Prime Minister Imran Khan slammed the English-medium education system while addressing the Punjab Education Convention 2021 on Wednesday.
He claimed that it was acquired from the British who had built such schools in the Indian subcontinent to “create a class in India which is Indian in color but thinks like us (the British), has our attitudes and through whom we can govern such a big continent”.
The premier said that Pakistan should have shifted its focus to correct its system of education after gaining independence in 1947 and should have developed a system to “create the nation” but the education system was instead divided into madrassahs, Urdu-medium schools, and English-medium schools.
He explained that “the English-medium [system] evolved in such a way that there was less emphasis on education and more emphasis on creating ‘desi vilayati’ (local foreigners). The attitudes and mental slavery of another culture were absorbed”.
The prime minister (PM) shared his own experience of going to England for higher studies after graduating from Aitchison and said, “I was made an English public-school boy, not a Pakistani. I was distanced from my culture and my religion through that educational system”.
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“In the past, best intellectuals had been groomed in the government-owned schools, but later, the system waned and the private sector thrived, making us servants of an alien culture,” he added.
He remarked that there is a dire need for youngsters to be acquainted with the Seerat of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) for character building.
“No one ever thought of one curriculum in the country,” he lamented.
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The PM said that it is important not to make the English language a status symbol, and cited examples of countries like China, Japan, and France that have flourished without English-based education.
He also highlighted the importance of modern technology in overcoming issues like corruption and wastage of resources.
