My talk on fostering civic responsibility among university students

I spoke at a panel on fostering civic engagement among students at the Congress of Student Experience, Aga Khan University, Karachi. The panel comprised Adeel Azhar (broadcaster), Severine Minot, Assistant Professor, Habib University and me. Here’s the transcript.*

Raza: … (to Adeel) I think we like to take your point about politicization [of students and campuses]…the idea of civic engagement is broader. It does include political engagement and political participation. But civic engagement has more to do with idea of citizenship-how do we create better well-informed, ethical citizens-who would leave campus and go out in real world.

Because for how many years you are a student or you(are) learning something, you are kind of isolated from the real world. I mean your exams and.. may be you will do some volunteerism. But when you go out the real world, you will deal with real people, real society, real structures, complications, bad people and (ethical questions) ..how do you navigate that life? And that is why our civic engagement and civic learning’s so important.

Removal of Civics from School Curricula

I was in school, when in 80s, the subject of civics gradually was removed from our curricula. It used to be there, let’s say, until late 70s, aek mazmoon hota tha civics us m (there used to be a subject in which) students were taught how to become good citizens, how to participate in natural life, how to give, how to contribute as… many ways…as my fellow panelist pointed out. But that’s gone and was replaced by these two subjects Islamiat and Pakistan studies. For doctors, engineers, everybody has to take these courses until BA. And those subjects tell you a lot about your history or your nationalism [but less about civic duties.]

Patriotism vs Nationalism

It is in fact worrying because you are creating people who cannot think beyond… being Muslim is the best thing or all other non-Muslims are not good or saying being Pakistani is the best thing and you have to crush anyone who’s…not one…or feel obliged to fight anyone who criticize. That’s why we have these twitter battles saying don’t bring a bad name to Pakistan. You say, hey, there is a guy on the street I saw.. .[being lynched] why bring bad name to community…”hey you bringing a bad name!” Because the entire conception of yourself and who you are is a national project and nationalism is different than patriotism. Patriotism is- you love your land, your people, your environment but nationalism is when you say ‘our’s best’(we’r best) all others aren’t as. …(?) ​

The Care Climate on campuses

Two concepts I would like to briefly speak about one is use again because I have been teaching in America and I never knew I wanted to but anyway fate has pushed. me there. Caring climate is one of the ideas that is now very common which says that universities, colleges should foster climate where there is sense of caring nurturing. What is caring? Of course we care for ourselves, we have to. So first thing is we have to strive for excellence for grades, ( in classes), for future, (you know) success! But then second part is you also learn to give others on the campus, engage with them, negotiate differences. Even if you don’t agree with me, learn how to debate instead of abusing.

Ethical Dilemmas

Third aspect of care climate is ethics …. What are ethics? Especially in medical profession. Unfortunately, so many Pakistani doctors nurses and other medical practitioners (they are) best surgeons.. best this and that but when it comes to ethics have no relevant understanding of ethics because it is not part of the curricula in the mainstream public sector medical education and that is where the problem comes in: how do you treat…you know recently with Shameen Chinoy’s sister went to doctor and it turned a big issue of harassment owing to Facebook messages from the doctor. So what was that if not ethical question? Should a doctor be befriending his patient or not? So, that needs to be taught. So that’s, ethics, is the third part.

Listening for Civic Engagement

Fourth part is the idea of hearing others, listening. It cuts across all fields of work on campus-students, faculty, others. So let’s listen to what others are saying and not remain stuck to our prejudices or ideas. ​​​​​​​

Community Service

And the final part is of course community service. It is a central part but it does not mean you have to do really complex tasks in your neighborhoods, campuses, outside. So where I teach in Ithaca [College] and run a Centre, we have civic engagement. It has a whole mission of service learning.

Community Service is not just voluntary act but also learning one. Here, you actually start learning about ethical dilemmas, ethical questions. So job of the Centre is to make curricula …community service oriented.

Political Engagement

And final thing that political engagement is very vital. Unfortunately, in Pakistan since the late 70s and early 80s, student unions were banned. Yes, there were some reasons: there was violence, polarization which we see on social media these days we are not letting people talk to each other, so obviously they are going to fight on Facebook…you this, you that. So in real world, act is different than on Facebook because digital world gives you that anonymity…So, what we really have to do is that we have to think of reviving student unions having enough regulations and checks and balances

{In the absence of political debate] That’s what happens is arms wings come up. Karachi has suffered so much from armed gangs and violence. So what we want to achieve as an objective is when any student leaves campus he or she is well informed engaged ethical citizen ready to give whilst striving for personal gain and success and has ambition, community and civic spirit beyond needs as a citizen of well-functioning society. That’s why ( not producing such citizens) we have dysfunctional society. We are producing lots of degrees, MBAs and doctors…disengaged people with diplomas.

Critique of Medical Profession

You hear people saying ‘I hate politics.’ You can’t really hate politics. You are part of the system. Choices affect you. Even if you are a doctor or nurse. Whoever you are, you are a citizen. Since I have been there in the US, I have engaged with many doctors. They are most successful really…you know…doing very well.. but a lot of them, I realize, have very narrow vision of the world and of Pakistan. Of course there are exceptions and many are cool and progressive . The Naya Daur, digital media is actually backed by a few Pakistani doctors who are kind of old-school and socially engaged. But a lot of other doctors don’t and I don’t blame them… That’s one of the critiques on doctors in Pakistan is how private hospitals and colleges are fleecing people and it is linked to how there is no larger understanding of the profession.