The rule of thumb to check whether a person is alive is to see if he or she is breathing. After that, we proceed to other checkups such as heart rate and the like. However, if the first condition is not met, we conclude that something is seriously wrong with the person. Same goes with the nations.
If we have to check whether a nation is living, we take a look into its educational system. Education is one of the significant parameters, apart from health and per capita income, to determine the quality of life in a particular country. In fact, it is the education system that acts as a stimulus to other two parameters.
However, when education becomes imitation, the nation transforms into a vegetative state. Needless to say that our education system has, in actuality, become an imitation game. We follow the syllabus, research methodology, institutional policy and the like of some unknown regions without analysing their application in our area. Even if we do, we lack the tools and methods of use. In fact, we are not even good at imitating in the first place.
Take an example of the first snowfall of this season; not to forget the government is going to declare it as a calamity. The whole valley got out of power for days, and in some regions, the electricity is yet to be restored. Not to mention this is the crucial time of the year for students because they are writing their final exams. The fact of the matter is that this isn’t the first time something like that has happened in the 21st century in our region.
On the one side, the countries are giving Nobel laureates to the world and on the other hand, our students are preparing for exams under candlelight. Believe me; only candlelight dinners are romantic not candlelight preparations. Why don’t such things take place in other countries where the weather is much harsher than we have in winters?
I won’t give an example of Russia as it is a developed country. But hasn’t education made it developed? Hasn’t Russia, in the current epoch, the best reading culture in the world?
Let us take the example of Kazakhstan. It is the world’s largest landlocked region. It contributes to 60% of central Asia’s GDP, partly because of its oil reserves and because of its education system. How about its literacy rate? It is 99.8% in 2018. (We are yet to touch 75%, as per the available records, in Kashmir.) Not to mention its life expectancy and health standard.
Am I making a wrong comparison? Aren’t we landlocked too? We aren’t even close when it comes to the harshness of the weather in Kazakhstan. Don’t we have unkempt minerals? Aren’t we South Asia’s leading region in hydropower potential? The only thing that doesn’t match the island, Kazakhstan is bigger than us. But the population is almost the same. Then, what lacks us behind if not proper education?
