Technical Education In Practical Life 1st part

Technical education may be defined as the practical application of general principles and methods of scientific studies to the teaching of some trade, profession or handicraft. The importance of such a training in a country like ours is quite obvious. As we know, more than eighty percent of our population in Pakistan is agricultural and another ten percent Industrial. Therefore, it is a crime to make education merely liberal.
Thus to make our youngsters unfit for manual work in their practical life. In view of the modern industrial and scientific advancements, it is admitted on all hands that independent Pakistan can't keep pace with other countries in the march of progress unless our educationalists direct their best possible attention to the introduction of technical education in our school, colleges and universities. So they may correct the present system of education, which is wholly liberal and lop-sided. An American thinker has said, There are two oblivious kinds of education; one teaches us how to live and the other, how to make a living. Unfortunately, in our country we are taught much of ' how to live' before we know how to 'make a living'. We are brought to know and learn the plays of Shakespeare, the poem of Milton or the chronology of historical events, but very little of us know that how to drive an engine, to handle a robotic machine, or to work at a loom in some weaving factory. That is the reason why a present-day student has to face so much distress and despair when he leaves the college to make his headway in the practical world. He runs from pillar to post in search of a job with a role of degrees and diplomas under his arm, but everywhere he finds the same depressing reply, 'Not qualified for vacancy'. Therefore, it is essential to train our boys and girls in some special branch of industry, mechanism, handicrafts, trade or profession so that at the end of their educational career they are in a position to find employment easily.

There are many advantages, both practical and moral, that come from technical education. In the first place, it solves the problem of unemployment by supplying our industries with a large body of trained workers in every line, and by finding ready employment for the youth. Secondly, it pays for the education of our children and makes them studious and self-supporting. Ours is a poor country. We don't have adequate means to fiance our education in accordance to the existing style, nor are millions of parents able to pay the fee that is at present imposed on their wards. Education should be universal and free. The students should be made to pay their fees for the education they receive, in the form of labor. It follows, therefore, that technical education and manual work must be introduced in schools and universities. Students should pay their fees in the form of labor, rather than cash. Another practical advantage of technical education is that when we have prepared our own technicians. In the absence of trained men in the country, we are compelled to import foreign technicians. But this import can't continue for ever. Even, while the foreigners are with us, their real role should be to train our personnel to step into their shoes in due course of time.
Read : Technical Education In Practical Life 2nd part