Girren Gi Yeh Deewarain (These Walls Will Fall)

Documentary Series

 Team           SAHE

 Aired            PTV

 Date             1989

 Synopsis

This 13 part documentary series highlights the important issues in education across the provinces in Pakistan during the late 80s. Many of these issues in education remain relevant at the present time. 

  

Part 1 Chaddakoo Bache Kaun?

Part 2 Bachon kae Chaddakoo Bunnae ka Zimaedar kaun?

Synopsis

Documentaries 1 and 2 investigate the phenomenon of dropout children in Quetta (Balochistan) and the Kasur district (Punjab). The agenda of the documentaries is to decipher exactly why children in Pakistan opt out of an education by interviewing various people from these communities. The documentaries have succeeded in comprehensively recording all the diverse factors that have bearings on the decision of any child to discontinue with his or her studies (which is predominant at the primary or elementary levels). The findings point to factors contrary to the popular notion that children are not in school because they do not want to study. In fact, from the investigation conducted, it has been found that children often want to study but stay away from schools because they are forced to do so, either by parents and their financial circumstances or by conditions at schools that make the child want to run away. The documentaries suggest that reasons for high dropout rates throughout the country are roughly similar, further exploring the correlation between the Chaddakoo or dropout, and issues such as physically abusive untrained teachers, improper school buildings, irrelevant and uninteresting curriculum, language differences between the home and school, illiterate parents, societal attitude towards education and other external discouragement, and not the least; the issue of children being a valuable source of income for their families, adding to that the frequency with which the onus of supporting the family shifts all too soon onto the child’s shoulders in communities within Pakistan. Investigations further extend to the difference between female and male dropout rates and the causes of this difference. The documentaries aim at understanding the circumstances that cause children to drop out of school, and to create awareness about their situation, so that they can be helped in the future.

  

Part 3: Ibrahim - Ghar ka Pehla Parha Likha

Part 4: Ghar kae Pehle Parhe Likhe ki Duniya

 Synopsis

The third and fourth installments of the documentary series focus on the first educated of an illiterate family, and the problems that he or she will inevitably face, particularly that of lack of finances and guidance. The third episode concentrates solely on a case study, that of Ibrahim from the Lahore district, to analyze how a person from an illiterate family embarks upon the journey to education, and how he overcomes the difficulties along the way. The fourth episode considers first-generation literates in general, also covering the increased difficulty for female first-literates in attaining education. The purpose of the documentaries is to bring to the forefront the issue of first-generation literates. Keeping in view that, as a country with extremely high rates of illiteracy, any attempt at mass education will inexorably lead to an influx of first-generation literates, the documentaries assess the essentiality of understanding their problems in order to make education more accessible to all.

  

Part 5: Larkiyon ko Kya Parhana?

Part 6: Larkiyan Parhain Gi

Synopsis

The documentaries converge upon the issue of female education, and the impediments that stand in its way. Interviews of women either educated or desiring education point to society’s patriarchal attitude towards the role of women as a major hindrance to the achievement of female literacy. In many cases, societal and cultural norms indicating the necessity of pardah, early marriages and security issues outside the home for women all contribute to the reluctance of parents in sending their daughters to school. The documentaries reveal the belief amongst many in society that women do not need to go to school and then work outside the home, because they are assigned to the business of caretaker of house and family, and not as breadwinner or any other role that would require them to step out of the home to attain an education. This is further exacerbated by the fact that many do not see the use of educating women because, as dependants of either their husbands or their fathers, they are not seen as individuals capable of contributing to society from what education has to offer. Many also do not see how education could help the woman in her role as mother or wife. The documentaries verify the need to look deeper into the problems of patriarchal society, which keeps an entire half of humanity from contributing to society, as it is clear that many mothers are enthusiastic about the notion of educating their daughters, but are unable to carry this out because patriarchal society forbids it.

 

Part 7: Taleem bina Tarbiyat

Part 8: Tarbiyat Gaye Kahan?

Synopsis

The deteriorating condition of discipline and respect in schools, colleges and universities is a growing cause for concern in Pakistan. The seventh and eighth episodes of this 13 part documentaries center on the mounting tendency of students to disregard codes of conduct related to respecting others, discipline and law and order. The documentaries encompass the effects of an education that neglects these vital elements and the causes of this trend. Disruptive behavior in students has been found to have an adverse effect in the community in general, and not just for the administration of the school or college in question. The documentary also considers the effectiveness of police intervention in the face of student violence in the form of gangs, vandalism, breaking rules and taking up weaponry. The documentaries pay special attention to the causes of such detrimental behavior, pointing specifically to the environment of schools where grades are of more importance than other aspects of education, an increasingly materialistic society that encourages blatant and unchecked consumerism, external political influence and the fact that many teachers are not good role models for their students and are often neglectful of their charges in many ways. In conditions where a young person will be judged and respected by what he or she owns and where teachers are increasingly failing to guide their students in aspects other than academic, the issue of discipline is one that will have a great impact not only on education, but also on society and the community, because an education without adequate stress on values such as discipline and respect, will be rendered useless.

  

Part 9: M.A.O College ki Kahani

Synopsis

These documentaries introduce different aspects of education that prove vital for student development. The ninth episode takes the example of M.A.O College to expound the drastic improvements that can be brought about by simply providing students with extracurricular activities. It identifies the reasons that the college’s student body was steeped in delinquency. The main causes were found to be neglect in the form of a shutdown library, overcapacity classrooms leading to strained teacher-student relationships, no form of motivation, and external influences which culminated into idleness and therefore frustration. A new administration introduced extracurricular activities in order to curb this idleness and to motivate students into utilizing their talents. The introduction of extracurricular activities and its success, as proven by M.A.O College in this documentary, further solidifies the fact that a successful education is one whose purpose is to make students complete human beings, and to do so the sphere of academics alone will not suffice.

  

Part 10: Rozgaar ki Taaleem

Synopsis

The tenth documentary is dedicated to a different kind of education- apprenticeship. In a country where many are obliged to earn from an early age, many children are sent to garages and workshops to learn skills that would enable them to earn in the future. Numerous boys are sent as apprentices to mechanics, electricians, plumbers and carpenters throughout the country. This documentary considers the city of Peshawar, where the practice of apprenticeship in garages and workshops is most prevalent. Many of the apprentices are illiterate, which often hinders them in their work and in other ways. However, the system of learning, promotion, discipline and respect of the teacher found in schools also exists here. The documentary seeks to draw attention to the training of the skilled worker, which has been overlooked for so long and is without support from the government and elsewhere. It also attempts to link the fact that many families prefer to send their sons to workshops (because the need of such skilled labor in the cities will ensure employment) to the dire need of establishing a relationship between education and employment.