PREPARING CITIZENS OF TOMMOROW

In the recent years it has been seen rise in population and also literacy rate in gilgit baltistan.the growth of public and government institutions resulted in the increase of literacy rate.however,what are state and public institutions doing to prepare these children of today into becoming capable citizens of tommorow?the common complaint in the region is that mostly people lack the necssary fundamental skills  compete effectively in the market place,thereby opening the gates for imported work force in many fields from the other part of the country.

Are our institutions government and public schools providing the foundation to our students to turn into effective citizens?or we will continue to dependent on imported expertise?what then are the skills most parents would want their childern to acquire?skills that would prepare them  to take care of themselves independently and function effectively as adults. here’s a list of the leading contenders.

Language skills:beside English and Urdu children to have fluency in one or two other languages.beside English other languages be encouraged as well.mastering a foreign languages open new world’s.

Critical thinking skills:

The curriculum by and large favours the rote method of learning with one way communication between teacher and pupil.students without cognitive skills are often unable to demonstrate basic common sense.

Appreciation of arts:

Be it drama,painting or music,such skills be encouraged which ultimately results in learning and improving confidence.

Time Management:

It is the factor sorelylacki g in our society.most of teaching faculty themselves reaches institutions after 10am.

Driver’s education:

This could be started during the last year of college and acquaint future motorists  with rule of road and proper driving methods.beside this students must be made to attend auto workshops to learn basic vehicle maintenance.such knowledge will encourage some of them toplace value on their future machines.

Home maintenance:

Workshops at schools can be designed to help student with simple household maintenance such as fixing a leaky pipe, replacing a burnt lamp or socket,or painting a room.self sufficiency in such skills will place a lot of charlatans out of work.

Discipline

Although discipline begins at home,it must also be reinforced at school,parents and teachers must together promote an atmosphere of discipline and self control

Human rights:

Childern must be taught at an early age to understand and respect the fundamental  rights that exist for all human beings.they must be made to understand that the abuse must not be tolerated.

And there are many more skills like which are necessary for the future generations those are .CPR,Personal survival techniques, farming, gardening ,first aid,fire fighting,human rights, etc to name a few.

This wish list may not necessarily include all supplements for a better citizens but it could be a step in right direction.

Now the question arises how could all this possible the answer is liberal education.we must transform our education system to liberal education system.liberal education has been defined in many ways,the best definition is offered by “association of American colleges and universities.”

  “Liberal education means to empower an individual and prepare him to deal with, diversity, complexity and change”

As manifested from the definition,the purpose of education is to enable man to surpass the challenges faced in the world,to know and to obtain his rights and to accommodate himself in the constantly changing environment in the present day of competitive world.

In the words of kurth kahin,liberal education teaches teaches something about everything and everything thing about something.

It is clearly manifested from the above discussion liberal education which is real education is an essential component of stable society.it not only helps an individual to progressively achieve goals but also gives impetus economic, political and social stability to State in short it forms the basis of human development in this complex world.

Liberal education produces jack of one master of all whereas over current educational system produces jack of none master of none.so keeping it’s importance in mind our educational system needed to be transformed in to liberal education Al system without any further delay if we really want to prepare future generations.