Let silence ring

The winds of change, it seems, have forsaken Pakistan for the time being. The days that are to come will perpetuate the cycle of violence that has been used to muzzle the remaining rational voices among our midst. Last week, days after the ones asking tough questions had been silenced, images of an official letter emerged on social media that quashed all further hopes of recovery. As if to add further injury to the hopes of the optimists still bent on envisioning a bright future for Pakistan, the letter in question was written to the rectors and vice-chancellors of all public and private universities in Punjab by the higher education department of the government of Punjab, and it arrived bearing some formidable news.
The letter contains a warning to all institutions imparting higher education in Punjab to tread carefully on the oft-treaded path and not to fall on the wrong side of it. The letter warned that some “anti-Pakistan” and “anti-cultural” research topics were being foolishly entertained in universities, which apparently had caused minor discomfort in the echelons of power. In correspondence such as this, what is not explicitly written in the text is actually more important than what is mentioned and the letter failed to mention that universities ought to take this as a warning shot and face censure or worse if the advice is neglected.
After the passage of the 18th Amendment, policies regarding education have been made a provincial prerogative but, since then, provinces have done virtually nothing to step up and take charge of the woeful education scene. However, it seems that when the maintenance of the status quo is in question, then the hitherto non-existent energies of smarmy bureaucrats can be summoned up to do the bidding of their masters. It is also not entirely unexpected for such a letter to be written by the provincial authorities in Punjab since, at a time when the pro-Pakistan sentiment in other provinces is already at an ebb, it may be deemed logical to not let any dissent foster in the country’s most powerful province. And when you are talking about silencing dissent, the younger you get them the better it is, since once misfits blossom into curious adults, controlling them becomes a much more muddled proposition.
Also expected is the explicit omission of who gets to define which research topics fall into the anti-Pakistan category but, if you look closely enough, you can find some clues in the text of the letter. But those responsible for thinking of and executing this latest edict of silence need not worry too much about the Pakistani youth delving into undesirable research topics. Why would that be the case? The following paragraphs will show why and, in the process, will undoubtedly soothe some ruffled feathers.
Firstly, the amount of money we spend on education in our country is so small that the quality of education imparted to the average student will remain far below par for quite some years to come. As per the latest UNESCO report titled ‘Education for all 2000-2015’, Pakistan has one of the lowest rates of expenditure on education at 2.5 percent. Additionally, Pakistan has the highest number of out-of-school children of school-going age in the region as well and, without concerted efforts, these impressionable souls will be left to the mercy of the unforgiving world and will never have to face the wicked ways of universities where they teach you to be open-minded and critical.
Secondly, the curriculum that most students have to contend with has been sanitised to such a degree that no student who has been through the system can ever hope to grow up into inquisitive adults. Those who do end up asking the right questions are seldom star performers when it comes to following the prescribed syllabi. By the time the young ones get to university, their worldviews have been skewed beyond repair. Even then some commendable institutions still try to challenge their students through demanding intellectual exercises but they remain the exception. Combined with low expenditures, this should be reason enough for the rulers to breathe many sighs of relief.
Lastly — and this is not to suggest that some academic disciplines are superior to others — the research topics that have had those ones in power worried are currently only emerging from the social sciences in Pakistan. But if you take a cursory glance at the state of these particular subjects in Pakistani universities, the letter really does seem to be a bit of overkill. So narrow is the education outlook in Pakistan that most students (and their parents) want to stick to either the engineering or the medical sciences while the ones stumbling onto the social sciences are seen as outcasts from the get-go.
Related to this last aspect is the added fact that because of lack of resources and dedicated guidance in the social sciences, the amount of original research coming out of universities is absolutely disgraceful. It is true that the ‘publish or perish’ mentality has been taken to heart even in Pakistan but the quality of research that is being published is woeful. There is very little focus on first-hand research and students are often encouraged to rely on already existing data. If someone is brave enough to collect data through surveys and interviews, the lack of quantitative research skills at the undergraduate (and even at the post-graduate) level leaves them questioning their sanity.
Perhaps the fact that most of the quality work being done in the social sciences on topics related to Pakistan is either being done by Pakistani students studying abroad or by foreign nationals altogether speaks volumes of our current dismal state. Again, there are exceptions to these generalities but they remain just that. Yes, you can find decent scholars producing original research in Pakistani universities but their number remains far too little to produce any discernible impact on the overall research landscape. Surely, this must be a further cause for comfort for those worried about novel research topics.
Curriculum standardisation has been used many times in the past to promote certain strands of thought in our history but the truth is that the very purpose of academy is to foster debate by providing a safe environment for expressing dissent. As the state of affairs outlined in the previous few paragraphs shows, the system is geared towards producing obedient, employable workers rather than questioning, independent adults. There is no indication that the current trends will give way any time soon and if that is the case, then there really should not be any cause for concern for those in charge of maintaining the status quo as far as the Pakistani youth in universities is concerned. Only very rarely do oddities like inquisitive beings emerge from our academic institutions and, even then, there are always other, coarser ways to let silence ring.

The author is a freelance columnist with degrees in political science and international relations