DENIZENS OF ALIEN WORLDS

8
CHAPTER-1
INTRODUCTION
There are a number of books and official reports on education. Indeed, as
Pakistanis look at the increasing violence and inequality in their society, they blame the
educational system. Almost all problems---increasing population, corruption, political
instability, technological backwardness, feudalism, the increasing power of the coercive
apparatus of the state, lack of human rights---are blamed on lack of education. Ironically,
both democrats and those who do not believe in democracy, justify their analysis of
society with reference to education. Those who believe in ‗benevolent‘ dictatorship (no
matter what they call it) argue that in a country with so much illiteracy and such poor
standards of education, it is unrealistic to expect democracy to flourish. The number of
people who have made this argument include presidents Iskander Mirza and Ayub Khan
and, of course, this belief is as strong now as it was earlier. Those who argue otherwise
claim that formal education does not make people any more altruistic or dispassionate
than the lack of it. Moreover, they add, if people are not educated that is the fault of their
rulers. To further take away the power of vote is to compound the injury.
Because education is such a preoccupying subject one would expect it to have
been well researched. Unfortunately, that is not true. There is a plethora of data; there are
repetitions of policies; there is much rejoicing about quantitative increases in schools and
teachers and so on---but there is very little analysis.
For instance, Umme Salma Zaman‘s Banners Unfurled (1981), which calls itself a
‗critical analysis‘ of education, gives chapters on such contentions issues as politics, the
bureaucracy, language and Ayub Khan‘s regime. However, though the book has some
critical remarks about specific matters, it fails to give an overall analysis in terms of an
explanatory analytical concept such as power, class, ideology and so on. But Zaman‘s
book is among the better studies of education in the country. Most other books tend to
take a moralistic line which aims at defending the government‘s policies while talking
vaguely about what ‗should be‘ rather than ‗what is‘ and, more importantly, why is it the
way it is? For instance, Syed Abdul Quddus describes all aspects of the educational
system of Pakistan but his analysis of ethnicity is essentially moralistic and refers to