Rethinking Schooling for the 21st Century

of human resources responsive to the demands
of globalized and unaccountable market forces.
But policy documents do not acknowledge that
there is a potential contradiction between these
two directions.
All country-level background reports and other
sources from across the region show the primacy
attached by policy makers to use of technology
as a key to educational reform. Indeed, the
instrumentality of education as a means of
achieving economic and social goals is currently
centred in the instrumentality of technology. In
this respect, technology on which policy makers
overwhelmingly pin their hopes is ICT. The
competencies and skills referred to in policy and
curriculum documents are those required for
using ICT. Equipping schools from the primary grades upwards with computers
is widely cited as a priority for education spending. Other forms of technology
are sparingly referred to in the documents examined in this study. For example,
in the case of Nepal, ICT education has been accorded great importance in plans
devised for preparing capable human resources to meet the challenges brought
about by globalization and advances in science and technology (NCF, p. 14). The
policy document also lays emphasis on preparing students for the 21 st century,
for which ICT is seen as a medium, as well as using technology to connect to the
world. In Pakistan, too, the NEP highlights the promotion of ‘Use of Information
Communication Technologies (ICTs) in Education’ in line with the Ministry of
Education’s ‘National Information and Communication Technology Strategy
for Education in Pakistan’ aiming to contribute to accelerating and expanding
learning beyond the books and with world.
Calls to make pedagogy
more child-centric,
both in order to improve
learning standards and
to foster autonomy and
respect for individuality,
are in tension with
demands to prioritise
the generation of human
resources responsive
to the demands
of globalized and
unaccountable market
forces
A single-minded focus
on computers is one sign
of the narrowness of
official understanding
of student-centric
education, and of
the kind of ‘human
resources‘ required
for the purpose of
securing sustainable
development
By contrast, provision of equipment necessary
for nature study from primary grades onwards,
e.g. binoculars to study bird life, or magnifying
glasses to study soil, water, insects, etc., do
not form a priority in current policy discourses,
despite their near-universal emphasis on the
importance of science to achieving the general
goals of educational reform. A single-minded
focus on computers is one sign of the narrowness
of official understanding of student-centric
education, and of the kind of ‘human resources‘
required for the purpose of securing sustainable
development.
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Chapter 5: South Asia