COMMENT:Literacy, livelihood and liberty—Ahmad Ali Khalid

The challenges of governance and poverty are inextricably linked with education and literacy, not with military power. This misreading of social priorities by the political elite in Pakistan has stunted the political and social maturation of the Pakistani state

“Education is a social process; education is growth; education is not a preparation for life but is life itself” — these were true words spoken by John Dewey, an American philosopher who was a great educationalist and social reformer.

Literacy, the ability to read and write as a means towards an education, is a great step towards achieving a livelihood as well as liberty. In Pakistan, literacy rates are very low as attested by the UN Development Report 2009. Pakistan had a literacy rate of 54.2 percent, and was ranked 163rd out of 180 countries. This is dire reading considering Pakistan’s neighbours, Iran and India, are both ranked higher at 121st (82 percent literacy rate) and 149th (66 percent) respectively.

Indeed one can make the argument that literacy and education is one of the social requisites of a democracy and vibrant civil society. An informed electorate with an enlightened understanding will enable a liberal political culture to thrive. What is more, the evident problems of abject poverty and other social ills too can be countered with a progressive and emancipatory model of education focusing on connecting basic literacy with an enlightened model of democratic education with emphasis on debate and critical analysis.

For Dewey, the key to intellectual development, and consequently to social progress, was schooling, especially at a time when the educational influences of other institutions had decreased so drastically. Dewey stressed the social and moral nature of the school and believed that it should serve as a ‘miniature community, an embryonic society’, especially one that actively fostered the growth of democracy.

This view was in stark contrast to ‘the factory system’ model being adopted by school planners and ‘efficiency experts’, which emphasised students as relatively passive raw materials to be moulded by teachers, where repetition and rote learning was the key and the subject matter was divorced from social realities. Hence, though students had an education, it was an education with no social conscience, with no meaningful interaction and deliberation since they went through a system, which emphasised obedience rather than debate and critical dialogue.

Furthermore, a recent paper, ‘Do Education and Income Affect Support for Democracy in Muslim Countries? Evidence from the Pew Global Attitudes Project’, concluded that, “Holding all else constant and compared to not finishing primary education, this study finds that secondary education and higher education encourage support for democracy” in Muslim countries like Pakistan.

A sound system of education and literacy is indeed the greatest and most outstanding challenge facing the Pakistani state, and has been around for longer than the phenomenon of radical and violent extremism. Indeed radical and violent extremism can be a result of the dearth of literacy and enlightened education. A society which does not enthuse its youth with the ideas of moral autonomy, critical thinking and democratic participation from an early age cannot hope to realise a state of democracy. Schools and the education they provide must be an education not only fit for the job and labour markets so that individuals can provide for their families and own well being, but also should be an education fit for human rights, citizenship, intellectual freedom and pluralism. The challenges of governance and poverty are inextricably linked with education and literacy, not with military power. This misreading of social priorities by the political elite in Pakistan has stunted the political and social maturation of the Pakistani state.

Even if this republic allocates more resources towards education, the prevalent culture of education needs to change. Rote learning and inane memorisation of texts, though admirable and useful in their own right, will not equip future citizens with the ability to debate and independently reason. Education is a means as well of dismantling oppressive social hierarchies of class; the virtuous aim of social mobility and transformation has been undervalued if not derided outright in contemporary political discourse. How on earth can a state like Pakistan with its literacy rate justify spending 2-3 percent of GDP on education? This is not just inefficient, it is a sign of moral bankruptcy. As its citizens starve for basic amenities, food, liberty, democracy and other rights, the state spends on arms and weapons rather than on teaching and books.

No nation is solely built on the bedrock of military might; every great nation has been built upon the values of just governance and the pursuit of education. James Madison, one of the founding fathers of the US, said, “A popular government without popular information or the means of acquiring it is but a prologue to farce or tragedy or perhaps both. Knowledge will forever govern ignorance, and a people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power knowledge gives.” Knowledge ameliorates poverty, desperation and irrationality, which come along with this great social vice (such as the recent surge in suicides caused by abject poverty).

If education can be framed and conceived as a link with civic virtue and democratic participation, then it can mean a vibrant civil society, an informed but free press and an electorate savvy enough to discriminate and dispute the authority of demagogues and tyrants. It is this poverty and tyranny (which can contribute to existing religious and sectarian tensions) that have been two impediments for Jinnah’s socio-political project of a modern liberal Muslim state. The consequences of ignoring education as a priority are unfolding before our eyes on a daily basis. The moral and civic duties the leaders of this country are meant to be endowed with, are lacking and the repositories of social conscience are running on empty. This vacuum is exploited by radicals preying on another casualty of deficient education and illiteracy — poverty.

The multiplicity of educational institutes in Pakistan with madrassas and other private ‘educational’ outlets free from scrutiny and critical analysis is another barrier in achieving this goal. However, perhaps the most basic step that needs to be taken is coming upon a new conception of education capable of challenging regressive conceptions that have spillover effects into politics and are also capable of social transformation and social mobility between classes in terms of tackling poverty.

The writer is a student at the Royal Grammar School, Newcastle Upon Tyne, England. He can be reached at ahmadalikhalid@ymail.com