Malik M Aslam Awan
EDUCATION plays a key role in the formation, progress and boost the dynamics of nations. So long as a nation upholds educational standards it keeps up moving on the path of progress and prosperity and as soon as it undermines its educational institutions and stave off educational standards it lowers down itself to the position of decadence and the wheel of economic progress ceases to run, ultimately loses weightage in the comity of nations. Education stir-up impetus to move forward, hold ethical values and intrinsic vitals to prop up and explore new dimensions of human vitals and progress within and outside the ambit of national infrastructure. So long as a nation is stuck to its vitals and exploring instincts it will keep up moving forward and as soon as it kept itself sluggish, will fall nose way down to earth. It is noteworthy that those nations who kept stuck with the education went on moving towards the road to progress and innovative energies made them more dynamic than other nations. Media along with books and educational institutions is the most potent source of education and information.
Maulana Zafar Ali Khan is known as founder of Journalism in the sub-continent as well as Pakistan. His newspaper Zamindar is known as disseminating knowledge and spiritual guidance to the Muslims of India. Zamindar invoked zeal, fervour and potential amongst Muslims of India to wage unprecedented struggle for independent homeland under the charismatic leadership of Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah. Comrade and Hamdard under the dynamic editorship of Maulana Muhammad Ali Johar were famous for their ferocious writing style. Both newspapers were dedicated to inculcate amongst the Muslims of India, sense and spirit to struggle for independent homeland, as Ali Brothers rightly felt that Muslims of India cannot live together with the Hindus, as Hindus and Muslims had divergent codes of life, ethics and had separate entities, combined with antagonistic religious values, never to merge with each other as two sides of river or ocean cannot embrace each other and go parallel to the last ending.
Pre-partition newspapers played a pivotal role in the creation of sentiments of Independence. Comrade, Hamdard, Zamindar and Sir Sayyed’s Tehzeeb-al-Ikhlaq disseminated education to the people the ideas that led to the path of free homeland. Intellectuals of Post Independence era developed a sense of self-reliance, patriotism, infinite struggle and ignited the ambitions amongst Muslims the dormant flames of separate territory from Hindus as Hindus were strict followers of Hindutwa. As compared to post-independence era, present self-styled anchors, media-men shorn of proper education are not fully aware of their responsibilities. These anchors and political analysts are racing horses to overtake each other, dissemination of knowledge and creation of awareness is not their motto.
Shouting loudly to express their positive negative thoughts and establish their hegemony as media-men is their cherished objective. Media houses primarily are saddled with the responsibility to be knowledge houses to train the general masses in every walk of life. Experts from every walk of life should express themselves to disseminate the know-how of their respective fields. But here the situation is different and experts are not invited to express themselves. Each and every minute is spent to discuss pros and cons of politics, to make the political flow of events to the tenor and drift as Anchors and analysts like. They consider themselves as they are opinion makers and in broader perspective king makers, which is completely perversed narrative.
Unfortunately there is a mushroom of print and electronic media houses that endeavour not to impart information but to run after their own aggrandizement and rating monopoly. It has, also, been observed that viewers and readers imbibe ideas disseminated by the media, print or electronic, negative and positive. In the foregoing perspective it is incumbent upon the media houses and media news to make news and information more and more accurate and purpose-built to make the nation especially youth, who will hold the reigns of state, in the times to come, well-educated and informative.
Gone are the days when people used to spend extensive time in their studies. With the changing times the students and intellectuals have departed themselves from the time taking hobbies i.e. study and writing to enhance their vision and vista. Rare are the readers who spend time in studies of marvellous, charismatic, knowledgeable authors. Once civil service of Pakistan was a most esteemed and charming profession and students were used to spend most of their time in studies to achieve positions but with the fast changing norms they, now, have left to spend time in studies to update themselves. Now they have drifted themselves from informative books to Google and other screen sources, which are incapable to let the readers imbibe accurate knowledge. Book-reading is now not a hobby but a malaise, from which early and easy recovery is impossible. Net is no doubt broad-based informative source but as described earlier, the readers are not ready to take pains to take notices in black and white to keep their memories up-to-date and refurbish the knowledge to make updated and accurate.
Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah had laid down the guiding principles for the nascent state of Pakistan and had drawn the road map to ascend at the pinnacle of glory. He had envisioned a Pakistan having a dignified status in the comity of nations, not a parasite on USA, USSR, UK, IMF, ADB and FATF. After the sad demise of the Quaid, the leadership who unfortunately happened to assume the power deviated from the principles laid down by the Quaid and the road map was set aside as the ever forgotten way. If he had alive today he ,surely, would not have opted to beg from the world’s lending institutions even in the bitterest odds and Pakistan might have assumed the status of an independent nuclear state, not to be guided by any world organization or country. Education bestows us the vision how to lead an honourable life. The state is incumbent to devise efficacious policies to educate the youth of the nation, who will hold the reins of state tomorrow, to uphold norms, values, endeavour to character building, inculcate apathy to corrupt practices and uphold the principles of honesty and straightforward living so that the nation may have a precious asset in the form of younger generation, capable enough to contribute to the state enormously to move towards ever lasting peace, prosperity and happiness.
—The writer is a freelance columnist and independent analyst based in Lahore.
