Beaconhouse recently held a pioneering education and cultural festival in Karachi. Sarah Haider reports on the contemporary challenges of the digital era, which the conference sought to address
Pakistan’s first international education and cultural festival, School of Tomorrow (SOT), was held on the 28th and 29th of November 2015, at the Beach Luxury Hotel in Karachi. With the theme “The End of Education? (as we know it)”, the two-day festival organised by Beaconhouse featured educators, thinkers, celebrities, policymakers, historians, artists, performers, environmentalists, social activists and prominent figures from the media. With 42 sessions, three keynote talks and more than 120 speakers from Pakistan and around the world, the two-day event – open to the public – attracted a very large number of people.
The sessions were designed bearing in mind the new challenges faced by students, parents, educators and teachers in a digital world where children can access all sorts of information through the internet. The primary focus of all discussions was to understand how external factors such as geopolitics and global security, media and digital technologies, art and culture and the environment and society are shaping 21st century schools – so as to propose new directions for the future.
Ali Azmat wraps up the two-day event
Prominent speakers at the conference included Dr Roger Schank, Nisar Ahmad Khuhro, Aamer Ahmed Khan, Fawad Chaudhry, Shahzeb Khanzada, Mansoor Ali Khan, Rabia Anum, Nadia Jamil, Omair Rana, Sidra Iqbal, Mujahid Barelvi, Tahira Abdullah, Qasim Jafri, Dr A H Nayyar, Dr Pervez Hoodbhoy, Zohra Yusuf, Shehzad Roy, Baela Raza Jamil, Dr Lawrence Burke, Indian stand-up comedian Sanjay Rajoura, Daniyal Noorani, Marium Chaudhry, Muaaz Ahsan, Harsh Narayan, Shahnaz Wazir Ali, Dr Ishrat Hussain, Dr Sohail Naqvi, Jibran Nasir, Hassan Sheheryar Yasin (HSY), Deepak Perwani, Rashid Rana and Adnan Malik among others.
One of the keynote speakers, Alan Kay – an American computer scientist who is best known for his pioneering work on object-oriented programming and graphical user interface design – was of the view that even though television is a great teacher, it does not teach things that most people, especially children, need to learn. Mr Kay qualified this by saying that radio and TV were big factors in the Green Revolution in India in the 1960s. He said that the computer was the next truly important invention after writing, the printing press, and the scientific method. And yet at the same time, it is the most dangerous invention yet. Consequently, according to him, we have to “find out how to use its powers and not be overwhelmed by its potential disastrous uses”. He suggested that learning about media, rather than being overwhelmed by it, should be part of standard education in schools.
A view of the audience
While all sessions were equally informative, some of them were `of great interest to parents. One of those sessions discussed whether children under 13 should be on Facebook or not. Moderated by TV anchor Fawad Chaudhry, the panellists – Badar Khushnood and Mehnaz Akber Aziz – were of the view that while it is difficult to stop children from using Facebook in this era, parents obviously need to keep an eye on the online activities of their children. They did, however, say that very young children should not be on any social media platform. While Facebook can be used for collaborative learning, it is addictive in nature. In order to monitor and supervise online activities, parents should link their email addresses with the child’s Facebook account. The panellists also discussed internet bullying and advised parents to develop a relationship of trust with their children, so as to be able to intervene in cases of online harassment. If parents feel their children are spending too much time online, they must put their foot down and put a limit on their internet usage. Other discussions on digital security and online privacy also generated great interest from audiences.
A session titled ‘Teaching History and Social Studies in Intercultural Societies’, featuring Dr A H Nayyar, Akeel Bilgrami and Aamer Ahmed Khan, turned out to be quite fascinating. All the panellists were quite open in highlighting how school-going children are taught distorted history from day one. The discussion reminded one of a quote by Roger Schank. Mr Schank — a radical educator, artificial intelligence theorist and cognitive psychologist based in the US – said: “We are taught made-up history by our respective governments. All history is a bunch of lies. We are living in a fictional world.” Schank’s views on history can be applied globally. All countries glorify their ‘heroes’ and their textbook histories are narrated from their own points of view, with all the bias and distortion that entails. The panellists said that in order to teach something resembling actual history, we have to unlearn what we are taught in our textbooks and re-learn our own history in doing so. One panellist emphasised the need for historical accuracy, without which future generations cannot learn effectively from the past.
A predominant theme at the conference was that of public-private education partnerships
Additionally, a predominant theme at the SOT was that of public-private education partnerships. Muaaz Ahsan, director for programming at GEO News, moderated a session titled ‘Government Schools: Unlocking the potential’. Another session titled ‘Are private schools enablers or dividers?’, with Sindh education minister Nisar Khuhro, The City School CEO Dr Farzana Firoz, Baela Raza Jamil and Dr Pervez Hoodbhoy as panellists, addressed many important questions. When asked who actually is responsible for education, the panellists agreed that while it is the responsibility of the state, private-public partnership could lead to better results in the education sector.
Zebunnisa Burki, who moderated a session on ?online privacy, observed that the themes taken up at the SOT conference were very timely. “These things need to be spoken about, especially in a way that students can relate to. I was in fact pleasantly surprised by the way the audience responded to our sessions.”
The session on privacy tackled the theme of social media and personal privacy in an age where celebrities and ?public personalities are finding it hard to maintain a balance between the personal and the private.
The two-day event ended with a live concert by singer Ali Azmat.
