‘Speakers at an event urged that the present education system in the country is flawed and there is a need for complete reorientation of policy toward youth to end violent trends and promote critical thinking as well as reasoning among them.
They said this at the launch of the report “How Youth in Sindh View State, Society, Religion, and Politics” released by Islamabad-based Pak Institute for Peace Studies (PIPS). Lawmakers, academicians, students, journalists, human rights activists, and representatives of civil society participated in the event.
The report is based on a three-fold assessment including workshops providing the youth of Sindh an open forum to share their views and observations, and pre-and post-event surveys conducted by PIPS.
Arsalan Taj, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s MPA, speaking on the occasion, said that there was an ever-increasing social divide in the society which is also reflected in their education system. “Our education system discourages questioning among our students,” he said. “The same was necessary to promote critical thinking among youth.”
Mangla Sharma, the Mutahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan’s MPA, said that the youth usually shape up their thoughts at the primary level and they need to focus on this system of education. She deplored that the present education system was flawed in a way that youth also see everything from the telescope of religion.
“Content of civic education was absent from the present educational curriculum.” Senior journalist and intellectual Ghazi Salahuddin said that education was the only means to provide equal opportunities to citizens.
“Education is meant to be an equalizer, but it has become a divider in Pakistan.”
