Educate educators
Dr Ghanshyam Bhatt
It is hard to quantify the correlation among education, overall national development and politics but one depends on the others. Political instability hinders national development and improper education promotes dirty politics. A stable political system would accelerate economy, improve education and prepare people for less dirty politics. Unless basic human rights, rights of expression, independence of judiciary and independent law enforcement bodies are in place, a country can't accelerate economically or politically.
Although temporary political stability can be created through the use of force but force can't be used to educate people, raise the national growth, or to improve health care. Yet many people, due to the lack of education and hence opportunity, come under the impression that barrels of guns are the ultimate solutions.
Pakistan's army over the past eight years has failed to stabilize the nation turning it into the most dangerous country in the world (Newsweek, 2007, Oct). A large number of extremists exist in provinces where mostly Madrasas educate people. These extremists once trained for some specific purpose are a trouble now because they were not educated thereafter.
A nuclear power's army fighting with lawyers and the military Junta in Myanmar fighting against monks indicate that the ideas, thoughts and wisdom are stronger and have much more deeper impact than the use of force. The equally bad situation if not worse is in our own backyards; killing of Birendra Sah. The people that were directly or indirectly involved in using force in the past conflict continue with the war mentality.
The conflict has stimulated the ethnic tensions and multicultural mindset has been plagued. Not only has a generation of people developed over the past decade that believes in the use of force as an ultimate solution but also a coming generation is equally victimized. Between 2003 and 2006 only, we had 22000 students and 10000 teachers abducted (UNESCO report). The whereabouts of some of these documented numbers is still a matter of investigation. Most of these abductors were trained to use force to fight. The students' favourite pastime game in rural areas has become mimicking armed battles, cowling and shooting as they are inspired by the war.
The victimized students are in urgent need of rehabilitation or something like peace education that relieves enmity, educates people to love and prepares compassionate citizens. Let children know that arms, wars and physical violence can't solve any of our problems. As educating people is a critical challenge for us, the educators must be trained for this prime responsibility.
Extortion is still in effect. Export is declining because of poor quality products. The state-owned industries have become an employment centre for political cadres. People try to avoid the law enforcement agencies as far as possible because of their credibility. The law enforcement bodies are not trained for the basic human rights. The bottom line is that insufficient knowledge to handle the problems causes most of the problems. Failure to keep the morale of the educators high might be one of the reasons for this mess.
At a university professors' interaction program in Kathmandu last year, a sitting member of parliament insisted that their poor performance to decision making is because they were not knowledgeable since they were poorly educated and trained by the professors. As republican set-up and federal structure are under way, how prepared is our academia about educating people regarding the political changes? A decision taken in haste might invite political disaster. Well informed academia can be very useful in planning, guiding, smoothening the transition and successful implementation. It's noteworthy that failure to plan is a plan to fail.
During the time of their professional development a large number of our graduates take part time jobs for several years. This prevents the emergence of commitment and ability without which the higher education can't produce motivated graduates. We haven't done anything to motivate educators and make their profession attractive. Not improving their quality and knowledge deteriorates the quality of education. Educating them with the global changes, innovations, exposure to outside world and participation in the international conferences would motivate them and attract new graduates for the doctorate degree. Some countries have implemented qualification allowances for the people having higher degrees to motivate for academic jobs, research and attract intellectual Diaspora.
A knowledgeable academia must be in place for the making of education policies. The political influence in the academic bureaucracy doesn't promote innovations and growth. Working as a faculty member at an institution I, several times, heard my boss saying that professionally educated smart people are trouble makers. Yet, academic jobs provide high social status and secure position even though they work for meager pay. So an opportunity for academic growth would be a good incentive to keep their morale high.
NAST and UGC can play a role to develop a consensus among the academia about the role of educators in reforms, peace and national development. Appropriate policies and environment can attract intellectual Diaspora directly or indirectly. Different channels, bureaucratic or otherwise, can be created to attract them. The academic institutions of higher education can attract intellectual Diaspora easily by promoting academic freedom and research if they have academically motivated leadership.
Posted on: 2007-11-14 19:51:36 (Server Time)
Source:The Kathmandu Post
It is hard to quantify the correlation among education, overall national development and politics but one depends on the others. Political instability hinders national development and improper education promotes dirty politics. A stable political system would accelerate economy, improve education and prepare people for less dirty politics. Unless basic human rights, rights of expression, independence of judiciary and independent law enforcement bodies are in place, a country can't accelerate economically or politically.
Although temporary political stability can be created through the use of force but force can't be used to educate people, raise the national growth, or to improve health care. Yet many people, due to the lack of education and hence opportunity, come under the impression that barrels of guns are the ultimate solutions.
Pakistan's army over the past eight years has failed to stabilize the nation turning it into the most dangerous country in the world (Newsweek, 2007, Oct). A large number of extremists exist in provinces where mostly Madrasas educate people. These extremists once trained for some specific purpose are a trouble now because they were not educated thereafter.
A nuclear power's army fighting with lawyers and the military Junta in Myanmar fighting against monks indicate that the ideas, thoughts and wisdom are stronger and have much more deeper impact than the use of force. The equally bad situation if not worse is in our own backyards; killing of Birendra Sah. The people that were directly or indirectly involved in using force in the past conflict continue with the war mentality.
The conflict has stimulated the ethnic tensions and multicultural mindset has been plagued. Not only has a generation of people developed over the past decade that believes in the use of force as an ultimate solution but also a coming generation is equally victimized. Between 2003 and 2006 only, we had 22000 students and 10000 teachers abducted (UNESCO report). The whereabouts of some of these documented numbers is still a matter of investigation. Most of these abductors were trained to use force to fight. The students' favourite pastime game in rural areas has become mimicking armed battles, cowling and shooting as they are inspired by the war.
The victimized students are in urgent need of rehabilitation or something like peace education that relieves enmity, educates people to love and prepares compassionate citizens. Let children know that arms, wars and physical violence can't solve any of our problems. As educating people is a critical challenge for us, the educators must be trained for this prime responsibility.
Extortion is still in effect. Export is declining because of poor quality products. The state-owned industries have become an employment centre for political cadres. People try to avoid the law enforcement agencies as far as possible because of their credibility. The law enforcement bodies are not trained for the basic human rights. The bottom line is that insufficient knowledge to handle the problems causes most of the problems. Failure to keep the morale of the educators high might be one of the reasons for this mess.
At a university professors' interaction program in Kathmandu last year, a sitting member of parliament insisted that their poor performance to decision making is because they were not knowledgeable since they were poorly educated and trained by the professors. As republican set-up and federal structure are under way, how prepared is our academia about educating people regarding the political changes? A decision taken in haste might invite political disaster. Well informed academia can be very useful in planning, guiding, smoothening the transition and successful implementation. It's noteworthy that failure to plan is a plan to fail.
During the time of their professional development a large number of our graduates take part time jobs for several years. This prevents the emergence of commitment and ability without which the higher education can't produce motivated graduates. We haven't done anything to motivate educators and make their profession attractive. Not improving their quality and knowledge deteriorates the quality of education. Educating them with the global changes, innovations, exposure to outside world and participation in the international conferences would motivate them and attract new graduates for the doctorate degree. Some countries have implemented qualification allowances for the people having higher degrees to motivate for academic jobs, research and attract intellectual Diaspora.
A knowledgeable academia must be in place for the making of education policies. The political influence in the academic bureaucracy doesn't promote innovations and growth. Working as a faculty member at an institution I, several times, heard my boss saying that professionally educated smart people are trouble makers. Yet, academic jobs provide high social status and secure position even though they work for meager pay. So an opportunity for academic growth would be a good incentive to keep their morale high.
NAST and UGC can play a role to develop a consensus among the academia about the role of educators in reforms, peace and national development. Appropriate policies and environment can attract intellectual Diaspora directly or indirectly. Different channels, bureaucratic or otherwise, can be created to attract them. The academic institutions of higher education can attract intellectual Diaspora easily by promoting academic freedom and research if they have academically motivated leadership.
Posted on: 2007-11-14 19:51:36 (Server Time)
Source:The Kathmandu Post
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