Dream Library
Plan by Amina Azfar
According to UNICEF data, close to 23 million children of ages between 5-16 do not go to school. The main reason for this is poverty. At the same time most of the education that is currently offered in a majority of public schools, many private schools, and madrassas, is below par. Many thinking Pakistanis realize that this state of affairs can offer only a dismal future to the children of today.
Since the problem of poverty can only be solved by the efforts of competent and dedicated politicians in power, this paper does not offer any solution for it.
The suggestions given below aim at improving education for those children who go to school, but do not receive quality education. Even most of school going children in Pakistan come from underprivileged families, and many are undernourished and ill-fed.
Improving Education in Pakistani Schools: two Suggestions
Reading is the first and vital step for all gain in knowledge. As is well known, Pakistani children, especially those from low-income families who go to state schools, suffer from very low proficiency in this essential skill. This writer is of the view that although there are many reasons for this . . . unimaginative curriculums, poor textbooks, inefficient teaching, uncomfortable infrastructure, insensitive treatment of students, a subculture of cheating and plagiarism, the habit of rote learning, . . . all of them contribute to the students’ lack of interest in education per se. That absence of interest is reflected in the poor literacy/educational level of even those children who go to school.
Bearing in mind this unfortunate situation, my suggestion is to concentrate fully, and before all else, on kindling children’s interest in reading, which need not be as time-intensive or costly as other measures. Moreover, it can be done without an overhaul of the whole educational edifice in Pakistan.
This is my first suggestion
Choose one state school in each of the provinces of Pakistan as a testing ground for this experiment. Select a large, airy and well-lit room in each school. If such a room is not available, build one. This room can be designated the school’s library. The library must, above all, be very clean, have more than one fan, a carpet or rug, and some cushions for children to sit on. No need of much furniture, except the librarian’s table and chair, bookshelves and a couple of tables and chairs for students who want to write or draw. There should be a few desktop computers, a white board and whiteboard markers for the children to use. The walls should have plenty of pictures, with one wall reserved for the children’s own creative efforts. In short, the library should have the most attractive, comfortable and stimulating environment that the majority of children in that school have ever known. This is important, in order to entice them to the library and keep them there, willingly and happily.
The library should work towards realizing the following goals:
- Teaching children the library etiquette (how to behave in, and use a library).
- Offering a happy and very interesting atmosphere to the children, devoid of harsh punishments or strong rebukes.
- Involvement of students, in ways such as hanging up their creative work for a few days on one particular wall; asking them to take part in storytelling sessions by reading out from their favorite books, allowing children to choose at least 50% of the pictures which are to be hung on the library walls, having story writing competitions, etc.
- Activities. Story telling sessions, with excellent storytellers, should be held frequently. Children should be encouraged to give feedback by saying why they liked the story, etc. or discussing it with the storyteller. Other good speakers who know how to talk to children should be invited to read/ speak about current issues such as climate change, clean water, conservation, sanitation; or tell them about other lands, their different cultures, etc. Periodically, show movies on nature, sports or any other topic likely to interest children and add to their knowledge of the world.
- Availability of a variety of plentiful and well-illustrated books, in the print as well as digital media. Children should be allowed to choose their reading material freely. Books should be available in the regional languages, in Urdu, and in English. The librarian should be able to guide any child who wants a little help in reading or understanding the book she/he has chosen.
- Encourage children’s confidence and independence, but also introduce them to certain disciplines required in every area of knowledge or life. For example, in libraries there should be no noise, or talking (aloud or prolonged); absolutely no littering; and no question of writing on books or tearing pages from them.
Lured into reading, and by this means tasting the pleasure and knowledge that books (in print, or digital) have to offer, it is reasonable to expect that nonreaders will take to them. With that, the habit of rote learning will decline, the fear of reading abate, leading to better education. The process of learning only from their textbooks (which are not always of high quality) can be bypassed by this means.
Note: Educated parents and progressive private schools have no qualms about exposing their children to books from, or about, any part of the world, so long as they are famous and reputedly, good. However, such exposure is actually considered harmful for children of low-income communities. Here is an instance of this from my own experience:
I once showed some illustrated children’s stories written in one of the regional languages of Pakistan to a publisher (not private). He said that he liked the stories very much and would publish them, but could only do so if the environment were changed: specifically, the characters in the stories would have to be re illustrated, dressed only in Pakistani attire . . . this, despite the fact that the stories were from all over the world, and their characters were dressed in the apparel of the countries they belonged to. Likewise, in Pakistani stories, people were dressed in Pakistani clothes.
If this is an endorsed attitude, it is tantamount to deliberately closing the minds of millions of children in this country to the rest of the world.
The second suggestion (which could also be the first suggestion)
Children from underprivileged families in Pakistan are now known to be grossly undernourished. A fund should be created to which the more privileged and most opulent should contribute monthly. The names of the contributors should be on public display. The monies from this fund should be used to provide one healthy meal each day to all the students of state schools. (Each meal should consist of at least one glass of milk and some fruit).
Amina Azfar
Amina Azfar (aminaazfar@yahoo.com) is the author of the website, kahanichaman.pk which has been created to provide interesting and informative digital material (local as well as from different parts of the world) in five Pakistani languages and English, for young readers, especially those without access to a library.