A quality education system, without an iota of doubt, is a superhighway for the awakening of human consciousness and the development of a nation. It inculcates critical thinking, innovation, cooperation and collaboration, creativity, morality and good communication skills in learners, rather than making them mere passive learners and examinees. In essence, quality education plays an indispensable role in shaping a well-rounded and well-developed personality. Let’s enumerate the essential ingredients of such a quality education system and how it helps shape a civilized society. To begin with, a good education system breeds curiosity, new ideas and innovation in learners. It trains minds to be creative and take well-calibrated intellectual risks. Many students do not attempt anything new because of the fear of failure, which is considered a social stigma, even though science, entrepreneurship and creativity arise from repeated failures and intellectual risk-taking. As Albert Einstein said: “A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new.”
An effective education system also fosters collaboration and cooperation among learners, rather than promoting a culture of the survival of the fittest. It enables learners to acknowledge other people’s viewpoints politely without resorting to dogmatic attitudes. It also hones learners’ communication skills to convey their message unequivocally, which is a recipe for becoming a good leader, marketer or administrator. A good education system depends on the teamwork of the education department, administrators, educators and students. This leads to contribution, collaboration and compromise, which are prerequisites for working in a professional environment. It also instills good civic sense, respect for human values and empathy in individuals. Likewise, a good education system plays an instrumental role in time management, pressure handling and dealing with boredom. Regular assessments, managing assignment deadlines, surprise tests and attempting examination papers within the stipulated time train students to cope with stress, pressure and time management. Moreover, it also fosters emotional development and emotional intelligence, thus establishing a balanced emotional personality. Such personality traits are valued in any recruitment process. In a similar vein, co-curricular and extracurricular activities make learning more enjoyable; thus, they teach students how to reduce boredom.
Similarly, quality education builds financial literacy and financial intelligence in learners. Applying mathematical models to real-world problems can help students learn how debt and savings work. It trains them to be productive even with limited resources. It paves the way for entrepreneurship and calculated risk-taking. Vocational education teaches students different viable skills through which they can earn a decent living after graduation. In today’s capitalist world, especially in developing countries like Pakistan, it is the need of the hour to know how to be financially independent and use financial resources scrupulously. It helps boost the self-esteem and dignity of young people. Encouraging students to ask questions is another bedrock of a quality education system. Rather than conforming to the status quo, it trains learners to challenge existing ideas and stereotypes in society. A good education system encourages a student even to doubt the doubt. Through this, they seek answers to questions like: What is my contribution to the welfare of society? What are the real motives behind a particular campaign? Who will benefit from a newly launched scheme? What types of things harm society? How do corporations and advertising agencies affect our choices? How do AI and algorithms affect our opinions about something or someone and how are we manipulated by such things? How does the media frame reality? Apart from the discoveries and inventions of science, what are its limitations and what can it not explain? In short, quality education encourages learners to be disciplined skeptics and live a conscious life.
After having a terse discourse on the ingredients of a quality education system, let us do some deep soul-searching: Does the Pakistani education system have all or at least some, of these ingredients? The numbers tell a different story. Despite declaring an education emergency in 2024, the government spends less than 2% of its GDP on education, far below the international standard of 4 to 6%. Pakistan has 26.2 million out-of-school children, the second-highest number in the world. The literacy rate still stands at 63%, with a learning poverty rate of 77% at the age of ten. According to the Global Innovation Index 2025, Pakistan ranks 99th among 139 countries. I leave the rest for the readers to judge.
—The writer, a Gold Medalist, is a lecturer in the KP Govt’s Education Department.
