Uplifting Students Brainpower
By: Ammar Ali
Tags: Amal Academy, Education Reform, Startup

Have you ever realized that even if students are living in the same community, going to the same school, having same age, taught by the same teacher, and sitting on the same bench in the class but when it comes to result, only one secure first position?

“Everybody is smarter than anybody.” Carl Sandburg

Then why they get huge variations in their grades?

In almost any local school of Pakistan we get this problem that even getting in 7th or 8th standard and passing the 6 classes behind, they still lack the basic principles of education. They just study to get passed. Every year they pass and forget all the great things they had learned in the previous classes. Most of the students miss the whole point of learning. The student which is on the top does not know why he is having good grades, while many low-grade students also do not know the reason for their failures.

Where We Stand Today

There are plenty of challenges Pakistan facing today, including deprivation, instability, religious intolerance, and extremism. Lack of tolerance, lack of general knowledge, and illiteracy encouraged by an inadequate educational system are the triggers for these problems. In Pakistan, the crucial role of education has been ignored, leading to little progress in all areas of life. Education has indeed been handled as a stepchild. After the establishment of Pakistan, the lowest budget has been awarded to the education sector, which has undermined the base of the standard of the education system. Therefore, the education system has not succeeded in raising the nation economically, politically, and socially. Even the education system has badly failed to take the nation out of the rising economic, political, and social quagmire after half a century and the implementation of more than 25 educational policies.

What Lacks

If you ask a naive person, he will surely answer that the whole reason why students not get desired grades because they do not study well. But believe me, there is more to it. If we dive down to the problem, why students do not want to study or why they lack interest? We came to the point that they face difficulty studies, the difficulties of basic education, the difficulties because the picking power of every student is different but the teachers that the whole class has got his point when only 4 students say yes to him.

“Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.” Albert Einstein

These students are the result of deficiencies in our education system. Because our system is based on competition and ignores the fact that the real reason is to thrive all the students.

These are the points I have gathered from close interaction with students and more than 5 years of experience. There are more critical issues due to which education is suffering, which are:

Lack of uniformity

Education without direction

Outdated curriculum

Lack of professional development of teachers

Lack of quality teachers

Alarming dropouts

System of examination

Poor supervisory standards

Internal and external influences

Lack of resources

Policy implementation

Low budgetary allocation for education

Corruption

Scholastic Uniformity in Students

“We owe

almost all our knowledge

not to those who have agreed,

but to those who have differed.”

Charles Caleb Colton

As we have observed that there are a lot of issues the education system of Pakistan facing right now. But here we are thinking about nipping in the bud the issue of variation in the results of classmates. There is a reason why the most graded student gets a good grade without that putting in most of the efforts. It is about basics, strategy, dedication, and the ability to learn. If we train our students on the curriculum of becoming an A grader and fill the gaps that they have not grasped for time being, we can have great results. There is no age for learning then why there is an age for basic learning? We can target the students of 7th and 8th standard and makes their brainpower elevated by a unique designed training that can improve their learning abilities.

The plan is to start from English and Mathematics along with interactive classes, tests before giving the certifications along with the essence of “learning how to learn” strategies. “This is the way of serving our nation. This is the vocation of many of like-minded people including me.”

“Knowledge is in groups — not individuals.” Larry Prusak

Thank You!

Ammar Ali