Seminar on

“Iqbal and Jinnah’s Vision of national education and our education policy”

(March 10, 2022)

CPS organized a seminar titled “Iqbal and Jinnah’s Vision of National Education and our Education Policy” on 10^th March 2022. The fundamental theme of the program was that Communities’ rise and fall is organically linked to their intellectual foundations i.e. vision of education. Iqbal, The Dreamer of Pakistan, in prose and poetry with sound rationale not only refuted the basis of madrassa education based on dumb heritage of medieval Islam but also termed the secular education system as poison due to its rivalry to transcendentalism and loss of moral values- definite anchoring point for stability, foundation, intention and purpose of a civilization. Jinnah, The Architect of Pakistan, in cognizance of the malaise soon after 16 August 1947 in a social function arranged for the members of Constituent Assembly, said to the educationists, “Now that we have got our own state, it is up to you to establish a viable, productive and sound system of education suited to our needs. It should reflect our history and our national ideals”. Further, the enormity and urgency of the task of education in the minds of the creators of Pakistan could be gauged from the fact that despite the largest migration and the greatest slaughter in known human history – the Pakistan government took a tremendous initiative to summon an Education Conference on 27 November 1947 where the minister of education, Fazlur Rahman stated: “ it is, therefore, a matter of profound satisfaction to me as it must be to you, that we have before us the opportunity of reorienting our entire educational policy to correspond closely with the needs of the times and to reflect the ideals for which Pakistan as an Islamic state stands. This is a great, indeed, a unique opportunity but even greater is the magnitude of the task which it imposes upon us.”

But soon after the early demise of its founder Jinnah and martyrdom of Liaqat Ali Khan this euphoria gives way to a merciless pragmatism on the part of political dispensation and national education policy proved the continuation of Lord Macaulay’s education policy. To address the malaise of educational policy two distinguished scholars of Pakistan Prof Fateh Muhammad Malik, former rector IIUI; and Professor Jalil Aali (Tamgha e Imtyaz), poet, adeeb and distinguished researcher delivered lectures.

Professor Jalil Aali remarked that while Iqbal was Dreamer of Pakistan, Jinnah was the Architect and Pakistan the Reality. Jinnah had categorically proclaimed that Iqbal nourished and developed his mind and he only materialized his vision of separate Muslim Polity. Prof. Fateh Muhammad Malik condemned continuation of Macaulay’s education system in Pakistan quoting Iqbal’s verses that it is an acidic solution in which the personalities of the generation are dipped to soften then molded to suited goals. This is such a strong solution that can turn a Himalaya of Gold into a mound of dust.

Head CPS Dr. Ghulam Shabbir said in his closing remarks that remedy of our educational problems lies in an integration of the traditional and the modern education. Quoting George Sarton he said the decline of Greek civilization was that their rational philosophy failed to integrate morality in their political thought and institutions. Islam struck fusion between pure reason and revelation and spread like a prairie fire from Baghdad eastward to India, Transoxonia and further still and in the West to the very edge of the world. Today religion should be employed as a synthetic construct to combine metaphysics and social fact the great achievement of pristine Islam otherwise world stands on the threshold of utter annihilation. At the end head CPS presented souvenirs to honorable guests and thanked the participants for their valuable time.