Rigid education system as a killer of creativity

Main concern of Pakistani education system revolves around a cycle of preparing students to pass exams, quizzes

Creativity does not always relate itself as a soul or an element of artistic expression in creative fields, in fact it must be regarded as an equally important baseline to construct a sturdy building of academics and education. This phenomena of creativity in education or creative education is unfortunately grievously disregarded within Pakistani society. The structure and environment of our class rooms within our educational institutions mirrors the stifling rigidity of curriculum, lesson planning and its execution. Where instructors and teachers stands as an authority at the head of the classroom prescribing or a more appropriate word would be “injecting’ information to students who passively absorbs it. The main concern of Pakistani education system revolves around a cycle of preparing students to pass exams and quizzes which requires a student to memorize a concerned subject by heart in order to compete with the outside world of 90+ plus. This pressurization of rigid education system and lacking of creativity in our education system thus enforces teachers to develop a subject and object sort of connection with the students while turning students into passive receivers.

The basic and initial education structure in Pakistan stands on four levels as preschool (3 to 5 years), primary level (grade 01 through 05) and middle level (grade six till eight) and matriculation. The existence of this educational structure which focuses more on rigid memorization and lack of critical thinking if allows creativity in education, it will enable students to use imagination and critical thinking to construct new and meaningful ideas, while developing interpersonal skills such as problem solving, inquisitiveness and persistence.

Creativity in introduced within the education system of Pakistan will transform the rigid structure of class rooms into high functioning environs with the constructive elements of flexibility, accepting new challenges, working together, developing a sense of work shopping by giving each other a chance, engagement with each other, developing confidence within students , while functioning at more intricate level by establishing a healthy and progressive environment for student to ask questions without the fear of being judged.

The question arises here that how creative learning be blended in a rigid curriculum, well the answer lies in a little transformation with in a lecture system of classrooms through the involvement of creative activities in a form of class room games in which students will learn through active participation, allowing them to reflect upon a lesson through a play.

This conversion and unique lesson planning will unleash a creative potential of students in a classroom, and it maintains an essence of developing critical thinking and imagination within the teaching spaces. The system of creative learning may also provide teachers with new and unique avenues to think and manage lecture delivery through several creative manners, which will function as an ice breaker between students and teachers in the initial years of education. The importance of creative learning and a problem highlighted here can be summarized and is rightly highlighted through the analysis of an Irish minister Michael D. Higgins, according to him“ The roots of a creative society lies in a basic education system. The sheer volume of facts to be digested by the students which leaves today’s student with a little time for a deeper interrogation of their moral worth which has been resulted in a generation of technicians rather than visionaries. Each one of them is taking a career rather than an idea seriously. The answer lies in the reform in our education methods so that students are encouraged to question “Know-Why” as well as ‘Know-How”. (Michael Higgins). Once creativity is restored as a centralized phenomenon in educational institutes, then there could be a tremendous unleashing in the discipline of education within Pakistan.

 

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