Shafaqna Exclusive | Why Critical Thinking Is Being Suppressed In Pakistan?

by Tauqeer Abbas
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Critical thinking is the ability to think rationally and logically. A critical thinker is always open to new ideas. He always questions assumptions and ideas rather than just accepting them. A critical thinker is always an active learner of new information rather than just a recipient of information.

Critical thinking in Pakistan is not well promoted. Lack of critical thinking among the students of Pakistan is the main reason why Pakistan has been left behind in all kinds of educational and research work. The global ranking of our educational institutes is clear evidence of how much Pakistan is deprived of critical thinking. Only 3 Pakistani universities fall in the list of top 1000 global universities.

1. Questioning Conundrum:

You must have heard about Richard’s Feynman’s Quotation: “There is no learning without having to pose a question, and a question must require a doubt.” In Pakistan, students are not encouraged to doubt or question whatever has been taught in the class. At the beginning of their educational years many questions arise in their minds but gradually when no encouragement is given the mind starts to become numb and a point comes where they agree with whatever is taught to them. This not only hinders their path to new learning but their minds are out of new ideas, and they are numb to logical thinking or analytical reasoning. They are unable to think out of the box. Therefore, it is important to
encourage debate and active thinking in educational institutes.

2. Shortcomings of the Faculty:

Teachers should encourage students to ask and question anything that comes to their minds. They should build a good friendly bond with their students and provide them an environment where they can feel comfortable asking questions and doubt a teacher’s
statement in a respectable manner. Teachers are supposed to be the student’s best
mentors and role models. They shouldn’t be someone from whom the students would
get afraid. Because fear leads the student to keep their ideas and questions to
themselves.

3. Inappropriate Allocation of Educational Funds and Resources:
Another reason for the lack of critical thinkers in Pakistan is the mismanagement and inappropriate allocation of funds and resources. For the year 2018, 902 billion were allocated for educational betterment whereas in year 2017, 776 billion were
allocated for educational targets. Due to the underutilization of funds in the year 2017, the budget couldn’t achieve major educational targets.

Moreover, since a young age, little learners are not encouraged to think analytically and
logically. A child’s mind is like play dough that can be molded in any form, but unfortunately, our education system has turned their great minds into hard rocks. They
not only fail at critical thinking but also fail to absorb great ideas and questions of
others. Any new information that goes into their minds doesn’t stay there for long. Their
minds no longer analyze the information, rather they just keep them in their mind to get
some good grades.

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