zen koan is notenlightenment but rather is a means to enlightenment. They are exercises we give you hoping that they will somehow help you find the flash of enlightenment that is education. This is really the point of Siddhartha, the same lesson but taken from different angle. InSiddhartha, the main character by the same name rejects Gautama (the Buddha)s teachings precisely because he knows he will not obtain the truth he seeks if he tries to learn it from someone else, even if that someone else is the Exalted One: he must experience it himself. Back to Abbotts speech. Ill let Abbott give the concluding thoughts: To put it simply, the system as it currently exists trusts you with the whole store. Education is the most valuable, the most human, and the most humane basis around which a person can build him- or herself. And you are here offered an unparalleled set of resources for finding the flash of enlightenment that kindles education within you. But it is in practice completely your decision whether you seek that flash. You can go through here and do nothing. Or you can go through here like a tourist, listening to lectures here and there, consulting your college Fodors for important intellectual attractions that should not be missed during your stay. Or you can go through here mechanically, stuffing yourself with materials and skills till youre gorged with them. And whichever of these three you choose, youll do just fine in the world after you leave. You will be happy and you will be successful. Or on the other hand you can seek education. It will not be easy. We have only helpful exercises for you. We cant give you the thing itself. And there will be extraordinary temptationsto spend whole months wallowing in a concentration that doesnt work for you because you have some myth about your future, to blow off intellectual effort in all but one area because you are too lazy to challenge yourself, to wander off to Europe for a year of enlightenment that rapidly turns into touristic self-indulgence. There will be the temptations of timidity, too, temptations to forgo all experimentation, to miss the glorious randomness of college, to give up the prodigal possibilities thatlet me tell youyou will never find again; temptations to go rigidly through the motions and then wonder why education has eluded you.

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There are no aims of education. The aim is education. Ifand only ifyou seek it . . . education will find you.

KHURSHID AHMAD The importance of education hardly needs any emphasis. It is the 'knowledge of things' as such which ditinguishes man from the rest of the creation and which, according to the Qur'an, establishes his superiority over all others.[1] Vim is an essential quality for leadership[2] and is one of those factors of prime importance which lead to the rise and growth of civilization.[3] That is why the Holy Prophet (Peace be upon him) said: "The acquisition of knowledge is incumbent on every Muslim" and: "Acquire knowledge, for he who acquireth it in the way of Allah performeth an act of piety; he who speaketh of it, praiseth the Lord; he who seeketh after it, adoreth God ; he who dispenseth instruction in it, bestoweth alms, and he who imparteth it to others, performeth an act of devotion to Allah." Such being the importance of knowledge and education, it is very essential that we should clearly understand the nature of education and the principles on which it should be based. (I) What is Education? Education is not mere public instruction. It is a process through which a nation develops its self-consciousness, through developing the self-consciousness of the individuals who compose it. It conists in the training of the new generations in the arts and crafts of living and in making them realise their mission and duty in life. Through education a people communicate their culture and intellectual heritage to the future generations and inspires them with their ideals of life. Education is a mental, physical and moral training and its objective is to produce highly cultured men and women fit to discharge their duties as good human beings and as worthy citizens of a state. This is the nature and purport of education and is borne out by a careful perusal of the views of the leading educationists of all the ages. Etymologically, 'education' is derived from the Latin e, ex meaning 'out' and ducere, duct meaning 'to lead'. Literally it means `pack the information in' and 'draw the talents out.'[4]Fundamentally the word is associated with the concept of giving information and knowledge and of developing latent talents of the object. John Sturat Mill was among the western pioneers who tried to give wider frontiers to education. He said:
"Not only does education include whatever we do for ourselves and whatever is done for us by others for the express purpose of bringing us nearer to the perfection of our nature; it does more in its largest acceptation: it comprehends even the indirect efforts produced on character, and on the human faculties by things of which the direct purposes are quite different."[5]

IQBAL AND THE ISLAMIC AIMS OF EDUCATION

John Milton, a recent writer, defines education as follows:

"I call a complete and generous education that which fits a man to perform justly, skillfully and magnanimously all the offices, both private and public, of peace and war."[6]

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This is the broadest possible view of education. The American philosopher John Dewey, regards education as "the process of forming fundamental dispositions, intellectual and emotional, towards nature and fellow men."[7] Dr. John Park is of the view that: "Education is the art or process of imparting or acquiring knowledge and habits through instruction or study."[8] Another educationist, Professor Herman H. Home, writes that: "Education is the eternal process of superior adjustment of the physically and mentally developed, free, conscious, human being to God, as manifested in the intellectual, emotional and volitional environment of man."[9] Professor Niblet asserts that:
"The end of education is not 'happiness' but rather to develop greater capacity for being aware; to deepen human understanding perhaps inevitably through conflict; struggle and suffering....to make right action natural.[10]

Thus, education is a continuous process through which moral, mental and physical training is imparted to younger generations, who also acquire their ideals and culture through it. Educationists use the word in two senses: in its broader sense it designates all those influences, physical, biological, moral and social, which fashion the course of lives of the individual and the nation and in its narrower sense it designates only those special influences which are organised and devised by teachers in schools, colleges and other places of education. In any way, however, education is an all-embracing process and influences all aspects of the life of the pupil. That is why the life of a nation depends on its education. A chinese proverb rightly puts it in this way:
"If you are planning for a year, plant grains; If you are planning for a decade, plant trees; If you are planning for a mellenium, plant men." It is through education that men are 'planted' and milleniums are built.

(II) Education and Culture Education is a part and parcel of the culture of a people and is the instrument through which a culture perpetuates itself. The two cannot be separated from each other in just as the flesh cannot be separated from the bone. There is a widespread mis conception that a people can emulate without injury the educational system of any country or nation. Unless a people spurn their own culture something tentamount to national suicide ! they cannot indiscriminately avail themselves of foreign systems of education. Every system of education basically consists of a set of certain social ideals, norms and values and is based on a specific view of life and culture. It is in this realm that imitation is suicidal. On the other hand, as far as techniques and methods are concerned, one country can safely profit from the experiences of others. But great care should be taken in respect of values, principles and ideals, for a conscious or unconscious adoption of them may destory the entire fabric of a nation's culture. Iqbal is very clear on this point. He says:
(Look into thy own clay for the fire that is wanted

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The light of another is not worth striving for.)

(Seek not the bounty of the glass-blowers of the West Make your own world from the clay of India.)

(Seek not thy bread from the bounty of another Seek not the waves of water from the fountain of the Sun.)

(How long wilt thou abide under the wings of others? Learn to wing thy flight freely in the garden breeze.)

And perhaps the clearest statement comes when Iqbal criticizes the generation which has been brought up under the influence of alien education education which was opposed to our culture, distasteful to our civilization, affronting to our traditions and insulting to our history. He says:
(You have learnt and amassed knowledge of others and brightened your face with rouge borrowed from others, You seek honour by aping the manners of others, I know not, whether you are 'yourself' or just "another's self". Your intellect is chained in the thoughts of others;

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says:

The very breath in your throat comes from the strings of others. Borrowed speeches are on your tongue; Borrowed desires in your heart. Your canaries sing borrowed songs; Your cypresses are clad in borrowed mantles. The wine in your cup you get from others; The cup, too, you borrow from others. You are a Sun; look for once into your own self; Seek not your light from the stars of others. How long will you dance around the candle of the assembly? Lit up your own light, if you have a heart.) Thus it is clear that Iqbal was opposed to borrowed education and made a fervent plea for the adoption of that system of education which is the product of our own history and culture and which is in tune with our traditions and ideals. This exactly is the approach which is being advocated by the leading educationists of our day. John Dewey says: "Since education is a social process and there are many kinds of societies, a criterion for educational criticism and construction implies a particular social ideal.[11] Prof. Niblett, puts it very beautifully when he

"It (education) is a continuation of the process of growing into a fully human being which took place physically in the nine months before we were born. But now it is the culture of the society which is the womb,and the spirit not the body which is gestated." [12] Professor Clarke makes this significant observation: "For, whatever else education may mean, it must mean primarily the self-perpetuation of an accepted culture a culture which is the life of a determined society."[13]

And the American educationist, Dr. J. B. Conant, raises this point in another significant way when he says:
"I do not believe that educational practices are an exportable commodity. I fear the contrary assumption has been implied to some extent in our dealings with Germany and Japan since word war II. At times in our own history, attempts to import a British or European concept have done more harm than good."[14]

The above discussion brings home the point that education is inextricably connected with the culture and the social ideals of a people and any attempt to strike a divorce between the two would defeat the very purpose of education. Education must represent the culture of the people and should preserve it for the future generations. Education which poses a neutral attitude towards culture and ideals of the society, will act as a force of disintegration and destroy the social fabric of the society. Education does more harm than good to a society if it does not represent and embody its culture. (III) The Failure of Liberal Education

27

The modern concept of liberal education is the very antithesis of the approach discussed above. Originally liberal education was the kind of education that was regarded as suitable for freemen as distinguished from the one adequate for the slaves or the serfs. Greeks as well as the Romans regarded artes liberals as studies appropriate for the free citizen. In the Mediaval period the same view prevailed. Liberal arts were divided into two groupsTrivium and Quadrivium, consisting of grammer, rhetoric and logic and arithmetic, geometry, astronomy and music respectively. In the modern age liberal education gradually became a purposive and neutral towards ideals. Individuality was emphasised at the cost of all other considerations. Education was divorced from religion and moral values. Freedom became the catchword. Elective system was introduced in respect of subjects and syllabii. It was asserted that a student should be given ample freedom to grow and develop according to his latent faculties and no external influence be allowed to cast his thinking or character into specific moulds. This kind of education became very common in the United States and gained ground in European countries as well. The results which liberal education has produced are in no way encouraging. Some of the important results are as follows: (a) Education has failed to develop social ideals among the students. And when a people lack ideals which may inspire them to action and sacrifice, they gradually lose their grip on history and their decline follows. In the words of Iqbal:
(Life of the individual depends on the relationship of the body and the 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.) (b) Such an education fails to instil moral values in the hearts and souls of the new generations. It deals merely with the demands of the mind and fails to cater to the demands of the soul. A dichotomy occurs between the two and this results in a great national loss. As Iqbal says:
(Knowledge is a snake for you (i.e. your poison) if you use it to increase your (material) body (alone), If knowledge is used for the emancipation of the soul, then it is your best friend.)

28

This kind of education has resulted in the departmentalization of knowledge. Liberal education fails to organize or integrate knowledge into any one consistent whole. Students begin to see life and the world in small, unrelated fragments and fail to develop a sense of their unity and meaning. They only see the trees, not the wood! (d) Liberal education, in the last analysis, produces men who do not have any grip over the basic and living issues of life. In actual practice their knowledge proves too superficial to be of any empiric value. From the national viewpoint, such education fails to deliver the goods. These basic drawbacks of the modern liberal education are now becoming more and more manifest. Dr. Frank Aydelotte says about American education: "The exclusive preoccupation with techniques, with means as opposed to ends, is depriving the study of literature, or philosophy, or history or religion of any liberal, element."[15] Walter Lippman, the famous social philosopher, in a speech on "The State of Education in This Troubled World" says:
(c)

"The schools and colleges have been sending out into the world men who no longer understand the creative principles of the society in which they must live..... deprived of their cultural tradition, the newly educated western men no longer possess in the form and substance of their own minds and spirits, the ideas, the premises, the rationale, the logic, the method, the values or the deposited wisdom which are the genius of the development of Western Civilization.. . . . the present education is destined, if it continues, to destroy Western Civilization, and is in fact destroying it."[16]

Dr. Albert G. Sims, Vice-President, Institute of International Education, in a recent article writes: "The central problem in United States Education to which all others are tangent, is that of defining and giving effect to objectives and philosophy. It is no answer to say to this that the educational system mirrors in these respects the society which it serves. Education is also the means by which a community must deliberately project the image of its future."[17] The recent Rockefeller Report on U.S. Education clearly points out this deficiency:
"They (the students) want meaning in their lives. If their era, and their culture and their leaders do not or cannot offer them great meanings, great objectives, great convictions, then they will settle for shallow and trivial meanings. People who live aimlessly, who allow the search for meaning in their lives to be satisfied by shady and meretricious experiences, have simply not been stirred by any alternative meanings religious meanings, ethical values, ideas of social and civic responsibility, high standards of self-realisation. This is a deficiency for which we all bear a responsibility. "We must assume that education is a process that should be infused with meaning and purpose; that everyone will have deeply held beliefs; that every young man will wish to serve the value which have nurtured him and made possible his education and his freedom as an individual."

In a book entitled The Crisis in the University which grew out of a series of studies in England, Sir Walter Moberley says:

29

"Our predicament is this:' Most students go through our universifies without ever having been forced to exercise their minds on the issues which are really momentous. Under the influence of academic neutrality they are subtly conditioned to unthinking acquiescence in the social and political status quo and in a secularism on which they have never seriously reflected. Owing to the prevailing fragmentation of studies, they are not challenged to decide responsibility on a life-purpose or equipped to make such a decision wisely.. . Fundamentally they are uneducated."[18] Professor Harold H. Titus, after reviewing the entire educational perspective, writes:"Even more serious than the lack of a common store of knowledge is the lack of common ideals and convictions. Education too frequently fails to build up any vital affirmations, convictions and disciplines. There has been a dangerous separation of science and research from human values and loyalties. ... Education has divorced itself from the spiritual heritage of the past but has failed to supply any adequate substitute. Consequently, even educated persons are left without convictions or sense of values as well as without a consistent world view."[19]

M. V. C. Jaffreys complains that:

"The most serious weakness in modern education is the uncertainty about its aims. A glance over history reminds us that the most vital and effective systems of education have envisaged their objectives quite definitely; in terms of personal qualities and social situations. Spartan, Feudal, Jesuit, Nazi, Communist educationists have had this in common, they knew what they wanted to do and believed in it. By contrast, education in the liberal democracies is distressingly nebulous in its aims."[20]

These new thought-currents clearly show that the concept of the ideological neutrality of education is on the wane and decidedly this concept is injurious to culture and progress. (IV) Purpose of Education Education should be ideologically oriented. It is a means to an end and not an end in itself. The end is the ideology and the culture of the people it is going to serve.
(Life is full of riches by Ideals. Intellect is one of those which are born from the inside of its body.)

(Life is preserved by purpose and idea; Because of the goal its caraven bell tinkles.)

30

Education must instil those beliefs and ideals for which the nation stands. Preservation and promotion of the Religion and Eulture of the people should be the purpose of education. A. N. Whitehead emphasises this point when he says that "the essence of education is that it be religious".[21] . ... [22] . Iqbal held the view that Islam should be the purpose of our life and education. He writes in a letter to K. G. Saiyidain:
"By I mean that knowledge which is based on senses. Usually I have used the word in this very sense. This knowledge yields physical powers which should be subservient to deen (i.e. the religion of Islam). If it is not subservient todeen then it is demonic, pure and simple.. . it is incumpent on Muslims to Islamize knowledge. "Abu Lahab should be metamorphosed into Haiyder". If this Abu Lahab becomes Haider-e-Karrar, or in other words, if it (i.e. knowledge and the power it wields) becomes subservient to deen, then it would be an unmixed blessing unto mankind."

From this observation of Iqbal, it becomes clear that he wanted to give education an ideological orientation and regarded that knowledge and education satanic which is neutral towards religion. In his famous Presidential Address of 1930 he said:
"If today you focus your vision on Islam and seek inspiration from the ever-vitalising ideas embodied in it, you will be only reassembling your scattered forces, regaining your lost intergity, and thereby saving yourself from total destruction."[23]

He also .says:
(Make the imprint of the meaning of Tawheed on your heart, Seek solution of your problems by adherence to your traditions.)

Thus the primary purpose of education should be to imbue the students with their religion and ideology. They should be taught the meaning and purpose of life, man's position in the world, the doctrines of Tawheed (unity of God), Risalah (Prophethood), Akhirah (Life hereafter) and their bearing upon individual and social life, the Islamic values of morality, the nature and content of Islamic culture, and the obligations and the mission of a Muslim. Education should produce men with deeply-held convictions about the Islamic ideals of individual and collective life. It should develop in them the Islamic approach so that they may carve out their own way in the light of Islamic guidance.

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The Qur'an says that the men of knowledge are the witnesses o Truth. Education which is designed to produce 'men of knowledge' should regard the cultivation of the knowledge of Islam as the primary goal. The Qur'an says:
"Allah (Himself) is witness that there is no God save Him. And the angels and the men of learning (too are witness to this fact)."[24]

According to the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him):

"Men of learning and Mujahideen are nearest to the prophetic status: for the men of learning direct the people in the ideals and objectives for which the prophets were raised and the Mujahid wields his sword in that cause."

Now, the question is: what is the mission for which the prophets have been raised: a mission which is to be discharged by the men of learning and the academies which are to produce these men of learning? According to the Qur'an, this mission is the propagation of the Message of Islam and the establishment of a just and healthy social order. The Qur'an says: "He it is who bath sent among the unlettered ones a messenger of their own: to recite unto them His revelations and to make them grow and purify, and to teach them the scripture and Wisdom, though heretofore they were indeed in error manifest."[25] And:
"We verily sent our Messengers with clear proofs, and revealed with them the Scripture and the Balance, that mankind may observe justice and right measure."[26]

Thus the basic objective of education in the framework of Islamic Culture is to discharge these prophetic functions, to educate the people in the religion of Islam, to imbue them with the spirit and ideals of this religion and to prepare them for a fully-grown life. This objective is to be achieved by permeating the entire education with the spirit of the Islamic ideology. Compilation and introduction of new books will have to be done from this viewpoint. An overhauling of the entire curricula and the creation of an atmosphere which is conducive to the achievement of these objectives will also be called for. It will also be necessary that in the teaching of each and every subject particularly in respect of social studies the viewpoint of Islam should be explained to the student and at every stage of his education proper care should be taken to arouse his sense of moral responsibility. This, in my view, would be the proper purpose of education. (V) Individualism and Social Sense A very basic issue of education is: what importance is to be given to the development of individuality of the student? There are conflicting theories about it. Some regard the development of the individuality as the fundamental value and do not give any importance to the growth of social sense and collective responsibility. On the contrary there are some other theories which regard conformity to the social norm as the basic value and do not lay any emphasis upon the growth of the individual personality. Both these extremes are incorrect and unrealistic. A unique feature of Islam is that it establishes a balance between individualism and collectivism. It believes in the individual personality of man and holds everyone personally

32

responsible and accountable to God. It guarantees fundamental rights of the individual and does not permit any one to tamper with them. It makes the proper development of the personality of man as one of the prime objectives of its educational policy. It does not subscribe to the view that man must loose his individuality in the social-collective or in the state. According to the Qur'an:
"Man shall have nothing but what he strives for."[27] "And whatever suffering ye suffer, it is what your hands have wrought."[28] "God does not change the condition of a people unless they first change that which is in their hearts."[29] "For each is that which it hath earned and against each is only that which it hath deserved."[30] "Unto us are our deeds and unto you are yours."[31]

Iqbal has laid great emphasis on the proper development of the individuality of man. He says that the Qur'anic concept of the ego stresses "the individuality and uniqueness of man and has a definite view of his destiny as a unity of life."[32] The development of ego is of prime importance in his way of thinking. He condemns imitation because it curbs one's individuality. He is against drama and Tamtheel for in them the actor has to adopt the role of someone else and the repetition of it leads to the assassination of one's own personality. His view was that:
(Khudi is the determinant of the entire gamut of existence, All that Thou seest is due to the secrets of Khudi.)

(It is in the nature of Khudi to manifest itself. In every particle lies slumbering the prowess of Khudi.)

Thus the development of the individuality of man should be a basic tent with education. This is only one aspect of the problem. On the other hand, Islam also awakens a sense of social responsibility in man, organizes human beings in a society and a state and enjoins the individual to subscribe to the social good. Prayer, in Islam, is offered in congregation which inculcates social discipline among the Muslims. Everyone is enjoined to pay Zakat and it has been laid down in the Quran that: In their wealth the beggar and the destitute have their due right. (Al-Quran 11:19). Jihad has been made obligatory, which means that the individual should, when the occasion arises, offer even his life for the defence and protection of Islam and the Islamic state. The Holy Prophet said:

33

All mankind is a fold every member of which shall be a keeper or shepherd unto every other, and be accountable for the welfare of the entire fold. Live together, do not turn against each other, make things easy for others and do not put obstacles in each others way. He is not a believer who takes his fill while his neighbour starves. The believer in God is he who is not a danger to life and property of any other.

Iqbal _mphasizes this point when he says:___

(Individual is what he is through his association with the community. He is a nonety without that association. He is like a wave in the river outside the river the wave has no existence.)

A healthy educational policy will always aim at the achievement of balance between the development of the individuality and the social consciousness of the pupil. For
(The individual derives his honour from his nation A nation is organised when the individuals are united together.)

The development of the individuality can be achieved only if the child is treated with love and affection even with a certain degree of respect for his individual self and if his latent faculties are given ample opportunities for self-expression. He should breathe in an atmosphere of freedom. Education should become pupil-centred, giving him all possible opportunities to develop his creative faculties and inherent talents and apptitude. The teachers should guide him and help him in his pursuit for the development of his personality but should not overshadow him to the extent that he becomes only a reflection of the teacher's personality. There should not be any compulsory drafting in different fields and occupations of the child who should be given the chance to make his own choice. The school atmosphere should be permeated with freedom, then alone can the proper development of the pupil's personality take place. The primary emphasis on individuality does not mean that there should be any lack of social sense and collective responsibility in the students. The virtues of social consciousness and responsibility should be installed in them from the very beginning and they should be prepared for social service and responsible citizenship. (VI) The Need for Integrated Knowledge Another principle of education is that students should be imparted balanced and integrated knowledge. They should be able to visualise the unity of the universe and the life in the diversity of the world-phenomena. The Report of the University Education Commission of India asserts that:

34

`The purpose of all education, it is admitted by thinkers of East and West, is to provide a coherent picture of the universe and an integrated way of life. We must obtain through it a sense of perspective, a synoptic vision, asamanvaya of the different items of knowledge. Man cannot live by a mass of disconnected information. He has a passion for an ordered intellectual vision of the connections of things. Life is one in all its varied manifestations. We may study the factual relations of the different manifestations but we must have knowledge of life as a whole. It cannot be a collection of distracting scraps but should be a harmony of patterns." [33]

Islam stands for the golden mean and its ideal is the development of a balanced personality. Balance in thought and behaviour is, according to a saying of the Prophet (peace be upon him), one of the characteristics of prophethood. Education, should, therefore, make it a point to see that the student gets a wide perspective of knowledge, and develops a balanced approach to life and its problems before he enters the stage of specialisation. Moreover, it seems that Islam views knowledge as an integrated and correlated whole. This can be inferred from the fact that the Qur'an is the mainspring of all knowledge and it is this Book which will mould the mind and the approach of all the seekers of knowledge, whatever be their fields of inquiry. This automatically leads us to the concept of integrated knowledge. Knowledge will not remain split into small, unrelated fragments, but will be integrated into a single whole. This will also eliminate the evils of fragmentation and departmentalisation. Perhaps it would be more in consonance with the approach to start specialisation only at a higher stage of education. In the lower stages education should remain non-specialised. This will go a long way in broadening the outlook of the youth and in cultivating in them the virtues of intellectual tolerance. (VII) Character-Building Iqbal says:
(Ah! Neither the Mulla nor the Jurist is aware of the fact That unity of thought without unity of character is incomplete and wanting.)

Education must lay prime emphasis upon the character-formation of the child. Unless it goes to build up good character as well, it will never achieve its real purpose. "Charactertraining," says Professor W.O. Lester Smith, "is closely linked with the conception of school as a society".[34] This view is now being emphasised on different hands. In Islam the importance of good deeds is primary. The Qur'an simultaneously stresses the need of Iman and 'amal salih. One of the basic missions of the Prophet is stated to betazkiyah, i.e., the purification of human life. It is a psychological fact that the fundamental character-traits are laid in the early stages of life and the school and the college can play a significant role in building up the character of man. It is for education to mould the character of the child into the Islamic pattern. Al-Ghazali said: "Education must not only seek to fill the young mind with knowledge, but must, at the same time, stimulate the child's moral character and stimulate him to the properties of social life". The

35

ideal character before us is that of the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him). As the Qur'an says: "Verily in the life of the Prophet of Allah you have the best example to follow."[35] At all stages of education students should be taught the life-example of the Holy Prophet and his Companions. The teacher, by the example of his own life and behaviour should inspire the child to develop a good life and the atmosphere of the academic institutions should be conducive to character-formation. It is only then that we would be able to produce the mumin (true believer) as envisioned in the Book of God. (VIII) Towards Life-fulfilment Islam stands not for life-denial, but for life-fulfilment. This means that our education must prepare our youngsters for life, train them in the arts and crafts of living and cater to the multifarious needs of the society. Islam disapproves of life-renunciation and wants men to live with justice and equity in the midst of the rough and tumble of life. The Qur'an teaches us to seek for the best of this world and the best of the Hereafter. Allah strongly censures those who refuse to enjoy His blessings: Says the Holy Qur'an:
"Say (to them) by whose order have you denied yourself those amenities which Allah created for His bondmen and those good things to eat and use (which He made for them) ?"

Islam's attitude is reflected in the Qur'anic verse: "Eat and drink but exceed not (and become not extravagant)," Islam highly values human labour. It forbids begging and doleseeking and puts a premium on productive effort so much so that according to a hadith, "God loves the hand that works for the attainment of livelihood". Islam wants to enable every person to earn his living and the Holy Prophet has even said that "hunger comes close to infidelity". Iqbal says:
(Anybody who conquers the physical world constructs a new world from an atom.)

(Lend strength to thy search by practical contrivance Conquer the worlds of the self and the cosmos.)

Iqbal believes in the education which teaches life-affirmation and the conquest of the world and not in the one which leads to life-renunciation. According to him:
"Only that truly exists which can say 'I am'. It is the degree of the intuition of I-am-ness that determines the place of a thing in the scale of being."[36]

About education he explicitly says:

36

(Knowledge is an instrument for the preservation of life; Knowledge is a means of establishing the self Science and Art are servants of life. Slaves born and bred in its house;

From the above discussion we can infer a few other aims of education, viz.: (a) Education should enable a man to earn an honest, just and reasonable living; (d) Education should cater to the economic, social, scientific and technological needs of the community. It should not only not neglect them in any way, but should positively work for their fulfilment; and (c) There should be a practical and vocational bias in education, so that everyone should be able to attain economic stability and social independence. An educational system reared in accordance with these aims will embody the aspirations of Iqbal and will prove a blessing to mankind. Notes and References

[1] [2]

Al- Qur'an, ii:30. Ibid., ii:247. [3] See: Durant, Will, The Story of Civilization, Vol. I [4] Shipley, Joseph T., Dictionary of Word Origins, Ames, Iowa, 1957, p. 114. [5] Mill, John Stuart, Inaugural Address as Rector of St. Andrew's University, 1867, vide, Smith, W.O. Lester, Education, Pelican, 1958, p. 9. [6] Milton, John, A reopagitica and other Prose Works, Everyman's Library, p. 46. [7] Dewey, John, Democracy and Education, Quoted by Hughes, A.G. and Hughes, E.H., Education: Some Fundamental Problems, Longmans, London, 1960, p. 81. [8] Park, Dr. Joe, "Introduction", Selected Readings in the Philosophy of Education, Macmillan, New York, 1958, p. 3. [9] Horne, Herman H., "The Philosophical Aspects of Education", Ibid., p. 176. [10] Niblet, W.R., Education and the Modern Mind, Quoted, Hughes, Education: Some Fundamental Problems, op. cit., p. 82. [11] Dewey, John., Democracy and Education, Macmillan, p. 115 (emphasis mine). [12] Niblett, W.R., Education and Modern Mind, Quoted, Hughes, Education: Some Fundamental Problems, p. 84 (emphasis mine). [13] Clarke, Year Book of Education, 1936, p. 249 [14] Conant, Dr. J.B., Education and Liberty, Harvard University Press, 1953, p. 2 (Emphasis mine). [15] Adylotte, Frank, Breaking the Academic Lock Step, Harper and Brothers, New York, 1944, p. 7. [16] Lippman Walter, "The State of Education in This Troubled World", Vital Speeches for the Day, Jan, 15, 1941, p. 200. [17] Current History, Sept. 1958, p. 174. [18] Moberley, Sir Walter, The Crisis in the University, London, 1949, p. 70. [19] Titus, Harold H., Living Issues in Philosophy, New York, 1953, p. 420-21.

37
[20] [21]

M.V.C. Jaffrays, Glaneon, An Inquiry into the Aims of Education, Pitman, London, 1950, p. 61. Vide, Hughes, Education: Some Fundamental Problems, op. cit., p. 86. [22] Saiyidain, K.G. Iqbal's, Educational Philosophy, Lahore, 1942, p. 99. [23] Iqbal, Statements and Speeches, Lahore, 1948, p. 35-36. [24] AL- Quran, II: 18 [25] Ibid., ii:2. [26] Al-Qur'an, lvii:25. [27] Al-Qur'an, /Hi: 40. [28] Ibid., xlii:29. [29] Ibid., xiii:12. [30] Ibid., ii:286. [31] Ibid., xxviii:55. [32] Iqbal, Sir Muhammad, Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam, p. 90. [33] The Report of the University Education Commission, (Dec. 1948 Aug. 1949) Volume I, Government of India Press, Delhi, p. 34.. [34] Smith, W.O. Lester, Education: An Introductory Survey, Pelican, 1958, p. 25. [35] Al-Qur'an. xxxiii: 21, [36] Iqbal, Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam, p. 53.

Essay on The Importance of Education (free to read)

by Rehaan Bansal

According to Bacon Reading maketh a full man; writing an exact man and conference a ready man. And if someone asks what reading, writing and conference make together, anyone would say that all of them stand for Education. In other words, we can say that education makes anyone complete, accurate and worldly wise. It means that no one is complete without education. Thus we can confidently say that education is necessary an all-round development of the personality of a human-being. He cannot hope for success, name, fame and prosperity in life without it. Even a nation would be devoid of any progress, if its citizens fail to have the benefits of education. H.L. Wayland has correctly said, Universal suffrage, without universal education, would be a curse. For the success of any democracy, education is a must. Imagine a country with illiterate ministers voted to power by illiterate people! Unfortunately, there are many people who downgrade the value of education and say that it has never benefited anyone. But this is not correct. Knowledge is too far advanced today for a man to gain without its specialized branch. Trade, industry, agriculture, medicine, the I.T. and all other areas have become so complex that no one can take up any job without being educated. An educated man will never find himself stranded in the midst of any difficulty. His brain, developed by seriousthinking during his academic years, will unfailingly arrive at some solution to the problem that besets him. This is what education prepares us for. And most of all, education gives us not only the mental but also physical strength necessary to face any challenges of life with dignity. An illiterate person simply gropes in the dark, leaving result to chance or fate. He is ultimately dependent on others. Farmers in India, in olden times, who could not read or write, were cheated out of their land and willingly suffered exploitation and injustice only because they had no education.

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They were deprived of their rights by unscrupulous landlords, moneylenders and middlemen, who made them, put their thumb impressions on false documents of possession. Women in India had been suppressed, dominated and ill-treated only because they had no education. But now with their having been educated to a certain extent, the old situation has started changing quite fast. Now they have come out in the open to fight for their rights. They are not dependent on others, nor do they silently submit to whatever cruelty is meted out to them. Education liberates a mans mind from wrong thinking, ignorance, superstitions and prejudices. It frees him from evil influences and vices. It equips him with knowledge and skill, enabling him to make a good living, culminating in his being an ideal citizen. With the spread of education, gone are the days of bonded labour, economic slavery, pangs on account of being an untouchable and being misled by black magic. Thus it can be boldly claimed that education has awakened the masses all over the world.

Here is your short Essay on Education

JAY PRAKASH

Education is a term which is more easily understood than defined. It has been derived from the Latin word "educatum" which means the act of teaching or training. According to some, it has also come from another Latin term "educare" which means "to bring up", "to raise". Some also believe that it has been originated from the Latin word "educere" which means "to lead forth" or "to come out". Thus education is regarded as "a process of drawing out from within". That is why, Gandhijee meant" By education I mean an all-round drawing out of the best in child and man, body, mind and spirit". Education is thus a process of self-expression. An individual expresses himself through education. These innate powers and potentialities are developed and drawn out through education. It is a means of adjustment of an individual with the society. It is a process by which he is brought into proper relationship with the ideas and Meals, customs and traditions of the society. The child is weak, helpless and ignorant at birth. But he gradually grows and develops. He acquires knowledge and skills. He realizes thoughts into actions and satisfies his needs. He changes his behavior according to his environment. Such changes, growth and development of the individual are his education This is the result of his learning and maturation. Learning is living. Learning is the modification of behavior. Thus education is the process by which the knowledge, character and behavior of an individual are formed and modified. One's conduct and behavior are changed and refined according to the desired standard of the society. This is the result of education.

Short essay on the Importance of education

GAURI DUSHI

Education is an important human activity. It was born with the birth of the human race and shall continue to function as long as the human race lives. The importance of education may be summed up as under. Highlights 1. An essential human virtue. 2. A necessity for society. 3. Important for integration of separate entities.

39
4. Gives significance of life. 5. Educated men are .superior. Aristotle 6. Sign of freedom. Epictetus 7. A controlling grace. Diogenes 8. Basis of good life. 1. An essential human virtue Education is an essential human virtue. Man becomes 'man' through education. He is what education makes him. It has been rightly said that without education, man is a splendid slave, reasoning savage. 2. A necessity for society Education is necessary for society. Education fashions and models man for society. Man cannot be conceived merely in terms of his biological existence. Education brings into focus the social aspect of man. Education signifies man's supreme position in society. 3. Important for the integration of separate entities An individual is made up of different entities. Education brings about the integration of these separate entities. 4. Gives significance of life Education teaches what man lives and struggles for. It cultivates an integrated life. By so doing, it gives significance of life. 5. Educated men are superior Education is a sign of superiority. Aristotle wrote, "Educated men are as much superior to uneducated as the living are to the dead." 6. Sign of freedom Education is a sign of freedom. Epictetus had declared, "Only the educated are free." 7. A controlling grace Diogenes felt that "Education is a controlling grace to the young, consolation to the old wealth to the poor and ornament to the rich." 8. Basis of good life Education is an essential basis of good life. A man becomes a human being in the real sense when he is transformed from primarily an animal being into a human being. In short, education is an essential concomitant of all human societies. "What sculpture is to a block of marble, education is to the soul", says Addison.

mportance of Education in Society

Education, if looked at beyond its conventional boundaries, forms the very essence of all our actions. What we do is what we know and have learned, either through instructions or through observation and assimilation. When we are not making an effort to learn, our mind is always processing new information or trying to analyze the similarities as well as the tiny nuances within the context which makes the topic stand out or seem different. If that is the case then the mind definitely holds the potential to learn more, however, it is us who stop ourselves from expanding the horizons of our knowledge with self-doubt or other social, emotional, or economic constraints. While most feel that education is a necessity, they tend to use it as a tool for reaching a specific target or personal mark, after which there is no further need to seek greater education. Nonetheless, the importance of education in society is indispensable and cohering, which is why society and knowledge cannot be ever separated into two distinct entities. Let us find out more about the role of education in

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society Purpose

and of

how

it Education

affects in

our

lives. Society

Education is Self Empowerment Receiving a good education helps empower you, thus making you strong enough to look after yourself in any given situation. It keeps you aware of your given surrounding as well as the rules and regulations of the society you're living in. It's only through knowledge that you can be able to question authority for its negligence or discrepancies. It is only then that you can avail your rights as a citizen and seek improvement in the structural functioning of governance and economy. It's only when a citizen is aware about the policies of its government can he be able to support or protest the change. As a whole, people can bring about development only when they know where improvement is necessary for the greater good of mankind. Education helps you understand yourself better, it helps you realize your potential and qualities as a human being. It helps you to tap into latent talent, so that you may be able to sharpen your skills.

Financial Stability and Dignity of Life Another importance of education is that it helps you gain sufficient academic qualification so that you are able to get suitable employment at a later stage. A decent employment would be combined with hard-earned remuneration or salary through which you can look after your personal expenses. While you earn for yourself, you gradually begin to realize the true worth of money and how hard it is to earn it. You realize the significance of saving for a rainy day and for unforeseeable contingencies. You feel empowered because there is a new sense of worth that develops within you, and you feel the need to be independent and free from any further financial support. You take pride in the fact that you are earning for yourself, and are not obligated to anyone. Growth in Personal Aspiration There also comes a phase when the amount you are earning presently will seem inadequate because your aspirations and expectations from yourself would have grown considerably. After this, you will want to change jobs so as to have a higher profile. However, here is when you need to be prepared. A promotion of this figure can occur in two given situations, which are, that either you have the necessary higher academic qualification or a college degree which allows you a safe passage, or that you have amassed enough practical experience which allows you to be a suitable candidate for the employment you seek. On the Job Efficiency This is why college education is very important after high school and must not be taken for granted. When faced with the option of choosing between a highly qualified candidate and a not so educated candidate, the employers will most probably go in for the qualified person. The reason being that, a qualified candidate will not require much investment of the employer's time and money. The organization need not teach him or her the tricks of the trade, or the various ways of functioning and performing the tasks of the workplace. On the contrary, a novice / amateur applicant would need to be taught everything from scratch, which many employer's are usually not willing to do. The same applies for people who seek higher education and get advanced diplomas while working. These people are continuously improving their profile and their knowledge base so as to go higher up on the competitive ladder. Helps Plan Ahead Those who have amassed enough education, steer the path of development and progress for their country. It is these individuals who go ahead and become teachers, scientists, inventors, welfare activists, soldiers, and politicians who work together to form the very backbone of the society. Without this pool of intellect, the economic and social framework would crumple and fall, paving its way for anarchy, degradation, and violence. While this intricate balance of growth is maintained, there will be a continuous rise in progress in all quarters of life, whether that be personal growth, or development of

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the nation as an entity. This progress has a very important role to play for the coming generations, which will reap the benefits of our hard work, as they develop it further. At the same time, the negative impact of our actions shall have its collateral damage on the coming generation as well. Which is why we must be exceptionally prudent about the decisions we make and the actions we take in the present. Job Seeker vs. Job Provider There will come a time, when you will no longer feel the need to be working as someone's mere employee. You would want to take charge and control over your own life and income. This is when you will decide to become a self-employed individual, who would like to watch his / her own ideas take realistic form. You would prefer being the one offering job opportunities to others and aid in providing income to them. At this stage of entrepreneurship, you may use your own expertise as well as that of other trained and skilled associates. As a team, you will find your business or venture expanding and yielding good results. You may even gain the confidence and insight, which will help you diversify and spread your expertise into other business arenas, which were previously unknown to you, or you were unsure about. This ability, comes with experience and knowledge amassed over the years. An Idle Mind is The Devil's Workshop Education and studying regularly, gives people of all age groups something substantial and challenging to do. It helps them think and use their idle hours, doing something productive and worthwhile. Education need not be purely academic and may include reading for leisure or as a passion for literature, philosophy, art, politics, economics, or even scientific research. There is no limit, to all that you can teach yourself, only if you take the interest to learn and grow as an individual. However, those who treat knowledge as trash, eventually find themselves getting absorbed with thoughts of violence, and jealously against those who are better off than themselves. It is people such as these who turn towards drug addiction, unnecessary rebellion, crime, and plain inactivity. Such people lack the self-esteem, that a good education often provides to its followers. Education plays its continuous role in all spheres of life. The reason being, that if we are aware of the drawbacks of a decision and we know about the possible contingencies and the collateral damage, our consequent actions would be wiser, which would help us to keep danger at bay at all times. By Rohini Mohan
Education Purpose
Education, in general terms, may be explained as the process of acquiring data and knowledge, along with learning various forms of behavior and competency in a specific field. The purpose of education is to cultivate human minds with values and principles that help to distinguish between wrong and right. The purpose of education though has a much broader aspect which also entails learning skill for a certain area along with achieving overall development. While life passes education never ends, so education purpose entails a continuous change in direction. We often ask what the purpose of education is but hardly think why it is so important for each personally and within the whole community and civilization. While we grow up and become more mature we begin to realize what education purpose is in reality. We start to understand its importance only when we meet difficulties in our personal and professional development. As mentioned above education represents the process of gathering knowledge, but knowledge has no end so does education and one can never affirm that he or she knows everything. In its basics education purpose is to teach a person how to write, read and understand that transforms him or her into a literate person. The abilities thought in primary school remain for the whole life, improving all the time the more we read and think. In this sense education purpose is to teach an individual to acquire social and professional skills that help him to interact with the society and maintain social relations. The purpose of education is to give people the tools to survive and to struggle within the society. In school, college and other educational institutions individual is a part of a whole, of the group, the same or different aged people so deriving from this point the purpose of education comes to be learning to compete with others and be the best as well as in real life, meaning at work, in business and even in relationships. Education purpose from philosophical point of view is to teach us how to think and analyze the world around but not to tell us what to think and what to do. It aims at creating the necessary understanding for what is good and bad individually. To develop creative thinking and imagination represents the purpose of education. Eric Hofer, a well known American writer, supposes that the purpose of education is to cultivate the will and offer the tool to learn. In his opinion the purpose of education is to create individuals that are able to learn by themselves but not already learned ones because nobody is able to know everything.

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From professional view the purpose of education is to help a person to gain his goals and career objectives that as a result will create conditions for economic growth and overall welfare. Knowledge builds humans with lots of resources out of illiterate individuals. The purpose of education is to offer personal and career fulfillment, so humans will tend to transmit knowledge from generation to generation into eternal improvement. Thus the purpose of education is to spread education within the existing civilization and to the oncoming ones. The purpose of education is to create a healthy and well developed society, where the center is the educated and resourceful individual.

Importance of Education in Islam

Islam is the religion of peace, and it is one of the most sacred and trustworthy religions, which has given us guidance in every aspect of life. Islam has given us education with knowledge which has no limits. The Holy Quran is the most sacred book of Allah revealed on Prophet Muhammad (SAW), for the upliftment guidance and enriched messages to the humanity. Education is the knowledge of putting one's potentials to maximum use. Without education, no one can find the proper right path in this world. This importance of education is basically for two reasons. Education makes man a right thinker. Without education, no one can think properly in an appropriate context you. It tells man how to think and how to make decision. The second reason for the importance of education is that only through the attainment of education, man is enabled to receive information from the external world. It is well said that "Without education, man is as though in a closed room and with education he finds himself in a room with all its windows open towards outside world." This is why Islam attaches such great importance to knowledge and education. When the Quran began to be revealed, the first word of its first verse was 'Iqra' that is, read.. The reflective book of Holy Quran is so rich in content and meaning that if the history of human thought continues forever, this book is not likely to be read to its end. Every day it conveys a new message to the humanity. Every morning, it gives us new thoughtful ideas and bound us in the boundaries of ethics. Islamic Education is one of the best systems of education, which makes an ethical groomed person with all the qualities, which he/she should have as a human being. The Western world has created the wrong image of Islam in the world. They don't know that our teachings are directly given to us from Allah, who is the creator of this world, through our Prophets. The Muslims all over the world are thirsty of acquiring quality education. They know their boundaries and never try to cross it. It is the West, which has created a hype that the Muslim are not in a path of getting proper education. They think that our education teaches us fighting, about weapons, etc., which is so false. This is true that there are certain elements, which force an individual to be on the wrong path, because as we will mould a child, they will be like that, but it doesn't mean that our religion teaches improperly to us. Our Holy Prophet (SAW), said, Seek knowledge from the cradle to the grave. And: Seek knowledge even [if it is to be found in a place as distant as China. At the battle of Badr, in which our beloved Holy Prophet (SAW) gained victory over his foes, seventy people of the enemy rank were taken to prison. These prisoners were literate people. In order to benefit from their education the Prophet declared that if one prisoner teaches ten Muslim children how to read and write, this will serve as his ransom and he will be set free. This was the first school in the history of Islam established by the Prophet himself with all its teachers being non-Muslims. The Sunnah of the Prophet shows that education is to be received whatever the risk involved. Today, the Muslims are acquiring good ideas, thoughts, knowledge, and skills, from all corners of the world. The world is moving very fast, and in this industrialize world, It is the duty of the teachers to give quality ethical integrated education to the Muslim students worldwide, because children are invaluable assets of future generations.

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The Prophet Muhammad (SAW) encouraged all Muslims to acquire knowledge and share it. He said: "Acquire knowledge, for he who acquires it in the way of Allah performs an act of piety; he who speaks of it, praises the Lord; he who seeks it, adores Allah; he who dispenses instruction in it, bestows alms; and he who imparts it to others, performs an act of devotion to Allah." (Bukhari, Muslim) All the teachers of either secular or religious education should give more attention to the pupils inside the classroom. It is necessary that in the Islamic system that we should consider these dear children as our own children, and put aside all other considerations, and rise above all such things and realize our duty and our mission. We should raise the standards of education and attend to the needs of these children. We should realize our duties with earnestness and awaken to the sense of responsibility. It has been seen that there are certain teacher who are not fulfilling their duties with keen interest. I would like to request all the teachers that for the sake of God, for the sake of your revolutionary duty, teach the children with devotion and dedication. It is important that we advance our work through discussions, debates, studies, and through proper distribution of work among ourselves. We must never forget that we are living in an Islamic State, and our aim should be simultaneously to create both an independent as well as an Islamic culture in character. Independence and richness of content are indeed among the characteristics of the Islamic culture. Our system is an ideological system. We should make our child enthusiastic, dynamic, and this search should pervade every corner of our society. We should aspire them to be truthful and sincere. Self-sacrifice and generosity, love of freedom, the resolve for resistance and headstrong perseverance, the courage to welcome martyrdom-all these are the new values of the new generation, which should be taught according to the teaching of Islam. The doors of the school should always be kept open for the sake of Islam, for the sake of the Muslim Ummah.

importance of education essay"

Importance of Education in Life

Education is very necessary for all of us and its implication and importance can be seen in every field of our life. Nations who gave importance to education in every field or sector in the country are ruling now. Have you ever think why the 3rd world countries are suffering from poverty, unemployment and lower life standards. If not, think now. They are suffering because they have not invested in their educational infrastructure.

Importance of Education in Life

Education is not just about reading books, give papers and pass the exams with good numbers. This is just a one step. You have to look ahead. There are worlds beyond stars, you have to look there. If you will not look there, you are doing injustice with you, with your children and even with your nation as a whole. What we lack in the field of education. We do not apply the education gained and forget what we have learned after one of 2 years. Even we have stronger memory; still this is useless for us. We just lean education for the sake of earning handsome money. We have to understand the real meaning of importance of education in life.

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Importance of Education in Life How many engineering students and professional develop new and unique product. Off course, there would be no new invention in this field in the last one, two or three decade. Have people lost their mind. No, this is not the case. Engineering education opens the door of success. You can develop machines and systems which could develop human life more comfortable. The invention of UPS (Uninterrupted Power Supply) and generators have eased the problems of humans. This all happened due to the blessing of education. Lets come into medical sciences field, there are majority of doctors who are treating patients only for the sake of money. They are not working hard to develop more remedial products for the affected people. Young doctors should use their education to research and development. Their education can bring lots of extra thinking power and they can develop medicines for treating dangerous disease which have been remained untreated like cancer and Aids. Now a days, vehicles are being used which are running on low led fuel technology. This product came into existence after through research and analysis. This all became possible because of educated people who are doing this sort of research. The aero plane travel has become so easy and thousand miles distance is travelled within few hours. Is it not that amazing? This again is the greatest blessing of education in our life. Education is like a heart in our daily life. We need to give full attention to it and courses and syllabus should be developed in such a way that student have to apply in their knowledge gained in routine life. By this we can achieve the true benefits of education. The earlier we respond, the brighter the career our nation will have in coming decades. Commitment is necessary from you, from teacher and off course from our future, that is, our children.

Importance of Education for Children

Education Children are the future of all nation and no nation can sustain its children to be illiterate. That is why; every government in the world is trying its best for good quality education for its future. Most of the democracies in the world are offering free education with free syllabus up to intermediate level without bringing issues like races, religion and language in between. Education alters the children future altogether. There are so many friends with me who abandoned the education after secondary or intermediate and now passing their life in quite difficulty. The mistake was not of them, it was of their parents who did not pay attention towards their children.

Importance of Educationfor Children

Importance of Education for Children: Education is crucial for children because of: Develop future If you are giving importance to your children education, you are planning to make their future bright and strong. The coming years are going to be very advanced and people with education and knowledge are going to dominate and rule the economy. Modern Technology

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We see computer use in every aspect of our life. From typing to printing, the whole process is equipped with modern computer systems. By equipping our children with latest computer education and modern technology will help them in future success and career development. Multiple Skills According to a survey conducted, children who are pursing education are able to work at multiple places than that of who are not getting education. For example, I know a child who is doing bachelor from a university and working as a free lancer and write small articles for a company in lieu of handsome money. He is nourishing his writing skills and when he will complete his graduation, he will be able to join as a banker, as an editor or can run his own magazine. Extra thinking Children that are pursuing education tend to show more analytical skills that those who are not getting education. This is quite visible even in early childhood because brain development peaks at the age of 3. Way of Communication Children who are getting education are usually taught to speak other foreign languages so that in future if they have to talk with other nationality people, they can do it with comfort. So, getting education is a must for children. Your child may become the prime minister, president or minister in the country and they have to attend meeting with different countries counterparts. The education gained in their childhood would play a vital role here. Third World Countries Third world countries are suffering from poverty, unemployment and low level of literacy. In order to overcome these problems, education can play a crucial role. Education starts from grass root level and early child education is where every Government should plant a tree. Make Environment Environment is one in which we are living. We are polluting it and destroying it for our short term profit at the cost of long term profit. Proper education should be given to children as how we can reduce wastage by adopting various methods and techniques for the betterment of society.

Importance Of Education
Education is the key to success and no one can achieve its objectives and successful life without the education. Education works like a back bone for the prosperity of any nation. This is not the era in which you rule the world on the basis of manpower and armed forces. You have to rely on education for your existence and for the existence of human being in general.

Importance Of Education

Importance of Education

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Importance of Education can easily be seen in every aspects of our life including but not limited to technology, medical sciences, decision making, Construction of buildings, character building and simple calculations and so on. Education is critical because of: Education makes the man perfect: According to a survey conducted, people described the traits of a man perfect and around 80% people casted votes in favor of education. Compulsory for a society: Society builds upon you, your children, your wife. If you and your wife are educated, then you will also teach your child and try to provide them best education. Todays society is building quite speedy with new and latest technologies, in order to be complaint you and your family need to be educated. Religious: Education is required in a religious context. Various religious strongly recommends attaining education. Education makes man and woman knowledgeable which he or she can apply in daily life for maximum advantages. Resolve Conflicts: Education has refined peoples mind. Gone are the days when nation fights with each other on ordinary issues. Now after becoming educated, nations try to resolve their issues for the mutual benefits. There are no two beliefs that the winner of the war also loses the war. Build Your Life: Education builds your life. Off course you have seen uneducated people are earning very low income. Even they are not able to eat properly. If you are educated, you will get employment in good organization and earns a lot of money. Educated people also run their own sole proprietorship business and earn a super profit. Develop Successful Organization: When educated people work in organization, they add knowledge to the organization. These people go overseas for working with multinational companies and learn a lot and increase their knowledge. When they return back to their countries, they join home country organization. By this they add advanced skills and knowledge with other staff. As a result, organization builds very strongly and could compete with multinationals on a national boundary basis. Nations Image: Importance of education cannot be ignored. It develops the nation image at international level. Our educational standard plays an important and is very helpful in making our respect grateful in other nations eyes. Way of mitigating the difference: Gone are the days when education was considered ones property. Now, there are plenty of institutes and universities that are proving education and continuous professional development to their members and students worldwide. Most common institutes are CIMA (Chartered Institute of Management Accountants), ACCA (Association of Certified Chartered Accountants), ICAEW (Institute of Chartered Accountants of England & Wales), Institute of Public Accountant Australia, CPA Australia and CPA Ireland.

What is the purpose of education (in 500 words or fewer)?

Comment | Published in TES Newspaper on 1 April, 2011

Comment: 5 average rating | Comments (1) Last Updated: 2 April, 2011 Section: Comment

One question, many answers Below are five contributions from teachers and educationalists to the global Purpos/ed online debate

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Be brave enough to let my son fail - Tom Barrett, deputy headteacher of an English primary school, recognised for his work with educational technology
Six or seven years ago, my answer to this question would probably have been different. But I am now both a teacher and a father, both education consumer and provider. I believe educations purpose is a whole range of things that I am sure are applicable to all of us in some respect. My son asks questions when it seems there are none to ask. I dont want education to answer them all for him - I want it to be there to listen to him, and to encourage him to question more. My son dreams up imaginary characters, worlds, situations, predicaments, plot lines, battles, relationships and plays them out with what he has around him. I hope education shines a light on this creativity and seeks it out. Education should draw from him these precious sparks and help him to craft them into something beautiful. I want my son to struggle and to feel challenged. I want the education he encounters to be brave enough to let him fail and to support him if he does and help him to learn the lessons. Environments that encourage risk and innovation will also intrinsically understand failure. Education should embrace all the ups and downs, the bumps in the road, the setbacks and hurdles, the scraped knees and bruises, the lets have another go, and not just the success at the end of the road/course/year. To work in education, it helps to be passionate. I want my son to see the drive and determination in another person at some point in the next few years. I want him to feel that human-to-human inspiration that is so powerful. My son is happy at school. Education should be about cradling happiness

An introduction to things unimagined Josie Fraser, social and educational technologist, currently working for Leicester City Council
To many children and young people, adults seem distinguishable by their finishedness, their completeness. We have grown up. We have become inflexible, we have ceased to play, to imagine; our appetite for adventure has been diminished, not increased, by our understanding of the world; our wild, and even gentle, ambitions have been curtailed by the demands of the real world. Instead of growing in confidence and maturity enough to be wrong and to change our minds, the adult world seems very often to promote an infantile belief in the benefits and possibility of absolute certainty, mastery, fixedness. The assumption of due respect for this completedness often establishes authority and provides boundaries within formal education: I am the one who knows, and you are the one who is in the process of knowing, of becoming the possessor of knowledge, of completion. For me, then, a fundamental purpose of education should be to acknowledge the inevitability of change, celebrate the value of life as a thing in process, and promote an awareness of other ways of doing things - of discoveries yet to be made and solutions yet to be invented. Change is, of course, not always positive. It can be damaging and difficult to come to terms with. Even positive changes - for example, changes in how people deal with terrible things that have affected them - which might free us up and make us happier people, are extremely difficult to go through. But the alternatives to change, if there are any, are entropy, denial and death. Education should ensure that children, young people and adults are equipped to be unsettled, confronted by difference, to be changed, and to effect change. Education is a conduit to different cultures, different places, different times - to different ways of thinking about things and doing things. Education provides us with an introduction to things unimagined and unencountered. It should provide the critical challenge to examine our beliefs, interpretations and horizons, the ability to re-examine ourselves in new contexts, to develop new interests, to review the ways in which we understand ourselves and our place in the world. The purpose of education should be to expand expectations, not to confine them - to support our learners in understanding the impact they can have on their world.

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We cannot expect education built upon a fixation with certainty to meet the urgent needs of social, economic and political change.

Exams shouldnt be a key driver - Rob Thomas, headteacher, Thomas Tallis School, Greenwich, London
In some ways, it is easier to start with the reverse: the purpose of education is not about getting the maximum numbers of students past a particular marker - for example, achieving five or more A* to C grades, including English and maths. This should be an outcome of an effective education system but not a key driver. Targets and league tables have become very important in making sure we raise aspirations, and I am a supporter of the way they have driven the attainment-raising agenda, but I do believe there is much more to education than this. I came into education 30 years ago because I have always been intrigued by the way in which we learn. What has kept me in education for so long is the joy that comes with improving the life chances of our young people. Learning is not a fixed concept. Nor is it something which is delivered and received; it is a collaborative process which is constantly evolving. It is the research and discussions we have around learning that underpin an effective learning environment. I listen to people like Sir Ken Robinson, Professor Tim Brighouse and others and am energised by their views, and these provide the backdrop for debates within my school. I have just read New Kinds of Smart by Bill Lucas and Guy Claxton, which I thoroughly recommend. Who should be involved in these debates? All those involved in the learning process. Most importantly the students themselves; schools that are making the most progress are involving the students in dialogues around learning and curriculum provision. We need to model what effective learning looks like. This involves using research to provide us with ideas, and trying things out, which may involve some risk. The most effective learning takes place when we are on the edge of our comfort zone. I am worried that the Governments white paper, The Importance of Teac hing, makes scant reference to the word learning. I fully support the view that we want our students to receive a world -class education, but the mechanism proposed in the white paper seems to date back to a bygone era. The most effective way to stimulate and engage students is to provide them with a curriculum that captures their imagination and gives them the skills they will need in later life. So what is the purpose of education? In my opinion, it is to provide our young people with the skills they will need to become confident, independent decision-makers who will be able to shape our future. Im not sure that many would disagree with this. It is the way in which we prepare them for this role that is of utmost importance and that has to involve a collaborative view of learning and a commitment to continuing to research how we make this happen in our schools.

We need to prolong natural curiosity - Dawn Hallybone, senior teacher and ICT co-ordinator, Oakdale Junior School, Redbridge, London
For those reading this, the purpose of education will differ in many ways. My view on this has changed over the years as I have become a teacher, governor and, most importantly, a parent with two children in the education system. Does one size fit all? Should we be moving to personalise the learning for our children, enabling them to explore, to be creative and to fail? I want my children - both my own and the children in my class - to fail and to be able to learn from these failures in order to move forward and to gain deeper understanding. Children are naturally curious and I feel we need to find a way to prolong and develop this natural curiosity to enable them to develop a desire, a need and a love for learning that lasts beyond the traditional education system. Education should not just be about the system or the schools. It should be about drawing on the skills and knowledge that are within our local communities, enabling our children to learn from what has gone before to ensure that they enhance their own future.

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I want my children to be happy at school, to be resilient, to be able to persevere, to be aware of the feelings and needs of others and to appreciate their own place in the world. Our current formal education system does not always take these factors into account - there is no GCSE in happiness or resilience, but these are personal skills that will serve children well in the world. My children have a range of information at their fingertips - they also need to be taught how to process this information in its myriad forms, to understand the sometimes complex nature of social media and to use this to enable them to move their education and their learning forward. Education needs to change, to move on with the change in technologies, to recognise the skills our children are using at home when playing games, surfing the net, emailing and using a range of apps. Often, children in my class, and my own two, want to take on this learning themselves, as it both engages them and is of interest. The same is true for books, music, languages, arts - it is about engaging the children in the learning process, and opening their eyes to possibilities that lie ahead. If we look back at the etymological meaning of the word, education is derived form the Latin educare or bring up, which is related to educere, or bring out, bring forth what is within, bring out potential. This for me should be the purpose of education.

Were too nice to children - Ian Yorston, director of digital strategy, Radley College, Oxfordshire. He spent 10 years in the RAF
I think the purpose of education is to teach children how to fail. To drive them to failure and then see what happens. If youre not failing every now and again, its a sure sign that youre not trying anything very innovative - Woody Allen. We know that were entering a new economic reality that is more challenging and less certain. Moores Law (that the number of transistors that can be placed in a circuit doubles approximately every two years) and digital Taylorism ( a production-line approach to the modern workforce that drives out creativity) present a credible threat to the employment prospects of our students. And we know that students need to be more imaginative and more creative if they are to overcome these hurdles. It takes 65,000 errors before you are qualified to make a rocket - Wernher von Braun. We know that people who have it all just arent happy. We know that those with nothing to lose have everything to gain. And we know that when youre behind in the race, and the odds are stacked against you, you dig deeper and you reach higher. Success is going from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm - Winston Churchill. We know that the tired, the poor, the huddled masses fight to breathe freely. We know that those with their backs to the wall fight harder. And yet. And yet. Were too nice to children. We used not to be. Not to Tom Brown. Not to Oliver Twist. Education has become progressively gentler - in a manner that has not always been helpful. Children have moved from fear, to security, to dependency - one step too far Too dependent on adults, on teachers, on parents, on technology, on frameworks, on specifications We need to find new ways for children to fail. We need to step back, let go a little, be less helpful. Of course, our students wont always like this approach. But I suspect that theyll learn a lot more. And, with a bit of luck, theyll learn how to succeed. Ever tried? Ever failed? No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better - Samuel Beckett.

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LIVE EVENT - Sense of Purpose Purpos/ed was set up by education researcher and former teacher Doug Belshaw and his colleague Andy Stewart, both of whom work in Newcastle- upon-Tyne. The aim of the Purpos/ed website is to promote non-partisan debate about education. So far, the 500-word challenge has predominantly attracted contributions from teachers and educators in the UK, but also from the US, Canada and Australia, among other countries. Tickets are available for the first live Purpos/ed event, which will be held on Saturday 30 April at Sheffield Hallam University.

Short essay on the Educational System of Pakistan

The educational system of Pakistan has been a topic of debate in the country since independence. There are different points of views regarding what type of education system would be in the best interest of the country and yet there has been no consensus on this matter. The educational system of Pakistan could be divided into three categories: Cambridge Education System: This education system involves a curriculum based on the UK standard of education. Only the rich and elite of the country could afford having their children acquire UK based education. A majority of children who have acquired Cambridge level education go to foreign countries for higher education. This creates a disparity between the rich and the poor as the employers prefer candidates of the Cambridge education system over others. Pakistan Secondary Education System: This type of education system is basically provided by the private and governmental schools. The schools for the middle class students is one in which half of the instructions are in English and the other half in Urdu. If these children are lucky to have parents who could afford the fees of recognized colleges then they are able to go to colleges of their preference, provided they have good grades previously. For children belonging to the lower class, have to study in a full Urdu medium school with little know how about English which is now considered to be a standard medium for education internationally. These people generally occupy the low standard and low paid jobs of clerks, salesmen, factory workers and etc. Madressah Education System: It deals with educating children about Islam. Children are basically educated with religious teachings and have no knowledge or education about worldly subjects. There are various problems associated with these types of systems. The Cambridge Education System in not accepted by many because it promotes inequality in the society as only a smaller proportion of the country's children are able to acquire it because of it being expensive. The secondary education system in which there are private and government schools is criticized for not providing quality education as their teachers have lesser qualifications and are not able to equip the students with the knowledge required to compete in the job market. Urdu being used as a medium of education is not welcomed both because in times of globalization it is important to know the language which is most commonly understood in the world or the language which meets international requirements and English is not being taught in many of these schools. What could be done is that the government should form a research team immediately which would try to find out which type of education system is in the larger interest of the country. Professionals from different fields including doctors, businessmen, engineers, lawyers etc. should be made part of this team so a consensus could be formed on the type of education system for the children of Pakistan. There is no doubt that the solution lies in a single education system for all children across the country provided that the quality of education being provided is of international standard.

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Education problem in Pakistan Essay

ARTICLE 1 COMMENT

Education is the basic feature upon which lays the infrastructure of the entire existence of the state and the success and prosperity of the nation. The purpose of education is to enlighten the minds of people and lead them towards light out of darkness. With an outcome of a generation that is educated, well-mannered, civilized, poised and confident. When a country abounds with such qualities they can make their way to the soaring heights of success and development. The literacy rate of a state measures the status of nation s development and mental richness. Its a parameter to judge the awareness and education in a nation about the latest changes and alterations in the world and technology advancements. Problems in education system Of Pakistan: Peeking into the details of educational system in Pakistan can highlight the grim defects and troubles its facing. Educational system in Pakistan is basically divided into 5 main categories i.e. primary, middle, secondary, and intermediate and university level. At every level some flaws are common that are discussed below: Class Discrimination: Educational System in Pakistan is subject to numerous flaws because its dividing people into various groups with the rich going to institutes with Cambridge system e.g. Beacon house school sys tem,atchison etc.,middle class to a bit more affordable private institutes and the poor ones are left behind who then join the government institutes, with poor educational faculties, with the outcome that english medium schools students learn least about Islam but they gather a sound knowledge of outside world ,On the contrary there is a third kind of system running i.e. system of MADRASSAS imparting children solely with religious education and no emphasis on modern studies, producing a generation that knows well about religion but is deprived of essential modern education. Difference in medium offered at various institutes: As the medium of education offered by all institutes is not the same, it leads to conflicts among the classes and sense of deprivation especially among the poor ones. This continues at higher education level as well, e.g. LUMS, IBA, GIKI etc these institutions are meant for the elite class, developing social class differences between the students of lower class institutes who might have better abilities and caliber than the students of these institutes, but their intelligence goes neglected, resulting in a waste of talent that could bring Pakistan to the best of its Success and development. Poor and Corrupt Education System: Moreover the examination system is nor fair and just. Corruption and bigotry prevail our education system at all levels, If you have contacts and resources you can climb up to as high a level of success as you desire, it is the poor and middle class that suffers always, and the Government seems to have turned deaf ear to the wimping of these deprived people. Main Problem Of Pakistan Is Education: The education status in Pakistan is not unstable since its establishment. The biggest reason why Pakistans lagging far behind many countries that were founded somewhere near the era in which Pakistan was formed, is its low literacy rate, i.e. poor education system. Literacy rate of Pakistan is almost around 50% where the essentials for being termed an educated person are that you are able of reading and writing (34% aprox). Which is not a good sign, with a result that more than half of the literate ones are also not educated in a completely proper way? Education teaches one the way of spending a good life, it teaches one the etiquettes, the proper manners, and civilities to live an honorable life. It changes a persons mindset and makes him more flexible and poised in his attitude towards various aspects of life. As Most of the Pakistanis are deprived of their very basic right of getting educated they never become independent and are exploited and influenced by the educated ones, this creates great disparities in social classes. Corruption, feudalism, living on Loans, etc these are all the problems that arise as a result of poor education, hence, the people fail to elect correct people for the government and suffer whole their lives because the mindset cannot be altered except only with education So, its a dire need of the debilitating education -health status of the state that proper education system be implemented so that a just even social, economic and political system would be ensured. And soon shall Pakistan make its way to the soaring heights of Progress and development.

The

Education

System level

of

Pakistan (Class

is

divided 1

into to

five

levels 5)

1.Primary

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2.Middle 3.Secondary 4.Intermediate 5.University

level level

(Class (Graduation,

level level

5 Masters

to and

8th) (S.S.C) (H.S.C) Research)

Another division of Education System in Pakistan according to the School System 1.1. Public Schools or Government Schools These schools are managed and financed by the government. Unfortunately, the majority of the schools are in poor condition. There is no any merit system; teachers and other staff are appointed by the ministers on their own wishes. There is no any accountability; a large number of GHOST SCHOOLS AND GHOST TEACHERS are listed in the documents. They are receiving funds and pays, but, in reality they did not exists. In Rural areas, the buildings of public schools are mostly held by Waderas and Feudal. They use them as marriage halls, otaks, bethaks etc. “Public schools are the nurseries of all vice and immorality.” (Henry Fielding) 1.2. Elite Class Schools (private schools) Due to badly failure of government in providing the Education, the Elite Class Education System in Pakistan got successes very quickly. Today, even poor prefer to send their child in these private schools but because of high fee structure many aspirants are unable to part this Education System. It is generally accepted that, the standard of Elite Class Education System is more reliable and first-rate than Public Schools and Madarsas. There is accountability, transparency and checking system. Generally, the students of private schools are more competent than those of public schools and Madarsas. The government should take lessons from this Education System. These are successive models for the government i.e. CITY SCHOOL, BEACON SCHOOLS, PAK-TURK SCHOOLS etc. 1.3. Madarsas Madarsas are the largest NGOs of the world. Today in Pakistan about 8000 Madarsas are working. They provide not only Education but also accommodation and food. They provide Islamic as well as worldlyEducation. Mostly, poor parents who are unable to educate their child prefer this Education System. The government should introduce the reforms for the Madarsas and improve their standard. This will be helpful in two ways. Firstly, it will provide free of cost education to poor child. Secondly, it will lessen the burden the government.

Before the 18th Amendment, the EducationSystem in Pakistan was the responsibility of Federal Government. The Ministry of Education at Federal level was responsible for formulating Policies, Planning and Promotion of Educational facilities across the country. But, after the passing of 18th Amendment, the responsibilities of Education System are divided among the Federation and the Provinces. The responsibilities of the Provinces

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1.To set 2.To set 3.Standards of Education up 4.Islamic The responsibilities

to of

Grade

the the 12 (F.Sc,

H.S.C, are

Federation

Curriculum Syllabus I.Com, etc). Education following

1.Planning and Policy 2.External Affairs; Signing, implementation and monitoring of Bilateral and Multi-lateral Educational Agreements, Pacts, Protocols, MoUs 3.Controlling of Libraries, museums, and similar institutions 4.Federal agencies i.e. FATA 5.Special Studies 6.Inter-provincial matters and co-ordination.” 7.Legal, medical and other professions. 8.National planning and national economic coordination including planning and coordination of scientific and technological research. 9.National Education Policy and clear cut Domain over the following acts. 1. 1.Centres of Excellence Act 1974 2.Area Study Centres Act 1975 3.Pakistan Study Centres Act 1976 4.National Book Foundation Act 1972 5.Fed. Board of Intermediate & Sec Education Act 1975 6.Federal Directorate of Education Isb. [Article 142 (d)] 7.Federal Supervision of Curricula, Textbooks and Standards of Education Act 1976 8.National Education Foundation Ordinance 2002 SOURCES: http://pakistanandpakistanis.com/education-system-in-pakistan/

Our Education System and Pakistan

Author: Admin Date: 07/Mar/2009 Lahore

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We all know the importance of education. It is the most important aspect of any nations survival today. Education builds the nations; it determines the future of a nation. So thats why we have to adopt our Education Policies very carefully because our future depends on these policies. ISLAM also tells us about Education and its importance. The real essence of Education according to ISLAM is to know ALLAH but I think in our country we truly lost. Neither our schools nor our madrassas (Islamic Education Centres) are truly educating our youth in this regard. In schools, we are just preparing them for Money. We arent educating them we are just preparing Money Machines. We are only increasing the burden of the books for our children and just enrolling them in a reputed, big school for what, just for social status??? On the other hand in our madrassas we are preparing people who finds very difficult to adjust in the modern society. Sometimes it seems that they are from another planet. A madrassa student cant compete even in our country then the World is so far from him. He finds very difficult to even speak to a school boy. It is crystal clear that Islamic Education is necessary for Muslims but it is also a fact that without modern education no one can compete in this world. There are many examples of Muslim Scholars who not only study the Holy Quraan but also mastered the other subjects like Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Astronomy and many more, with the help of Holy Quraan. I think with the current education system we are narrowing the way for our children instead of widening it. There is no doubt that our children are very talented, both in schools and in madrassas, we just need to give them proper ways to groom, give them the space to become Quaid-E-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Allama Iqbal, Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, Alberoni, Abnalhasam, or Einstein, Newton, Thomas Edison. The education system we are running with is not working anymore. We have to find a way to bridge this gap between school and madrassa. Robert Maynard Hutchins describes it as The object of education is to prepare the young to educate themselves throughout their lives. We should give our youth the way to educate themselves. Edward Everett said that Education is a better safeguard of liberty than a standing army. Sadly, in Pakistan we are spending more budgets on our arms than on education which depicts our ideology about education!!! Since 1947 not a single government is able to change this scenario. In price of a grenade almost 20 to 30 children can go to school for the whole year and the other picture.... a grenade can kill 20 to 30 grown people!!!!!!. So a grenade is damaging in two ways stopping children education and then killing innocent people!!! Why not authorities think about this? Answer.... we all know that!!! Dont we? Now lets talk about our Policy Makers, it seems they are not working enough. Every year policy for education is reviewed by the government but the results are same.... Illiteracy rate is going upwards in Pakistan according to a recent survey. Somebody starting Nai Roshni School, somebody starting Parha Likha Punjab etc. for what to educate Pakistan? Well, I dont think so. These People are playing with our nation for the last 60 years just for their on profits and aims. We should and we have to

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think about our children education now that are we educating them in the right way? If not, what should we do? We have to act now otherwise its going to be too late for PAKISTAN!!!
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Education system in Pakistan Essay

On August 24, 2012, in Knowledge sharing, World around me, by Aamir Ilyas
inSha re

Education in Pakistan
Education is the backbone of every nation. Many countries have carved their names in the history of the world because of their well educated society and citizens. Education is the delivery of knowledge and skill from a teacher to student. Though this delivery of knowledge is taking place everywhere in our country as well but it is not effective. According to literacy definition (as in 1998 census) an educated person is the one who can read a news paper and write a simple letter in any language. Keeping in mind this definition, we can say that 50% of population of Pakistan is literate but the reality is quite different. This 50% of the population is unaware of modern techniques and technologies. The education system of Pakistan is responsible for it. The present education system of Pakistan has failed to fulfill the requirement of society. The failure of education system in Pakistan is due to number of reasons. Few of them along with their remedies are discussed below:

Education system in Pakistan:

The education system of Pakistan falls into five levels. These are: Primary level Middle level Secondary level Intermediate level University level

If we talk about schools, colleges and universities, they also fall in three categories. These are: Government schools Private schools Madaras

Talking about the government institutions first, they are in poor condition due to lack of attention and shortage of funds. Teachers are not given adequate salary. Private schools, on the other hand are doing much better job. There are number of school systems which are well recognized in Pakistan like THE CITY SCHOOL, BEACON HOUSE SCHOOL SYSTEM, and ALLIED SCHOOL etc. They are paying their teachers well and are giving them necessary training for teaching. The only drawback of these private schools is that their fees are not affordable by everyone. Madaris are the third type of educational systems working in Pakistan. They are providing Islamic education to bulk of students. After 9/11 the reputation of these institutions is badly harmed and now they are not taken as a reliable source for providing religious education. The numbers of educational system that are currently working in Pakistan are producing no synergy but are creating conflicts and division among people. We have English medium schools, Urdu medium schools and madaras. A student coming out of an English medium school is unaware of Islamic teachings and a student coming out of Urdu medium school gets least chance of acquiring good job. Madaras students are group of youngsters that know very little about the outside world. Here, the need is to form a single system that can fulfill all the current demands of modern

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education. This hierarchy of schooling systems must be abolished soon and an educational emergency must be declared within the country and the government must involve the whole nation to prevail this war against illiteracy. There is a greater need to improve and update the curriculum and pedagogy. Still today, our children are learning those books which have same syllabus that our grandparents used to learn. Along with outdated syllabus, the teaching method is also obsolete. In order to beat the world in the field of education, we must first improve and update our curriculum and teaching methods. Here the question arises that should we start teaching western syllabus to our students? The answer is that we must localize the western syllabus first then make it available for our students. Moreover, attention must be given on mathematics and Language as these two subjects are the foundation on which attainment of other skills depends. English and Computer studies must be made compulsory from primary level. Special documentaries and activities must be designed and educational trips should be arranged for the education of the students. The multiplicity of systems must be eradicated soon. There is no need of a separate system of providing religious education instead religious education must be included in mainstream education. Arabic language must be started at primary level as it will help the student in future if he is planning to become a civil servant or to enter in the profession of Army or Judiciary. Along with above mentioned suggestions, a big amount of fund must be allocated for education and the government makes sure that these funds are not misused. Government should keep an eye on all the Ghost schools and teachers that are only present in documents but physically they are not found anywhere on land. These ghost schools and teachers are consuming funds and donations which originally are the right of many other registered schools. Last but not the least; education should be made compulsory and free of cost especially for girls as they are the one who holds the future of our country. Education is the tool that can surely bring positive change in any society. It is the only mean to develop oneself physically, socially and mentally as well. If this tool will not function properly then the whole nation will collapse. So the need of time is that everyone must get united to make our education system one of the best in the world and to compose our young generation in such a way that they can compete with any nation in the field of education.

Essay: Pakistan Educational Problems

on January 2, 2013 9:36 am in Essays / no comments

Title : Pakistan Educational Problems

The present system of education is rotten to the core. It was designed to create clerks for the East India Company and later on to supply a number ofofficers to run the administration. Since the creation of Pakistan, there has been a cry from the people that the prevailing system of education should be over hauled. Today we face many educational problems. First, our education is not based on Islamic principles. It is too materialistic in its outlook. The result is chaos in society. The students of today are disrespectful to their parents and elders. The present indiscipline in the schools and colleges can only be cured if he students are made familiar with the Quran. We should base our education on Islamic Ideology. We should pursue western science but we should not forget that we are Muslims. Now Islamiat as a subject has been made compulsory in schools and colleges. Secondly, ours is a developing country. We need more and more skilled workers. We need doctors, engineers, agriculturists, technicians in all spheres of life. Our problem is to have more industrial and technical colleges. Education in humanities should remain but it should be restricted only to a few. This will solve the problem of unemployment to a great extent. Moreover, we will be able to get rid of the foreign experts. Thirdly, the need for suitable books is being acutely felt in Pakistan. Most of the books are foreign published. Some are published in Pakistan but they are not upto the mark. The learned men and scholars in the country

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must devote themselves to the writing of new books according to our needs. History will have to be re-written with special reference to the achievements of our national heroes. Modern Urdu literature should be given place in the syllabi. Reading texts must have scientific knowledge in them. They should preach our national ideology. Fourthly, the most baffling question is that of the national languages. There are many languages in our country, Urdu, English, Arabic and Punjabi. This language should be developed to high standards so that it may become suitable medium of expression. But a word of caution is necessary. We should not turn out English once. Sentiment is no substitute for fact.Lastly, our system of examination needs a drastic change. Our examinations are not a sure test of ones ability. Good marks and divisions in the examinations depend in change and cramming. A good student may fall ill and secure a poor third division; a student may cram a few questions and get a high first class. Our education should discourage cram work. It should take all possible steps to engender originality of thought and an aptitude for research work.

The Educational Problems Of Pakistan Education Essay This research paper is an accomplishment to find out the educational problems of Pakistan. The main motivation behind this the literacy rate of Pakistan. A study said that Pakistan have 48.7% literacy rate which is even less than 50%. This is because of several reasons like educational problems, corruption in education etc, thats why I am motivated to conduct a research on educational problems. Table of Contents 1. Introductionpage 3 2. Review Of Literature.page5 3. Methodology..page 14 4. Conclusion..page 15 5. Referencespage 16
Problems of Education in Pakistan Introduction Education must be a cheapest and most preceding item of a nation, and its a best weapon of a country. Countries that are well developed in this world have very strong educational system. Underdeveloped countries are losing in this effort, especially Pakistan. In the area of education, Pakistan is lagging behind other countries of South Asia, even lower than Nepal, Bangladesh and Maldives. Our education standard is uneven, private schools follow different syllabus and public schools follow different. Our private schools doing a bit good but our public schools perform badly and deteriorating its educational standard day by day. There is a lot of corruption in the public sector like cheating in exams, fake results, fake degrees etc. Why I have chosen this topic? The main motivation behind this the literacy rate of Pakistan. A study said that Pakistan have 48.7% literacy rate which is even less than 50%. This is because of several reasons like educational problems, corruption in education etc, thats why I am motivated to conduct a research on educational problems. I have read some articles on this topic, according to those articles still our population is not fully acknowledged about the importance of education especially in rural areas. Although there are some problems like lack of facilities, teacher training, syllabus and attitude of the people as well but the government should have enough strong plans to overcome these kinds of problems. Study reflected that the educated, working and economically sound parents were more interested towards Pre-school education. Pre-

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school education starts at the age of two or three up to five years and kids learn in social learning environments (Ormrod, 1999) out of home. The preschool education actually results with personality traits and social development of the children in the school environment. Children learn more through relations with their age fellows. At early stage of life children are very sharp with their minds and they tends to do questioning and get understand things easily, thats why early education is too essential for making them creative, artistic, social and developing communication skills. In Pakistan, formally education starts at the age of five years from grade-1. Working and economically well off parents prefer to send their children to day care centers, nursery or kindergarten schools at the age of three to five years. Private sector expands this facility in fact on commercial basis in urban areas throughout the country. While public schools, kids sit in pre-primary (Kachi Class) in multi-grade classrooms which are not equipped with appropriate facilities. Parents and kids faced problems due to lack of trained teachers and insufficient facilities in pre-school education centers. Previous studies attempting to explain the low level of educational development in Pakistan have pointed to a wide range of macro social issues from population growth and political instability to feudalism and a lack of human rights (Rahman, 2004). Main problems that I have found government could not pay attention and dont have strong policies to conduct this system in better way. In government schools we dont have proper facilities for example furniture, trained teachers, books are not available in the market, the allocation of funds for education are very low. It is only 1.5 to 2.0 percent of the total GDP; the ratio of gender discrimination is a cause which is projecting the primary school ratio of boys & girls which is 10:4 respectively. For the last few years there has been an increase in the growth of private schools. That only harms the quality of education but creates a gap among them and Poverty is also another factor that restricts the parents to send their children to public or private schools. So, they prefer to send their children to madressahs where education is totally free. Review of Literature The literature review section is deals about the summary of articles that I have read. This article has been written by Mr Irshad Hussaina and Mr Sarwat Sultanb and its title is Parents literacy and pre-school education: a study of practices and problems of early childhood education in Pakistan in this article the writers try to expose some main problems and root cause regarding pre-school education in Pakistan. They mentioned number of problems through which some of them I am describing. According to writers working parents and parents who are economically well off are more interested to give their children pre-school education thats mean people have money problem, they cant afford schooling fees. Along with the income problem our schools do not provide good study environment, we are lacking of class room facilities especially in government schools, our teachers are not well trained, we are not providing good syllabus to our children and make our syllabus interesting so that kids show their desire towards studies and do not waste their golden time. We should take some measures regarding all the problems because when kids at their early stage of life, they are very intelligent with their minds and they have a propensity to do inquiring and get understand things easily, thats why early education is too essential for making them creative, artistic, social and developing communication skills. The study was descriptive in nature, so that survey approach was considered more suitable and adopted to collect the data.

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Sample size was 120 parents and the areas were Islamabad, Lahore, Karachi, Peshawar, Quetta and Bahawalpur Districts. Two research tools a questionnaire on five point rating (likert) scale and an interview schedule were developed. Interview schedule were used for deep understanding of the scenario. The data analyzed on the basis of qualitative and quantitative method and mean score. Results were shown in percentages in the form of tables. (Mr. Irshad Hussaina and Mr. Sarwat Sultanb Jan 5,2010) This article has been written by Taro Komatsu and its title is Qualitative inquiry into local education administration in Pakistan in this article the author explained that the educational development in Pakistan is very low. In year 2000 government introduce decentralization system to improve the delivery of basic education which was administering by local government body who take control on its primary responsibilities. By doing research he specifically talked about the Northwest Frontier Province of Pakistan which was found problematic in terms of effective and efficient delivery of education along with shortage of teachers. He finds out many findings which are interconnected with each other and are mainly cause educational destruction. The district education office is over loaded with work handling. Transfers of teachers to different areas are big issue, teachers want to do job in their home cities and reasons behind this were categorized in to following: inconveniences relating to travel and accommodation; cultural Constraints; and economical constraints. Local education officers seem to place high main concern on moral development as the role of public education, but not keenly request to find and satisfy the particular needs of the local area. The author utilized ethnographic observational techniques and semi-structured interviews; both are commonly used qualitative research methods. Research was conducted in two districts of the NWFP, Pakistan. Two districts were chosen based on comparative geographical characteristics; one is urban, and the other is rural. (Taro Komatsu 29, 2009) This article has been written by Jo Westbrook, Nazneen Shah a, Naureen Durrani, Clare Tikly, Wazim Khan and Ma ire ad Dunne and its title is Becoming a teacher: Transitions from training to the classroom in the NWFP, Pakistan this article is about the educational level of teachers which are teaching in schools especially in case of north west Frontier of Pakistan. Writes tried to find out capabilities of teachers, have the guts to do teaching or just they passing time and generating their income only. With respect to this they also concentrate on the conditions of schools and their class rooms. More over they bring in to light the importance of superior thought towards the social and professional perspective of the school within training program as a means to make continual improvements in the quality of classroom teaching and learning. Results initiate with the newly qualified teachers NQTs describe the importance what they learned from their trainings and how they implement to the students. Three set of constraints were taken out from the analysis of the transition from student to teacher. Out of those three, two were related to the physical conditions of the schools and cultural context of the schools community. While the third constraint related to the professional climate and support for the newly trained teachers within the school. They also give some statistic figures about literacy rate of Pakistan and those figures I am just copying from the article the overall literacy rate is 48.7%, with 61.7% male literacy

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compared to 35.2% among females (UNESCO, 2005). There are 6.6 million children out of primary school (Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, 2006). More than half the children in Pakistan drop out of school before completing the fifth grade. On average, females remain in school for 1.3 years and males for 3.8 years (Qureshi, 2003). The methodology they were used is a small scale collaborative research study in two state secondary schools, one girls and one boys. Data was collected from Questionnaires and they also conducted Focus group interviews to the people just to strengthen their information. (Jo Westbrook, Nazneen Shah, Naureen Durrani, Clare Tikly, Wazim Khan and Ma ire ad Dunne, 29,2009) This article has been written by Anjum Halai and its title is Equality or equity: Gender awareness issues in secondary schools in Pakistan in this article writer addresses the gender discrimination issue, this issue strongly affects the quality education in Pakistan. Writer takes this gender difference from a prospective of social justice and he explained that in Pakistan boys and girls are taking education separately in the class rooms therefore teachers and others tend to think that there are no gender differences. However beyond this there are several reasons which create this issue and affects quality education in Pakistan. Writer talked about from the prospective of secondary schooling education in Pakistan. The Education for All (EFA) goals acknowledge that gender equity is also a significant element of quality in education (UNESCO, 2003). According to the information provided in the latest UNESCO EFA Global Monitoring Report, in South and West Asia there are 57 million more children in school in 2007 than in 1999. In 2007, the net enrolment ratio is 86% (up on 74% in 1999), the gender equality indicator is 0.96 (up on 0.84 in 1999). In 2007, there were an estimated 18 million children out of school, 58% of whom were girls, an improvement on figures for 1999 when there were 39 million children out of school, 63% of who were girls (UNESCO, 2010, pp. 346347). An issue with numerical index and measures of gender equality in education is that they do not reflect the inborn biases and inequity in classroom practice which often noticeable cultural and societal pattern of behaviors and established stereotypical gender character of women and men. According to writer this is only due to our old traditions especially in rural areas which declared girls are prohibited for getting education. We are stick to give separate environment to females and males typically at secondary school level, not only students but we give priority to have same sex teacher as well. (Anjum Halai 2010) This article has been written by Anne Cockcroft, Neil Andersson , Deborah Milne , Khalid Omer , Noor Ansari , Amir Khan and Ubaid Ullah Chaudhry and its title is Challenging the myths about madaris in Pakistan: A national household survey of enrolment and reasons for choosing religious schools writers discussed about Madaaris in this article, they explained there are rumors about madaaris that they are the source of terrorists. Madaris in Pakistan are now a subject of considerable international attention. A number of reports have expressed concern that at least some of these institutions promote religious extremism and terrorism (International Crisis Group, 2002; Khokhar, 2007; Singer, 2001; Stern, 2000). A recent study of 79 terrorists involved in anti-Western attacks found that very few had attended a madarsah (Bergen and Pandey, 2006), but Fair (2007) has suggested that terrorist groups may selectively engage better qualified people for technically demanding tasks. Reliable data about madaris in Pakistan are

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limited. Most reports rely on secondary data analysis, or repeat unsubstantiated estimates or claims about madaris. Some reports suggest very high levels of enrolment into madaris, and that they provide a extensive part of education in Pakistan (International Crisis Group, 2002; Singer, 2001). they said according to several authors parents send their children to the madaaris due to their poverty and failure of state education system. (Singer, 2001; Smith, 2002). There data collection methodology as follows madarsah enrolment among 53,960 representative households; 853 focus groups of parents discussed enrolment choices. In 2004, 2.6% of all children (3.8% of school-going children) aged 59 years attended a madarsah. Children from urban and less educated households were more likely to attend a madarsah, but there was no difference by sex of the child or household vulnerability. Along with this sample they held focus groups, discussion groups and analyze the data through computers and represent it in the form of diagrams and tables. (Anne Cockcroft, Neil Andersson , Deborah Milne , Khalid Omer , Noor Ansari , Amir Khan and Ubaid Ullah Chaudhry, 2008) This article has been written by Kevin R. McClure and its title is Madrasas and Pakistans education agenda: Western media misrepresentation and policy recommendations in this article researcher attempt to show the educational programs of madaris and Pakistans education which was critically observed by Western media. Author briefly describe the educational system of Pakistan according to him Pakistan have four provinces and each province has its own educational board and bureau of curriculum and schools which are located in the capital are controlled by Minister of education Pakistan. Generally, primary education refers to grades one through five; middle education, grades six through eight; and secondary education, grades nine through 10; higher secondary education contain intermediate grades 11 and 12, which leads to tertiary education, two years after which a bachelors degree can be earned this is the basic educational structure in Pakistan. According to Riaz (2008), three streams have shouldered education provision in Pakistan since its independence from Britain in 1947: Urdu-medium public schools, English-medium private schools, and madrasas. Writer also given the definition of madrasas that are in Arabic madrasa means school We define madrasas as schools that teach a religious curriculum instead of one prescribed by the Pakistan Federal Ministry of Education (Andrabi et al., 2006). Broad definitions are not incorrect, as schools that promote Islamic curricula are in South Asia generally referred to as madrasas (Riaz, 2008). But these madarees are not under Pakistani government and they developed their own syllabus although government announced that Islamic education compulsory in schools.( Kevin R. McClure 2009). This article has been written by Jessica Holmes and its title is Measuring the determinants of school completion in Pakistan: analysis of censoring and selection bias this article is about need of schools in Pakistan according to the survey of 1991 there are lack of schools, low enrollment rate, low educational level, high illiteracy rate and a large disparity between male and female gender. Than after this he also told that school attainment also depend on the family characteristics, means parents give how much importance to the education. Than it also depend on the income level of the family, are they afford their childs educational expense. People who dont have enough money to fulfill their necessities of life ,their food, their shelter, their cloths than how we

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expect them that they give education to their children so according to writer its a responsibility of state one who cant afford his child education government need to provide him free education.( Jessica Holmes). This article has been written by Babar Zaheer Butt, Kashif ur Rehman and its title is A study examining the students satisfaction in higher education this article is about the students satisfaction in higher education in Pakistan. Satisfactions in term of teacher expertise, courses, class room facilities and learning environment. Educational department is developing day by day so rapidly all over the word is just because of globalization and digital revolution; it has created a demand for new and various disciplines in education. In current time higher education sector in Pakistan has developed outstandingly in terms of number of institutions and students enrolment due to some serious steps taken by the government. This situation demands and increases the students interest in higher education in Pakistan. This article examines the determinants of students satisfaction in higher education and their influence on level of satisfaction. From the results it is marked that students are satisfied with higher education in Pakistan. (Babar Zaheer Butt, Kashif ur Rehman 2010). This article has been written by Nadeem Khan and Arshad Ali and its title is Improving the speaking ability in English: The students perspective writer start with the words of Quaid-azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah said in Educational Conference in 1947, During the last three or four decades, English has displaced French as the leading language of the world and the recent emergence of basic English is likely to extend its domination still further. Besides, from purely self regarding motives, we should not easily throw away a language which gives us so easy an access to all the secrets of Western Science and Culture (pp 11-12).in this article writer want to tell the importance of English as a subject and as a language. We should learn English language because now a days its a most commonly speaking language in the world. We should learn English because our all syllabus is in English language and its also necessary for higher education and help us in a conversation with rest of the world. Our government should conducted classes English language, speaking skills and writing skills have been learnt and this is done at least in school level, so that we made good base to our children. (Nadeem Khan and Arshad Ali, 2010). This article has been written by Farzana Shafique, Khalid Mahmood and its title is The role of educational information systems for survival in information society and the case of Pakistan authors discussed about the role of educational information in the survival of todays world. According to writers there are three revolutions took place: industrial revolution; agriculture revolution and the third one is informational revolution. The said informational revolution not came within one or two days there are five revolutions behind this as a base. And those were as follows a) the invention of language; b) the invention of writing and then the printing press; c) the introduction of mass media; d) the invention of computers; and e) the marriage of telecommunications and computers (Boaz, 1981). The digital revolution in information and communication technologies (ICT) has produced the stand for a global stream of information, ideas, and knowledge. This revolution has made a reflective sense on the way the world functions and has transformed it to a developing information society (Shafique & Mahmood, 2008).

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Behind all this, education is the main mean for these luminous expansions. With all this fact we are still far behind in this field. It is evident from the article prospective that existing information systems in Pakistan is designed to facilitate the educational administrators which are not healthy and well planned, and as a result we are not capable to smooth the progress of the educational administrators in practical planning and decision making. (Farzana Shafique, Khalid Mahmood 2010). This article has been written by Matthew J. Nelson and its title is MUSLIMS, MARKETS, AND THE MEANING OF A GOOD EDUCATION IN PAKISTAN in this article author try to compare religious education and the market oriented education and also reflect the type of educational demand in Pakistan. By concluding this article, we get to know that people prefer religious education over the secular. Because 98% people want the Islamic education as part of the education syllabus and most people believe it as necessary and give first priority to Islamic education. Islamic education does not mean that people who are getting education from Midrasas are always go for jihad but most of people who got trained from Midrasas, go for to manage the mosques. Our parents want to give their child religious education, they do not deny market oriented education but they prefer madarassas. So its a responsibility of state to take hold on that religious educational institution and allot them a very high-quality syllabus so that our children acquire not only Islamic education but also get school education. (Matthew J. Nelson, 2006). This article has been written by Hafiz M. Iqbal, Shahida Sohail and Shumaila Shahzad and its title is Learning and study strategies used by university students in Pakistan In this article, researcher has investigated the learning and studies strategies of the university student of Pakistan. There may be many factors which contribute to the academic success of the students like how to learn, how to manage the time, understanding and remembering. After carrying out research the results were not as much different. This is due to the open availability of libraries and internet labs where students work together to complete their assignments and it also help them to increase their knowledge. First the semester system is very good for university students because it provide students their frequent assessment and feedback. Researcher took sample of 440 students from 9 faculties of university of Punjab and those 9 faculties were as follows Arts and Humanities, Behavioral and Social Sciences, Commerce, Economics and Management Sciences, Education, Engineering and Technology, Law, LifeSciences, and Science. Mean score of all the scales was calculated for comparison with American percentile norm. ANOVA was applied for comparison of all the faculties on LASSI scales. Later on, LSD was applied. The main purpose of the study was just to find out need for students to improve their skills to avoid serious problems succeeding in university. (Hafiz M. Iqbal, Shahida Sohail and Shumaila Shahzad, 2010). Methodology: My topic of research is problems of education in Pakistan as my area of study is descriptive in nature so I go for survey approach and it is more feasible for me as compared to any other research approach. I can go for develop questionnaires and fill these questionnaires from different big cities of Pakistan like Islamabad, Peshawar, Lahore, etc I can also send these questionnaires to the well known universities of Pakistan just to conduct research on higher education system of Pakistan. With all above mentioned methodology I can also go for focus group, interviews as well with the

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different households and universities students of different cities of Pakistan. Before conducting this research first of all I have to specify the population and then get sample form this population. After collecting all the data I have to came up with my own theory and also specify dependent and independent variables. In my case it is very clear that education is dependent variable while all the problems like people income, people awareness, quality syllabus, best qualified teachers, government policies regarding education and many others all are the independent variables. After doing all above procedure I have to use statistical method like ANOVA test for extracting concluding results. Then compare these results with the best providing education countries. Conclusion: In this research I had studied around 12 different research articles on the problems of education in Pakistan. The titles and authors name of these 12 articles are given under the heading of references. Now I am concluding my research as my topic is about educational problems in Pakistan first of all I am declaring some of the biggest problems regarding education which Pakistan has faced and then give their solution. These problems are as follows: The first biggest problem that I felt is the parents literacy, still now our people do not enough aware about the role of education in a society but this problem mostly exist in a rural areas of Pakistan. Second problem is regarding the income of people which means people do not afford the education fees of their children this problem is especially for the students who are getting their higher education but there are people who even could not afford the preschool education as well. Third is about the conditions of schools, class rooms and its environment is so pathetic that it frustrating students from education. In the same we ran short of faculty and do not have well trained teacher staff. Then we have a great problem of gender discrimination and the last but not least is our educational policies we just spend 2.6% of our total budget on education. There is always a solution to get rid of all the problems so we have to take steps to remove our problems regarding education. First of all government should organize teams, conducting programs on TV in which they have to tell their nation about the importance of education. These things especially do in the rural areas so that people will develop a sense of responsibility and send their children to the schools. Government should give subsidy on the education industry so that people easily afford the expenses of education. Government should make sound policies on the subject of education and also the budget so that people will get education easily. By increasing in the educational budget we can make more libraries, chemical labs and engineering labs and can boost our research work as well. Read more: http://www.ukessays.com/essays/education/the-educational-problems-of-pakistaneducation-essay.php#ixzz2lIKfFpSg Important of education in pakistan Education is important for Pakistan's progress. Despite recent achievements, the country still faces numerous challenges to raise the education of its population to the

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standard of its South Asian neighbors, and to meet its own social and economic development needs. Pakistan: An overview Pakistan is located in the South and West Asia region neighboring borders India, Iran, Afghanistan and the Arabian Sea. Total population of Pakistan in 2010 is 173 million. About 64% people live in rural areas whereas 36% people live in urban areas. Introduction: This paper is designed to give a report on education in Pakistan. In this paper, the different roles, facts, and policies are reviewed which were designed for providing education in the country. Different education system, development challenges and causes are discussed. The education is now become one of the most defining enterprises of the 21st century with the emergence of globalization and increasing competition. In this fast world, education and technology are the basic keys for survival and progress of Pakistan respectively. Pakistan is determined to respond positively to emerging needs, opportunities and challenges of globalization. Education is one of the golden key that is considered as a big change and progress. Progress and prosperity of the country depends on the kind of education that is provided to the people. WOMEN IN EDUCATION In Pakistan, the rate of women's literacy remains low as compared to men's. Women have a low percentage of participation in society. The status of women in Pakistan especially in rural areas is low which is due to social and cultural obstacles. One of the strangest aspects in Pakistan is that some place especially in northern tribal areas the family is against of educating girls. The situation in NWFP and Baluchistan is most critical. The rate of women literacy is 3-8%. Many organizations have opened such schools in these areas that provide education. Unfortunately, the government has not taken any steps or measurements to promote literacy to girls' education in these areas. In 1981 only 7% of women in rural areas were literate, compared with 35% in urban areas. Among men, these rates were 27 and 57 percent, respectively. This backwardness of the women is due to the non-equal treatment with them.In developed countries male female are considered equally. This unequal treatment with women takes the country to backward. In Pakistan a system of education with equal opportunities of education to male and female must be provided. BACKGROUNG OF EDUCATION POLICY In 2005, the Government of Pakistan has decided to review the National Education Policy to achievable in the field of education to overcome the problem regarding conflicts and achieve a knowledge that permits every person to realize his duty. This policy review will result in a policy which is applicable to all providers of education in Pakistan in which formal and non-formal states are included. In Pakistan context the essential part is ideological bases and historically provided by Islam as an ideology derived from Islamic religion. Islam is the fundamental source of providing values for our daily life. It also provides an ethical conduct which is an essential precondition for social development. /////Policy & Planning Pakistani education sector is the most neglected sector. The literacy rate in Pakistan is 49.9% as of 2008. Education Policy has to be nationally developed and owned. It is

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simplistic and unprofitable to prepare it at the federal level and thrust upon the provinces. In Pakistan till now at least nine documents have issued that have the status of a policy. Each policy was prepared with varying degree and involvement of the federating units. Main development Challenges Following are the main issues and challenges in adult literacy and non-formal education: There is no separate budget allocation for adult literacy from total expenditures on education; the 10% is spent on other, which includes adult literacy, NFBE, teachers training, madrassahs reform, etc. There is a lack of a coordination b/w organizational structure and institutional mechanism for literacy. Due to lack of training of teachers and of formalized curriculum and non-existence of effective research in the field of literacy and continuing education the professional base of adult literacy initiatives remained under developed. ..Local language is being ignored or not even taught to learn basic literacy. ..The link between basic and post literacy is missing in existing literacy programs', which resulted in bad situation on the part of learners and teachers. The basic literacy need to be properly equipped with skill based post literacy programs, that support learners/teachers to go beyond reading, writing and numerous generating skills and sustainable improvement in their lives. In the past years due to political instability and insecurity in the country creates a big challenge for all nation. Public private partnership is also a not properly linked in literacy programs; it needs to be streamlined through proper facilitation and coordination. Private sector in Education Pakistan has highlighted some facts recently in new publications regarding primary level education sector.
a. In Pakistan children rate going to private schools has rapidly growths to about 1/3rd of total b. Private schools are largely present in both urban and in rural areas.

These publications have also argued that

a. In private schools the Quality of education is better than public (gauged through testing) even when one controls for income and such factors, and b. Cost of provision of this education, per child, is lower than in the public sector.

In education private investment is encouraging. At national and provincial levels there shall be regulatory bodies to regulate activities and smooth functioning of privatelymanaged schools and institutions of higher education through proper rules and regulations. For setting-up of educational facilities by the private sector a reasonable tax rebate shall be granted on the expenditure. Through Education Foundations matching grants shall be provided for establishing educational institutions by the private sector in the rural areas or poor urban areas. In collaboration with the Ministry of Education existing institutions of higher learning shall be allowed to negotiate for financial assistance with donor agencies. Schools which are running on non-profit basis shall be exempted from

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all taxes. According to the principles laid down in the Federal Supervision of curricula, Textbooks and Maintenance of Standards of Education Act, 1976 the Curricula of private institutions must conform. In consultation with the government the fee structure of the privately managed educational institutions shall be developed. Causes of Downfall: There are numerous causes for the downfall of education in Pakistan which are below. Economical Negligence: Pakistan has remained a weak economy of the world as it got nothing in its just assets that were snatched by India. The conflict between these two countries on Kashmir issue has hardly allowed the government to allocate funds in budget for other sectors while the education is not an exception in this regard. Till now just 2% of GDP is allocated for the betterment of education which is quite inappropriate to meet education demand. All the funds are not given through a proper channel and a fake audit report is generated that the funds utilization has been spent on education purposes. Rapid growth in poverty: According to 2002 Economic Survey Report, Most of the inhabitants of Pakistan are poor and 40% of them live under poverty line, about 70% of its population dwells in villages. About 300,000, young ones are jobless. They have no access to good education. This report shows that how much difficulties and troubles have been faced by this poor and suppressed class of the country. The main occupation of people is agriculture which is yearly generated which cannot fulfill their daily and basic needs of life. It is also noted that only 1% landlords hold almost 95% of lands in Pakistan which is totally unfair. This unjust division of land creates a huge economical problem which not only for the poor but also the government. Political Negligence: If you want to destroy the future of any nation, no need to wage war with them; defunct their education, they will remain no more live on the map of the world. still now no politician has paid attention in improving the standard of education so far, as far as the question of history of development of education in Pakistan is concerned. In case of Sindh, in early 1970s, lingual riots took place and a new cancer of copy culture was introduced and boosted up by politicians to prevail among the people. No official steps were taken in curbing this fatal disease. Now, the result is that throughout the country Sindhi students are understood the out come of copy culture and basic rights in every walk of life are denied to them, because however, they may be genius and creators but the fact remained that they lack in management and unable move the economy of the country just because they bear a title of COPY CULTURE. It was a political conspiracy based on totally bias. Being a Sindhi, I do not favour Sindhis that they are not given a proper share in different walks of life, whatever is happening to them is the only out come of wrong and misled policies which have been blindly followed up by them. Patriotism is the very hinge for all virtues, living in the same country everyone at first is Pakistani then Sindhi, Punjabee, Balochee and or Pathan, respectively. So, now it is our turn to turn a new leaf and pace with our other provincial brothers to improve the management of our beloved country Pakistan, believing in united we stand, divided we fall. Education has become a question of survival for us;

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less developed man cannot bring the change in improving the skills that are vital for the uplift of the education. 2011 is Pakistan's Year of Education. It's time to think again about Pakistan's most pressing long-term challenge. The economic cost of not educating Pakistan is the equivalent of one flood every year. The only difference is that this is a self-inflicted disaster. The announcement made by the prime minister that 2011 will be the Pakistan Year of Education' high lightens the future goals. The Pakistan Education Task Force has argued ever that Pakistan needs to give the highest possible to priority to education for good reasons. Due to unavailability of education there is a no single chance that the government will reach the development goals by 2015 on education. While on the other hand, India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka are all on their way to achieving the same goals. As compared with India it improving education rate is ten times that of Pakistan, whereas Bangladesh's is twice that of Pakistan. Pakistanis have a constitutional right to universal education. In the 18th Amendment it has discussed that education has become now a right and no longer a privilege as it was in past times. Article 25A give a scenario where a citizen can take the government to court for not providing them access, or even be the grounds for a suo moto action. At current rates of progress, no person alive today will see a Pakistan with universal education as defined in our constitution. Balochistan would see it in 2100 or later. Just one year of education for women in Pakistan can help reduce fertility by 10 per cent, controlling the other resource emergency this country faces. There are 26 countries poorer than Pakistan but send more of their children to school, demonstrating the issue is not about finances, but will and articulating demand effectively. It is too easy, and incorrect, to believe that Pakistan is too poor to provide this basic right. Pakistan spent 2.5 per cent of its budget on schooling in 2005/2006. It now spends just 1.5 per cent in the areas that need it most. That is less than the subsidies given to PIA, PEPCO and Pakistan Steel. Provinces are allocated funds for education but fail to spend the money. We presume the public school system is doing poorly because teachers are poorly paid, this is untrue. Public school teachers get paid 2/3rds more than their equivalent private low cost school counterparts; they earn four times that of the average parent of a child in their school. Despite this, on any given day 10-15 per cent of teachers will be absent from their duties teaching. There is demand for education that is partly being addressed by low cost private schools, even one third of all rural children go to these schools (public schools can cost Rs.150 per month, low cost private schools the same or up to Rs.250). Despite the large presumption of the media, both domestic and international, this gap is not actually being addressed by Madrassahs. Only six per cent of students go to Madrassahs. CONCLUSION Education is Important in an ideological state, without which nobody can progress towards development both in personal terms as well as a nation state. Education provides the base for both social and economic development. The poor quality of educational system may be one of the most important reasons of downfall.

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In Pakistan, the quality of education is on the decline because the government not uplifting the quality and quantity of education. Without teachers' transformation a nation cannot transform the education system for improving the quality of education. In this regard, a series of education reforms in the area of teacher education were introduced in the public sector but their vision seemed to be narrow, hence, they failed to make any substantial impact on the quality of teachers and teaching process. Eventually, it further affected the quality of education being offered in schools. Education system of Pakistan is facing new challenges. It has yet to be developed at par with other developing countries in the region. Read more: http://www.ukessays.com/essays/education/important-of-education-in-pakistaneducation-essay.php#ixzz2lIORcmzP