Takht-i-Bahi
Education has always been a very interesting topic for me. Studying different countries education systems and how they affected the lives of natives there, have always been fascinating to me. Why Finland made the homework idea obsolete in order to make their students the best performing students in the world? Why Slovenia made university free for students? Why Japan make their students clean their classes and school bathrooms to be part of the education system? Will Pakistan become great by allocating a total of 2.2 GDP to the education system which is actually the lowest among South Asia countries?
This week I went to Takht-i-bahi with my very own Foster Family. Takh-i-Bahi was an ancient place for me where Buddhist lived only until this perception was shattered by the guide there. It’s the among the very first UNIVERSITY or who knows maybe it is the first university in the world build by Buddisht. It was built in the 1st century. It surely was a WOW moment for us. When humans were trying to survive the harsh environment and diseases and God knows what not. There was a civilization who was busy in developing their education system. Where other civilizations were busy in building their armies and collecting wealth and to rule the world. Residents of Takht-i-Bahi were busy in developing their education system. They had no army and nor invested their time and energy in it.
Priorities of civilization do matters and if priorities are done right. The result, they are remembered in history without a press and electronic media even when there was no written record. The power lies in education and educating nation. That power can be felt upon visiting the Takht-i-Bahi. There civil and architectural structures are so complicated. Every room of Buddhist monk is well ventilated. There are engravings in the walls to put oil lamps and notes/books. The science behind putting the stones one on another to build the structures and to make sure that they don’t fall at the time of the earthquake. Being human of the 1st century and having such vision is mind-blowing. Lets don’t forget knowledge at that time was very limited and so was the exchange of knowledge.
A big water tank was situated in the middle which was made to collect rainwater. Besides it has a water tank for daily usage and near it had a kitchen. Structure shows that it was a two storey and well ventilated building. This sounds like a civilization of a few hundred years back and not from the 1st century. The thousand stairs carved in the mountains to basements where monks would meditate for 40 days. The basement rooms had small entrance and they were ventilated too. The reason for having small entrance were two. One to reduce noise and light so the monk can focus on meditation and second whoever enters the place shows respect by bowing down.
After visiting this monastery from the 1st century compelled me to research more on education and how it affects the lives of its natives. Pakistan’s economy is going through one of it’s most hard times. After visiting Takht-i-Bahi I am convinced that Pakistan has to adopt the latest and edge technology by teaching it and improving the education system. We won’t prosper by teaching obsolete things with which nations that came thousands of years back taught. We need to adapt like natives of Takht-i-bahi. It’s urgent in the fast-changing world we live in.
