Education system: From present to desired
Certain needs of Muslim scholars are of URGENT nature. Among them, there is a need for such an education system that equips the new generation with education and training, makes them sincere, knowledgeable and practical Muslims and creates in them the skills that are necessary to perform the duties of the divine caliphate. There are two major types of education system that exists in the Ummah at the moment. One type is the one which is called the religious system of education and which is prevalent in institutions called Madrasahs. Despite the usefulness of this system, its shortcomings must be acknowledged. The greatest advantage of the madrasa system is its religious basis, but it also has some significant weaknesses, for example, the influence of ancient Greek sciences and ideas on some components of the curriculum, the teaching of a religious interpretation instead of the overall understanding of religion. Ignorance of the perversion of non-religious thoughts and ideas and not mastering any of the national and international languages.
Another system of education prevalent among Muslims is called secular which consists of schools, colleges and universities. It is a system based on the silent negation of religion, so its conflict with Islam is clear. The fact is that instead of existing Madrasahs and secular institutions, Muslims need an education system that is based on the Islamic concept of life and universe, reflects Islamic values and can promote the Islamic mood. In order to advance towards this system, ways have to be worked out with creativity and steps have to be taken with courage. This topic is vast but some pointers are given below. It is the responsibility of sincere believers to outline a comprehensive education system that meets the real needs of Muslims and to establish quality educational institutions according to this outline or to provide the required correct teaching to the existing educational institutions.
Objectives:
In every period of human history, humans have felt the need for education and training of future generations and have made arrangements at individual and collective levels to fulfill this need. The diversity found in human society is also seen in the education system. So, if we examine the past and the present, many systems come before us. Despite this diversity, it can be said that generally an educational system has the following objectives:
(a) Providing information to students
(b) To develop their skills
(c) To acquaint them with a certain point of view about man and the universe.
(d) To build the character of the students and to make them aware of the quality of welfare.
Differences between different education systems are based on differences in the understanding of these objectives. For example, what information should be provided to the students, what order should be established in terms of more and less importance? What skills are being developed? What is the point of view of those who organize the education system about man and the universe? etc. Before considering the education system required for Muslims, the existing secular system should be examined.
A review of the secular education system
The dominant education system today is secular, run by governments or run by powerful private institutions (which have specific cultural and commercial goals in mind). It was caused by the industrial revolution and which tried to build a collective life based on indifference to religion and religious concepts. This is what the present education system of India is all about. To evaluate this dominant education system, the objectives mentioned above can be put forward. Take information acquisition, for example. There is no limit to the flight of the human mind in relation to information. Curiosity, the human passion, embraces within its sphere all the subjects which the human imagination can reach. However, the Western intellectual and cultural trend has limited this scope and established certain standards by arguing about whether information itself is correct or not. A glimpse of these discussions can be seen in the existing education system.
Among the topics that humans are interested in, one topic is the world of the unseen. Today's dominant education system completely ignores this subject. So these questions are generally not discussed in this education system whether God exists or not. If so, what does it have to do with us humans? Is man in need of divine guidance? How can this instruction be obtained? Should human life be interpreted spiritually, that is, is there any purpose of human life, which can be considered related to spirituality? Is there life after death or not? If so, what is its reality? Is man accountable for his actions to the creator of men? What is the nature of this accountability and what are the requirements of this event from man? What is the true reality of the human soul? What does it have to do with human existence? Apart from humans, are there other conscious beings who are invisible to us, such as jinns and angels? Are they related to humans? How can they establish a connection with humans or humans with them? What are the reliable sources of knowledge about the affairs of the unseen? How do the realities of the unseen world affect our material life? Is spiritual evolution just an illusion or an event? etc.
Lack of secular education
Without prejudice to the above questions regarding the world of the unseen, we can say that today's dominant education system is flawed. Another topic closely related to the topic of the unseen world is the human self.Today's prevailing system only deals with this subject to the extent of the question, "How should the material interpretation of the mental powers of man be done and what is the nature of the development of these powers?
As far as the spiritual aspect of human personality is concerned, today's education system does not recognize its permanence.
According to this point of view, the study and analysis of material factors is sufficient for the understanding of human life and human self. Apart from these factors, there is no need to recognize any such fact that requires the spiritual interpretation of the human soul. These are the two major spheres of subject matter that have just been mentioned, namely the Unseen World and the Human Self. In relation to these two topics, the prevailing trend of today's education system is negative, that is, these topics are not considered as the field of academic research and teaching. Due to this short-sightedness, there is a great narrowness in the scope of information in the current education system.
The people who are deprived of heavenly bounty
The limit of his perfections is electricity and steam
Apart from the unseen world and the human soul, the topics that human curiosity has considered worthy of attention are human society and the objects of the universe. In the last three hundred years, Western civilization has dominated the world, its capital knowledge mostly consists of these two topics. The reason for the concentration of academic research on these topics is clear. The study of human society and the material universe can be done through the senses and the intellect. Thus, Western civilization, which has a strong tendency to deny the unseen or disbelieve in the unseen world (and rely only on the senses and intellect), separates these two realms from human beings. Considers a suitable field for academic endeavors. However, the intemperance created by the denial of the unseen has made it difficult to obtain correct information even to the extent of these realms. The static insistence on the traditional scientific method for the study of human society is indicative of this immoderation. Therefore, the moral aspect of human existence is not considered as an effective social factor. This immoderation has also affected the evolution of physical science, which has come to a standstill by the beginning of the 21st century. As long as the approach of physical science does not accept the trend of understanding things as a mere collection of components (Reductionism), the way of understanding things as a whole (Holism) is not recognized, the further development of physical science seems difficult.
Development of skills:
Providing information is one of the goals of the education system. In terms of achieving this goal, the dominant system today is flawed because it completely ignores the two major realms of knowledge—the world of the unseen and the human self. Apart from this, its scientific method is intemperate in relation to the subjects that this dominant system has attacked, namely, human society and the objects of the universe. This intemperance has now reached its extreme. Thus, the intellectual evolution of the West has almost stopped and there is no longer any disturbance in its ocean waves.
Another goal of an education system is to teach students academic and technical skills such as reading, writing, calculation, expression, observation, reasoning, debate, discussion, etc. In today's era it is considered essential that students also learn how to extract information from modern electronic sources and humanities students know how to conduct surveys and observe social conditions. The performance of today's dominant education system can be evaluated in terms of skill acquisition within the students. As far as our country is concerned, there is a very significant difference in performance standards. Most of the schools and colleges in the government-run part of the dominant system are of such low quality that those who study there fail to acquire the necessary skills. In recent days there have been reports in the newspapers that students have failed to read basic language books and have failed to solve simple math questions. Even the teachers in many places were found to be ignorant. A large part of the population, which is poor, is forced to use this government education system, so students are unable to develop skills in academic and technical fields. Even if they get a degree, they will not develop the ability.
On the other hand, there are private educational institutions, many of which are of better quality. Students here succeed in developing academic and artistic skills, but these institutions are expensive. Fees, cost of books and stationery, cost of uniform, transportation expenses and the amount taken in the name of donation are some of the expenses under which the guardians of the students have to spend a lot of money, then their sons and daughters. Able to acquire skills. This situation is now common throughout the country and is a major obstacle to achieving social justice.The awareness of the harmful effects of this commercialization of education is now becoming common, so social commentators continue to express their views on it. The summary of this review is that the prevailing system of education provides the opportunity for the evolution of human potential only to the affluent. The poor are deprived of these opportunities. The good trends of philanthropy, justice and kindness in the Western civilization have gradually been dominated by selfish materialism and inhumane capitalism. The full reflection of this undesirable situation is seen in the education system.
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