It was a couple of months ago — I visited my village in Gomal Murtaza, Tank. The life was extremely aimless there.
Early to rise and early to sleep were what they were proficient at. Aged, as well as youngsters, have nothing to do except gossiping. Children were following their footsteps.
The question arose in my mind was, “Why these people do not pursue the life of meaningfulness as people do in other parts of the world”? The answer I found convincing to this question after prolong pondering was “the negligible status of education”. The pursuance of education was completely discouraged on account of poor attitude of local people and government.
Before going into discussing the topic, it is pertinent to write a few lines on what does meaningful life mean? Meaningful life is when one sees things with many dimension, respects other’s opinion and show tolerance and have a wish to explore new things.
Later, I visited one of the schools there. It was my curiosity to explore how schools in the village operate. It was to my utmost surprise that when I entered the (school name is confidential) School gate, classes without chairs, teachers in improper attires and untrained, and the inactiveness of students caught my attention. These things made me very upset.
Firstly, as it is well understood that proper infrastructure catches one’s attention. It is the first thing that matter the most. If one resides in a place having proper and conducive infrastructure, one feels easy and comfortable. And if one resides in a place having poor infrastructure, one feels uneasy and uncomfortable. So is the case with students. When students do not get proper place to study, they fail to concentrate and study effectively. People there and as well as government officials must take a step to make proper infrastructure available for students.
Secondly, when classrooms are not enticing, it makes students dull and uninterested in studies. In my visit, I observed that classrooms were without chairs. Students had to sit on the floor. Suppose a condition where one is asked to sit on thorns and sing with having smile on face. That seems to be impossible as one would either to be worried about thorns or concentrate on the song. Once he sits on the thorns, he will only sing with having tears in his eyes and not the other way around. So students cannot concentrate until and unless they are provided with proper classroom environment.
Thirdly, teachers at classrooms were wearing improper attires. Generally, teachers are considered to be the architect of students’ development. If teacher plays this much important role in shaping student’s future, then teacher should be having attractive look and attires. For this purpose, government must ask teachers in private schools to wear proper uniform.
Fourthly, in an interactive discussion with teachers of the school I visited, I found them very untrained and unskilled. To be very honest, teaching required a lot of hard work and dedicated. Just giving lectures to students is not enough if one has not got proper teaching training. There is one quote regarding teaching method by Albert Einstein, “If you cannot explain it to a six year old, you do not understand it yourself”. It means that just by cramming things one cannot qualify to become a teacher.
Lastly, the most terrifying was the fact when I got noticed that students in the school were absentminded and inactive. It is indeed the worst among all the points I discussed above. When students do not pay heed to teacher’s lecture, it indicates the following things: students do not get enough appreciation from their parents and equally from their teachers; they are not getting the essence of what they are taught about; they are uncomfortable with studies and they see no future of educated person.
Generally speaking, education is considered to be the leaf of fortune. A good education opens many doors of treasury while a no or poor education is a recipe for disaster. In simple words, the impact of education on one’s personality and society cannot be denied. Bearing in mind the importance of education, government and local people should play significant role in bringing education to forefront. Government should give due funds to private schools dotted around the region. And, likewise, government should make education incentivized for those students whose parents are reluctant in sending them to schools. Moreover, government should make schools stuff accountable and there should be monthly assessment of their work. Teachers who show progress should be awarded and those who show no progress should be penalized.
