Is there any other country more beautiful than Pakistan? And Higher Education Commision

And is there any other nation as cruel as our nation about itself? This is the question that has been circling my mind unusually frequently these past few days. I bet many amongst those who will be reading this blog travel quite frequently within and outside Pakistan. And I am also very much sure that all of them realize why this question is haunting my mind so much. That is because the same question haunts them too.

Unfortunately, haunting don't matter really unless we have cures for these nightmares and that is exactly what lacks. We have the questions but we are really not ready to speak the answer which speaks itself within ourselves but we are not ready to even listen to it let alone speak aloud. I, like many others, have heard the answer and spoken it many times. Is there anyone who is willing to own it?

Just travel around and see what we are blessed with. We are blessed with rich fertile plains, exuberant weathers, exotic customs, flowing rivers, snow capped mountains, wonderful locations, natural resources...we may be downtrodden but we are still envy of the earth. Can any other nation be more fortunate? And these are just the very insignificant blessings of God almighty upon us. The biggest blessing for our nation is 180 million rugged, content but highly intelligent people that God was so generous to give to us. Has anyone amongst those reading it ever thought that out of these 180 million, you were the chosen ones, you were one out of a million whom God gave the opportunity to excel in your lives. You excelled and there is no problem with it. But did you return the favor? To day my question is not towards the Corrupt politicians, self centered bureaucrats, news hungry media journalists, ruthless feudals, aimless military and visonless judiciary. We talk a lot about them...that has become our pastime. For us the whole malaise lies with one person or a bunch of persons and that is absolutely wrong thinking. That is not the answer that you hear within yourselves. That is not the cure. These are but just a reflection of ourselves. My question is to all of us. What have we done to ourselves and this gifted land that was given to our ancestors as a reward of their sacrifices. Mind you, our ancestors, not the ancestors of these greedy folks I just mentioned above.

We, the nation is also corrupt. Anyone, in any position is behaving dishonestly in everything that we do daily. We scream about injustice, lack of governance, corruption etc but resort to same things when we are confronted with same dilemma without any hint of conscience. We are ready to earn money through any source possible. We buy the items from market which were supposed to be for flood and earthquake victims. We force young children to do domestic labor in our homes. We bunk our classes, we don't teach what we should, we don't struggle, we find shortcuts, we break lines, we give bribes, we accept bribes, we grab lands, we invest in shady deals, we don't have courage to elect honest people, we tolerate foreign invaders in the name of liberty, we tolerate terrorists in the name of struggle for religion, we impose our ideology upon others, we don't speak out for the truth, we celebrate the killings....the list is endless...We, the nation's chosen ones are rotting ourselves.

And this is the answer. This answer speaks within ourselves, we don't own it. The answer was told centuries ago by our prophet. The answer was again and again reminded by our own scholars. The answer is written everywhere but we have become so blind to it that it even surprises us when we are confronted with this answer. We were the chosen 10, 20 million people of this land...educated, employed, bright etc etc. God almighty and this nation invested so much in all of us. Will the remaining 160 million not ask us what we owed and what we returned? Are not we as much culprits as all those greedy, power hungry so called stakeholders that I mentioned afew paragraphs above? Don't we deserve to be punished?

I again ask all of us (including myself)....have we ever looked in the eyes of the children on street? How bright, how full of life, how intelligent they are. They are scattered everywhere. They are our children. They did not choose their parents and neither did us. They did not choose their nation and neither did us. But we got the fairer deal which they did not. We still whine but they don't. They need very little from us. They don't need Grameen banks, KASHF foundation, Alkhidmat or even EDHI and Shaukat Khanum from us. All they need from us is for us to be honest and to be forthright. Are we willing to do that?

There may be many amongst us who may be thinking that this doesn't apply to them. They are very honest. They preach good. They are practicing Muslims. They studied with dedication and found job on merit. They have achieved everything through belief in God and their effort. However, I will still say, you (myself included again) are not honest and you know I am saying truth. Move beyond your personal self. Preach good, become unbiased, struggle to become good citizen not just a good self which suits your personality. Become balance, become moderate. Don't impose and don't be budged. Don's accept anything wrong because it suits the mindset that is close to you. Think of this nation and what really really suits it.

Higher Education Commission was and is one such moderate success story where some people like us thought and made efforts to bring some good changes in their domain of work. Hats off to Dr. Atta ur Rehman for his vision. He worked under a dictator but none can doubt his sincerity and passion for Pakistan. He brought meaningful change literally in Pakistan. Quality of education improved significantly. Quality research emerged. As a nation, we were for the first time exposed to highest level of international research within Pakistan solely through his efforts. Today more than 10 thousand Pakistanis are serving in various universities all around the world as a consequence of his and HEC efforts. Within 10 years, HEC has been able to change international landscape which was once occupied by Indian scholars but today, they have to compete with scholars from Pakistan. I know from personal experience that South Korea and Italy prefer Pakistani scholars and scientists over Indian scientists due to their intelligence and breadth of knowledge. I don't this this is a trivial feat. Then look at the quality of studies and research improvement within national universities. It is easy to sit in an easy chair and give talks about so called fictitious research. Matter of the fact is that the only group who worked tirelessly in this past decade to bring any meaningful change in the society was academia and the students. The teachers went back to their class rooms and labs and students followed them. This was also mainly due to efforts of Dr. Atta and his team at HEC. They improved infrastructure of national universities. Brought the idea of sponsored research projects. Encouraged the concept of rewarding the ingenuity. Today, there is at least some awareness of conducting meaningful research within the universities. Many think producing PhDs was actually a non achievement and I can simply laugh at their small sightedness. Each PhD produced by HEC made at least ten internationally reputable scientists and researchers know about the potential of Pakistan through participation in international conferences, journal publications in their highly cited journals, thesis evaluations and finally thesis defense. If one PhD scholar supported by HEC was able to make ten influential scientists of the world know about Pakistan and still, we were not able to take advantage of it, is it the fault of PhD scholars and HEC? Or, it is a grim reality check to all policy makers of this country about how pathetic their planning has been that they have absolutely ruined the ten years struggle and effort of these motivated researcher in utter disregard to national interest?

HEC is not perfect. It is again a mirror of us. It may have committed several errors and misdeeds which should be investigated. It is after all run by humans like us. It should be answerable to public accounts committee like all other watch dogs. But the way, HEC is being used for political mileage, the way academia is being ridiculed by ignorant policy makers, headline greedy media anchors and those few politicians who have no vision of themselves (I am speaking about all those politicians who are either opposing HEC in the foolish tone or even supporting it without any logic only to gain sympathies) is devastating. As memebrs of academia, I am so proud of the fact that we never craved for media limelight. We always preferred to perform our duties without any wish to be recognized. That is moral strength of our tribe. Being part of this community, I stand proud and say that we, the scholars, the teachers, the researchers and finally HEC did much better than many other of the chosen ones. We are proud of our effort and we won't let anyone snatch it. The issue of devolution of HEC has been used for political point scoring. No one is against devolution amongst us from academia. It is good but it should be streamlined and core concerns such as curriculum, standardization, infrastructure, verifications, oversight should still remain with a totally autonomous, answerable and independent Higher Education Commission.

It has become a very large blog today but there were so many things on my mind. In the end, I will just like to say that it is spring here in Pakistan and is not going to last very long as summer is approaching. Take out that car, jeep bike of yours....travel along GT road...look at all the colors of Pakistan, absorb them within yourself. Stop at as many roadside dhabbas (cafes) as possible and share their smiles and joys of this spring. Stand up for Pakistan. Here is a beautiful new presentation by STRINGS called "Mein to Dekhoon Ga" which translated roughly into "For sure, I am bound to witness". A superb work, a heart touching wish and a mesmerizing prayer. Feel and enjoy. Take care of yourselves and your families.

National integration through educational exchange

Guest post by Samir Anwar Butt

Education is often confused with a predefined curriculum and a grade point average. However, it is much more and holds the capacity to shape a society. Successful education is one that evolves with time to inspire the youth towards positive and progressive change. It encourages critical thinking and creation of knowledge rather than following an existing pattern designed by others. Clearly, the Pakistani education system is not providing that. The adopted models of teaching have miserably failed. The consequences include the diluting of national integrity and pride, two things that are essential for any country to survive.

The people of Pakistan do not understand each other. Distinctions based on culture, language, region, religion, sects within religion, clothes and any other possible factor exist and plague the future of the country. Each group is adopting a cult-like following and moving towards a more rigid approach with every passing day. Some threaten to break loose from the country, while others tend to enforce their lifestyle on the population. The rule of law is becoming weaker and the lines of distinction between the people are becoming clearer. Tolerance, an essential ingredient of any society, is completely missing and extremism, not just religious, is being adopted. The very essence of a community has evaporated: minorities are being oppressed and freedom of speech is being suppressed. All this is a result of an education model that promotes isolation and hatred. Having an opinion is considered a curse.

There is no shortcut to this problem. A long term education policy is the only way forward. Intolerance requires a whole generation to phase out, that too, if strong education reforms are implemented during the phase-out process. Education is the strongest tool available to the government at any point. Intolerance and extremism are not commodities that can be destroyed, rather ideas that need to be reshaped. The lack of political say, dearth of education and nonexistent alternate opportunities are all scoring against the troubled nation.

I will not propose an expensive, idealistic solution to this government of modest authority and resources. Instead, I will focus on a solution that is easy to implement and quick to bear fruits. I propose an extensive student exchange program within the borders of Pakistan. I support a Pakistan where provincial borders are limited for administrative purposes only. I dream of a Pakistan where people are entitled to an opinion. Integrating the society is the first and foremost step if Pakistan is to prosper.

The world over, student exchange programs are extremely popular. Students are encouraged to spend some time outside their home country to learn about other environments and cultures. It works as a seed of tolerance and respect whereby the student learns to accept, adapt and adopt an alien lifestyle. It highlights the need to realize that one’s culture is not superior to another’s. Students see firsthand that humans come in different flavors of which all are to be relished. Various organizations are working in this department and facilitating opportunities for interested students.

Since having international exchange programs is very expensive, a more practical approach can be taken. The landscape of most Pakistani public universities is very unfortunate. Most students never get the opportunity to study in more than one province. Students reside in hostels based on their ethnic background. Each group flocks together, speaks its own language and indulges in fortified activities. The boundaries become so strong that no outsider can think of squeezing in. The slightest chance of learning about other people’s way of life is eliminated. Not realizing that meeting people from different backgrounds is education in itself, they deprive themselves of a tremendous opportunity to grow as a person. This is very similar to the national scenario, just a more crisp representation.

A simple exchange program between the universities of different provinces can help reduce the divides. People dislike each other not because of their behavior, but because of the developed stereotypes over an extended period of time. Instead of inducing harmony, hatred has always been promoted for political gains. There is no better way of washing away these negative stereotypes than actually living in the host environment. The public and private sector can help create a system where students can easily move from one institute to the other. Some financial support can be provided and credit be offered to students who pursue a few months of their university education in a different province. The exchange student will not only experience the new medium themselves but also contribute to the host society. He will experience firsthand association with other parts of Pakistan and will return as an ambassador for the host region. To further enhance the experience, some volunteer activities and discussion groups can be formulated as well.

Students love to study languages like English, French and Spanish. If provided with the option, many would love to learn regional languages as well. Incentives can be provided to students who learn one of Pakistan’s regional languages. Language forms an important part of any community. It can instigate violent movements or lay the foundations of peace. It is easily the biggest barrier when it comes to bringing together different communities. It is pertinent to note here that teaching English should be a high priority. As an international language, English holds the key to the latest research in all branches of sciences.

How wonderful would it be to see a Punjabi, wearing a Sindhi topi, speaking Pushto and eating Balochi Sajji in the streets of Quetta. Diversity represents beauty in most societies around the world. Unfortunately, it has turned into a burden for Pakistan and coexistence of culture and opinion has turned violent and bloody. The suggestions given above will help blur the lines of distinction and bring together a united Pakistan. They require modest resources but a strong determination.