Global Citizenship (GC) in Pakistan: A Brief Aamna Pasha
Transcription
Global Citizenship (GC) in Pakistan: A Brief Aamna Pasha
Global Citizenship (GC) in Pakistan: A Brief Aamna Pasha Introduction This paper is a summary of a Masters level dissertation for a Masters of Arts degree in Development Education from the Institute of Education, University of London. The purpose of this paper is to present a summary of the evidence that emerged as part of the research on Pakistani student’s attitudes and values to Global Citizenship. This paper is aimed at policy makers and educationalists within and outside of Pakistan who are interested in the areas of identity, citizenship, globalization and/or global citizenship. It is envisaged that this paper will be of value to those designing programmes and/or researching in the aforementioned areas and used for continuous professional development. The Research Around the world, the great interdependence and interaction between countries has encouraged debate on universal values and the need for a common identity and collective action. The concepts of global learning, a global identity, global citizenship, and discourse around these have increased dramatically in the educational arena. Students and teachers do not exist in a vacuum; there are cultural and societal informed interpretations existing in overlapping layers, which in my opinion, greatly impact the success of programmes. It is therefore important to cognize students understanding of their place in the world and their sense of agency in this regard in order to create more effective global citizenship programmes. This research was designed keeping in mind the multi-layered nature of the term and the complexity of the Pakistani context. In an extremely simplistic outline: global citizenship stems from a global identity, which is created through knowledge of the world. This research aimed to address the question of whether the concept of global citizenship is valuable and appropriate for Pakistani students to enable them to make sense of their role and place in the global world. Aspects that were looked at included: understanding what perception of globalization Pakistani students hold; exploring students sense of a global identity and what an understanding of student’s national identity could contribute to these findings; Students understanding of the term ‘global citizen’ and their attitude towards the concept in addition to 1 what student’s views on global citizenship could contribute to the debates on global citizenship in developing countries were explored. Understanding the Pakistani Context: What have policy makers in Pakistan been educating for? Over time in the five-year plans put forth by various governments, character building, citizenship education and building human capital have been seen repeatedly as key aims. Pakistan’s independence from the British raj, its separation from India and its division from East Pakistan to create Bangladesh resulted in the need for a new strong identity formation and this need is evident from the policies that seek to embed strong nationalistic values. Resultantly, citizenship education in Pakistan is producing three kinds of citizens, the moral and law abiding citizen, citizens for a market based economy and a nationalistic Islamic citizen. This is pertinent when trying to understand global citizenship education and its place parallel to a strong citizenship education. What is the present approach taken to global citizenship in Pakistan? The most recent national educational policy of Pakistan still directs towards a strong national identity but now includes values of tolerance and justice. The seventh objective of the aim of education amongst other things is written to be developing ‘a responsible member of society and a global citizen.’ Although the inclusion of a global element in the policy is valued, it is vague at best. There is no explanation of who a global citizen is, what their roles and responsibilities are and neither does it outline how the development of global citizens will be achieved. Global knowledge is limited to the confines of economic advantage rather than a broader understanding of the world, power structures and responsibilities in a global world. The element of global learning that encourages critical awareness on how our past has shaped our present and a critical reflection on the future of the global world seems to be absent. Inclusion of the aim of fashioning global citizens in the national educational policy of Pakistan makes evident that over a period, the objective of education shifted to match the needs of the time. In academia, development and other fields, the role of education in a global world is increasingly being debated with it being seen as playing a key role in responding to contradictions produced by globalization, essential for teaching creativity and ease with change rather than well-defined citizenship. 2 These theories on education and globalization however, come from a predominantly western lens. Globalization is an unequal phenomenon being led by a few powerful countries, which necessitates a degree of caution when applying these frameworks and theories to developing countries. For Pakistan globalization specifically in terms of trade was a compulsion and not a choice and it has had big implications with regard to inequality and poverty within the country. Moreover Pakistan has a long history of colonial rule, which has resulted in the need to build devoted citizens as has its repeated wars with India and the risk to its sovereignty. Given these, it may be counterproductive to not form stable well-defined citizenship through education. It is important therefore to try and evaluate the appropriateness of including such an ideology to education in a country like Pakistan that is invested in building a strong national identity. The Research Context This research was conducted in Karachi, the metropolitan hub of Pakistan. Schools under the national education system using textbooks published under the Sindh Education Board were considered as their textbooks are designed for the purpose of educating for citizenship, which was important to consider. This particular school was founded in 1949 and is located in Saddar, the business hub of the city of Karachi. Research was conducted using qualitative methodology. 6 semi-structured, In-depth Interviews (IDIs) were conducted with students in the 9th Grade from privately run schools under the national educational system using a case study approach. Both male and female students were part of the study. Semi structured interviews were also conducted with 5 female teachers (there were no male teachers in the pool) who had recently undergone a global citizenship programme under the Connecting Classroom programme conducted by the British Council. The teacher data was not the core focus but was rather used to further understand and appreciate student responses. Given that the ideology and programmes being designed are predominantly western, it was felt that this information could add significant light to how pre held beliefs and concepts can influence understanding of an ideology. 3 FINDINGS Globalization With regard to globalization, responses yielded that students had not formally grasped the concept. Their answers were narrow, with a very positive and economic perspective to the concept. The ideology was seen to be something that happened at a macro level with little reflection or understanding on what that meant for them or on whether or not this phenomenon had any impact on their life. Although, media was acknowledged as a way of knowing about the world, it was not identified as a vehicle of globalization. Globalization was seen as something that happened ‘out there’ rather than a phenomenon of which they could all be a part. Further, it was something that was received rather than a contributory process. Teachers responses moved beyond economics but were similarly limited in that is was mostly viewed as a one way process in which Pakistanis were on the receiving end. More concerning, globalization was viewed entirely positively with little reflection on its possible dangers and the uneven advantages it was yielding. Global Identity In order for there to be identity formation there needs to be a feeling of connection. However, there was little indication of any kind of association with the wider community. A common underlying theme was that knowing what was happening in the world did not mean feeling a part of that global world. Analysis of responses showed that there was a general viewpoint that there was little interaction with people of other countries and more of a one-way diffusion of culture through media. It was clear that there was a general lack of knowledge about the world. Secondly, information about the world that was being taught was related directly to Pakistan; that is, how cultures differ, whom trade is done with and history relative to Pakistan. In addition, interconnectedness of states was limited to the environment. All of these collectively signal a very narrow understanding of the world. With this, the lack of interaction with the wider community, results in a feeling of disconnection that does not encourage the growth of a global identity. What is strongly developed however is a national identity. 4 Global Citizen There were two main findings from student’s responses about a ‘global citizen’. First, the range of responses clearly indicated a lack of familiarity with the concept, which may be attributed to the lack of clarity on what it means to be a citizen. Responses were narrow in scope reflecting a lack of understanding of the concept of a ‘citizen,’ with generally a shared history, society or some other similarity being considered essential. Secondly, with regard to participation, the general opinion was that without action one couldn’t be a global citizen. Students seemed to identify ‘global citizens’ as those individuals who will at some point in the future travel or live outside of Pakistan. This inevitably excluded those who will not be having any kind of interaction outside of Pakistan in the future. What is concerning here is that teachers who had undergone a formal training on the concept felt likewise. Just as globalization was something that took place out there, global citizens were also out there. There was little connection with the ideology in the absence of opportunity to interact. Stemming from the above, there was little value given to knowledge without action. This again limits the ideology to very few, making the concern of global elites being global citizens, a reality. It is worthwhile therefore to re-explore the definition of a global citizen from a local context, having understood the realties and limitations in terms of interaction and opportunities in addition to understanding how ‘static’ identities in Pakistani context are. So that, in addition to trying to create global citizens we also broaden or redefine who a global citizen is in local contexts. With regard to global citizenship, students evaluations were limited to the local; when thinking of global citizenship students seem to link it directly to the possible benefits it could bring to the country. The idea of possibly being a global citizen was seen as aiding their present identity and not as one that would exist parallel to their national identity. In addition, for some, GC education was embedded in a training of skills that would equip them to partake in a globalizing world. It is not so much a sense of responsibility to the world that they saw as the foundation, but more the ability to operate in the world as the basis for GC. This could be because of the concept of economic interdependence between countries that they are most familiar with. 5 What do these findings contribute to the understanding of this ideology for developing countries? Developing countries are most likely struggling politically, economically and/or socially for which reason there is clear importance citizens give to their own survival and progress. For a concept like global citizenship where responsibility of the world is emphasized there can be a lack of wholehearted acceptance given the struggle within the country. Because of which students can fail to understand their role, feel a lack of ability or opportunity to contribute and can view the ideological framework as a tool for helping them portray a better side to their country or gain information and ideas that help them to progress. Pakistani students and teachers participating in this study seemed to display a general passive acceptance of phenomenon’s relating to the world. There was a general not contributory association felt with the world where things are received rather than a two-way engagement. Furthermore there was a strong national identity and more than a responsibility to the world, there was a sense of urgency felt in displaying a positive side of the country for which global citizenship was seen as an avenue. In addition, the absence of a clear understanding of ‘citizenship’ itself meant a very loose understanding of what GC could or should entail. These findings communicate the need to rethink GC in Pakistani context and call for a challenging of global assumptions and a redefinition of the ideology within local contexts. Conclusions: It is clear that students have a strong national identity given that Pakistan’s educational policy has been advocating for the same since its inception. This coupled with the lack of global knowledge and opportunity to interact with the wider world has resulted in a weak or absent global identity with a passive sense of involvement in the phenomenon of globalization and of responsibility to the wider world. Collectively, these do not signal to a failure of the ideological framework of GC but rather they reason for a reevaluation and redefinition of the framework for a local context in addition to a reassessment by policy makers of local education to suit contemporary realties and requirements from which it can be argued, the system is a little far removed at present. 6 References: Anderotti, V. (2006) Soft versus critical global citizenship education. Policy & Practice: A Development Education Review (3) pp. 40-51 Bengali, K. (1999) History of educational policy making and planning in Pakistan. Sustainable Development Policy Institute: Working Paper (40) Dean, B. (2010) The Changing face of citizenship education in Pakistan. The Sage Handbook of Education for Citizenship and Democracy. pp 227-239. London: Sage Green, A., Little, A.W., Kamat. S. G., Oketch, M & Vickers, E. (2007) Education and Development in a Global Era: Strategies for ‘successful globalization’ – DIFD Researching the Issues No 68 Naseer, R. (2012) Citizenship Education in Pakistan. Pakistaniaat: A journal of Pakistan Studies 4 (3). 1-16 Our Work with Schools, British Council Pakistan. http://www.britishcouncil.pk/programmes/education/schools-programmes) accessed on 19 January 2014 Serf, J. (2008) Global learning in a changing and unpredictable world. FORUM 50 (3). 411-420 Yoganandan, G. (2010) Globalization of Pakistan: lessons for politically unstable countries. International Journal of Marketing Studies 2(1) 133-139 7
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