The Origin of Rote-Learning in Pakistan’s Schools-Part 5
The Origin of Rote-learning in Pakistan’s Schools — Part 5…..Shad Moarif
Vernacular and Mass Education
Thomas MaCaulay reiterated what many in England had been led to believe about the state of Science in 18th-19th century subcontinent:
“It is, I believe, no exaggeration to say that all the historical information which has been collected from all the books written in the Sanscrit language is less valuable than what may be found in the most paltry abridgments used at preparatory schools in England.”
Quite the contrary. By mid-19th century European scholars were quite familiar with scientific treatises that existed in Persian and Arabic and mathematical works in Sanskrit. These were being siphoned off quietly via Spanish schools into Europe for translation into European languages. Thus, intellectual appropriation from East to West was well underway. Understandably, East India Company’s masters and representatives feigned total ignorance of private imperial matters that were of no concern to the public.
Despite that, concerned individuals did attempt to raise the issue of education in the vernacular. A civil engineer, George Ritso Jervis, had translated portions of Geometry into Marathi. Aesop’s Fables was translated into Gujarati. A Resident at Bhopal, Lancelot Wolkinson, was so struck by ancient Indian science that he proposed to translate the Siddhanta into other native languages, including western works.
Anu Kumar reports that in Bengal, there existed long-established vernacular schools (besides missionary schools) where the language of instruction was always Bengali. These small, private ventures offered English classes to high-achieving students. The majority, however, were schooled entirely in Bengali.
“The vernacular approach failed” he writes, “despite their overtures to Bentinck’s successor, Lord Auckland, in 1839. Auckland rejected the proposal on grounds that “society may be disrupted by too rapid a spread of mass education”.”
From mid-19th century onwards, the teaching of western science (secondary and higher) grew increasingly important. There was a growing demand for engineers, medical men and naturalists. European engineers and doctors had begun engaging in construction and in the planned execution of public-work plans. They needed to locate and assess the natural resources of the country and required assistance. “Hence medical and engineering colleges were opened in some places…..” (Saptal Sangwan)
Native (Muslims) Antipathy for Science
Despite these developments, a deep and abiding antipathy towards Science was pickling in the hearts and minds of the Subcontinent’s muslims. Science symbolized colonial power and dominance. If superior arsenal thrust British colonialism into the subcontinent then Science could harness the power to convert Might into Right. To many Indian Muslims, the Empire’s superior new guns and ammunition caused the dethronement of the Moghul Rule in India. The stubborn resentment and sullen resistance of Muslims grew and exploded in the Mutiny of 1857. As did their distrust of Science as an arsenal of evil.
When Science was finally accepted into the curriculum, its importance in classrooms (of what constitutes today’s Pakistan), remained marginal. Lab work was almost absent. Well-established rules of colonial schooling were followed. Teachers put on their traditional mantle of authority, and using a stub of chalk, explained experiments by copying them laboriously from the text-book on to the blackboard. They invited no questions and offered few explanations. Their drawings had to be faithfully copied by students, then committed to memory with labels and all. No attempts were made to understand the rationale of experimental processes. As with other subjects, teachers emphasized the prescriptive authority of the textbook. Subservience to the teacher’s instructional prescriptions reigned supreme. There was no room to interweave rational thinking with verbal and numerical reasoning to produce that fine tapestry of scientific inquiry.
It is, therefore, not surprising that Science took longer than any other subject to gain some traction in Pakistan despite the calls of giant prodigies like Allama Iqbal and Sir Syed Ahmed Khan. English colonials had regarded Science with the same degree of dread and distrust as their native subjects, albeit for very different reasons. The first because it could hijack acculturation, the second because it would enforce it.
Our curriculum rests and breathes in the dark shadows of a colonial era, unhinged, unchallenged and (almost) unchanged. Schools, both private and public, focus on producing high revenues or high passes in Examinations. The curriculum continues to reinforce an obsessive-compulsive rote-driven culture despite recent cosmetic adaptations. Pakistan’s Primary Mathematics Curriculum Gr I-V (2018) offers some valuable insights.
(….to be cont’d in Part 6)
Copyright © Shad Moarif, 2020, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
