Prime Minister Imran Khan on Wednesday said he was “ashamed and pained” by the assault of a female TikToker by many men near Minar-i-Pakistan earlier this month, citing the shortage of proper upbringing as a “very big reason for the destruction we are seeing in society”.
In his first public remarks since the August 14 incident that sparked outrage across the country, the premier said the incidents of harassment and therefore the sex crimes that were happening now were “not a neighborhood of our culture or religion”.
He made the comments while addressing the Punjab Education Convention 2021 in Lahore.
“When i used to be growing up, nobody could have thought that acts like this is able to happen [in Pakistan]. I even have been to the whole world; the respect for ladies I saw while growing up existed in Muslim countries but not within the West. an enormous reason for the destruction we’re seeing is that our youngsters aren’t being mentioned properly,” he noted.
The prime minister highlighted the necessity to coach children properly and teach them Seerat-un-Nabi — biographies of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) — since he said children’s exposure to things was greater than ever before in human history due to mobile phones.
“It is extremely necessary to coach our youngsters and there’s just one thanks to do this — make them conscious of the lifetime of the Prophet [Muhammad],” he said, adding that children should be taught about the qualities that set the Prophet apart, including his honesty and righteousness.
Criticism of English-medium system
At the outset of his speech, Prime Minister Imran praised the Punjab government for “doing what no other province is doing”. He termed the provincial government’s add the education sector “very important”, saying education had not been a priority for previous governments.
He strongly criticised the English-medium educational system, saying it had been inherited from British , who built such schools to “create a category in India which is Indian in colour but thinks like us (the British), has our attitudes and thru whom we will govern such an enormous continent”.
Talking about his own experience, he recalled that when he graduated from Aitchison College and visited England for further studies, he felt like “I was made an English public-school boy, not a Pakistani. i used to be distanced from my culture and my religion through that educational system.”
The premier said after independence from British , Pakistan should have turned its specialise in correcting the education system and developing a system to “create the nation”.
Instead, three different education systems were formed: madressahs, Urdu-medium schools and English-medium schools for a get class, he added.
“The English medium [system] evolved in such how 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 English-medium system wasn’t changed because politicians believed their children would be “privileged and obtain status in society” through it. As a result, English-medium schools were increased, he added.
Single National Curriculum
“Our fault was that we didn’t develop a government education system. The school system made us the slave of another culture,” he said while terming the only National Curriculum a “very big change”.
He predicted that a time would come when people would realise that the only National Curriculum was a “turning point”.
Analysis: Dissecting the only National Curriculum
The prime minister also criticised the utilization of English in functions, saying: “An entire function is held in English due to two ambassadors and it’s being aired on TV which is being watched by the commoner . How big an insult it’s to our people that do not know English.”
He said 80 per cent of the country’s population didn’t understand English, questioning: “What are you telling them, that you’re some low nation?”
He said the people’s self-esteem was being “lowered” due to holding functions in English rather than Urdu.
English shouldn’t be a “status symbol”, the premier stressed
