HOW TO BUILD RESEARCH CULTURE IN PAKISTAN

By: Manzoor Hussain Memon

INTRODUCTION

Pakistani society is ethnically diverse yet overwhelmingly Muslim. It is largely rural yet beset by the problems of hyper urbanization. Pakistan is a country where the main academic education is of theoretical nature. The social milieu where exposition of any concrete facts might be clandestinely kept, prevailing in Pakistan in particular. This is believed to be caused by social norms and political system etc. Hence, the theoretical state of mind and beliefs do prevail in the parts of life in Pakistan, permeating different segments of society. These segments may be categorized as political, social and religious set up. However, there has been some manifestation of interest in Pakistan, which is limited to certain level or groups, where research is only inevitable.  

Research Culture

The people of the society create any culture. Research culture means how do the people of the society get knowledge and awareness about the research. The situation of research culture in Pakistan is not very impressive due to the lack of education, motivation and awareness.

THE STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Sociologists speak of a loss of a sense of social contract among Pakistanis that has adversely affected the country's infrastructure: the economy, the education system, the government bureaucracy, and even the arts. As population pressure increases, the failure of the populace to develop a sense of publicly committed citizenship becomes more and more significant.

At independence, Pakistan had a poorly educated population and few schools or universities. Although the education system has expanded greatly since then, debate continues about the curriculum, and, except in a few elite institutions, quality remained a crucial concern of educators in the early 1990s. Relatively limited resources have been allocated to education, although there has been improvement in recent decades. Adult literacy is low, but improving.

Failure to develop civic-minded citizenship is also evident in public administration and imbalanced government spending. For example, military expenditures vastly exceed combined expenditures on health and education.

HOW TO BUILD A RESEARCH CULTURE?

Research work, either for academic purpose or for the sake of other fields, it generally considered to be rigorous pursuit. In view of the fact that a very limited work has been done in all parts of surrounding environments and lack of attempts taken for building a research culture in Pakistan.

We will not renew society by archaic and authoritarian means--controlling everyone, banning freedom of thought, emulating every detail of an archaic patriarchal culture that happened to be literate. Whomever we are told to regard as undesirables, those are the very people we need to go out and meet.

Educational System

Mainly academic education in Pakistan is of theoretical in nature and there is substantial difference of duration of schooling for certain degrees. There is a need of change in the education system from higher school to colleges. Need to promote research through various manners. Giving of awareness of the benefits achieved through research. Country like Pakistan, reach of the people mainly to the higher schools only, so, we should promote research at the higher school level.

Education of youth and adults alike shall be among the top priorities of a renewed society, and should be incorporated as much as possible into the everyday life of the community.

To Overcome Illiteracy

Pakistan is a developing state, but the research is not being promoted. The basic reason is a lack Knowledge, awareness and literacy rate in our society. To overcome this problem they should given the awareness about the education and knowledge that how important they are in the today's modern era.

Lack Of Motivation And Incentives

As a matter of fact, due to lack of motivation and incentives, the research process has not been encouraged to flourish at various levels.

Need Of Research Institutes

In the civilized and modern states there are lots of research institutes. Because the research institute are basic need of making an environment for the purpose of good and effected research. In Pakistan there is a need of some more research institutes because the present research institutes are not enough for promoting research culture in Pakistan.

Need Of Seminars And Conferences

To aware the people about the research and the effects of research in the society not only through media, also by arranging seminars and conferences on research by inviting some scholars who understand the nature and culture of Pakistan society. So that they can promote the research culture and awareness by their lectures

Environment And Facilities

There is need o f proper environment for making a good and effected research. Also there is a need of research facilities in all of the universities for developing the researchers. The main problem is that we do not have enough researchers and scholars. It is all because of the deficiency of research process in Pakistan.

Media

The press, television, and radio are vital forces in Pakistan's political life. The importance of the press was evident even before independence. There are over 1,500 newspapers and journals in the country, including publications in Urdu, English, and in regional languages. With the help of theses papers people can aware of the benefits of research. There is an increase in the knowledge of general people through the newspapers.

Radio also has been an effective method of communication because the literacy rate is low and other methods of communication are sometimes not available. The Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation has played a key role in disseminating information and transmitting government policies as well as promoting Islamic principles and their application.

Need Of Funds And Resources

 There are very substantial development in the research departments of the major universities and research institutions. Reasonable funds and resources should be allocated for the academic research.

Role Of Government

Government should take interest to build up the research culture, by giving funds and incentives etc. Pakistan was tied for fourth place in the world in its ratio of military expenditures to health and education expenditures. So, there is a need to allocate the sufficient fund from the budget for the improvement of education and research institute. Government of civilized modern states helps to build up a research culture in their own societies because they know the value of research but our government does not take any steps in the development of research.

There is a hope that in near by future Pakistan will also be one of the countries that are ahead in the field of research.

CONCLUSION

Our society cannot achieve greatness unless individuals at many levels of ability accept the need of high standard of performance and strive to achieve those standards within the limits possible for them. We want the highest conceivable excellence, of course, in the activities crucial to our effectiveness and creativity as society; but that is not enough … ewe must foster a conception of excellence that may be applied to every degree of ability and to every socially acceptable activity. We need excellent physicists and excellent mechanics. We need excellent cabinet members and excellent first-grade teachers.

The researcher, the students, the public administrators, and for that matter, the school administrator, have in their respective fields of endeavor, pivot roles to play in pursuit of excellence. They must accept the need of high standards of performance and strive to achieve those standards with in their limit possible for them.

If they have the technical proficiency and professional competence, and if they have such qualities as drive, enthusiasm, initiative, strength of will, the desire to excel, discipline, resourcefulness, and tenacity of purpose, they certainly can achieve the standards that are the hallmarks of excellence.

*Manzoor Hussain Memon is Student, M.A (Final) at the Department of International Relations, University of Karachi. His e-mail address is: info@manzooor.com and URL is: http://www.manzooor.com .

All content (C) Department of International Relations, Karachi University

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