There is much turmoil in our hearts as we read the papers; there is much broken and jagged in the world. At home, we have 7 police officers guarding Vaccination Team in Pakistan are shot dead (among others!); abroad, the global war against ISIS and the Syria black hole. Does it make sense then for a group of us to sit together in this room in Karachi and look at the issues of education? My answer is Of course! It is the most important thing we can do.
When the children leave our influence and go out in the world, we are able the see the shadows of our teaching in their deeds. And whatever we have taught them will come to haunt us, in their values and their priorities of life. However, when we prepare ourselves; learn new ideas, read inspiring writing, make our teaching better, know the children better, we are doing the only thing that needs to be done: prepare the ground for the next generation so that they do NOT do what we are so sick of seeing in the papers. And that different world, where one would wish to live is indeed the aim of all right minded people on earth, no matter what their race, religion, colour or creed.
And so I welcome you to this great examination of our lives under a gentle scrutiny of friends and well-wishers, in a safe haven for teachers. As Socrates said: “The unexamined life is not worth living”. And as we pause on the wisdom of that sentence, let me quote another one, more direct and more chilling in the consequences that emerge from thinking about it:
In a profession as personal as teaching, it is amazing to consider the impersonality of teacher education.
—-Ivor Goodson (1992) Studying Teacher’s Lives
But these somber thoughts must be balanced by a more positive approach and I can do no better than turn to the Great Master, Rumi.
Let us become a new spring
And feel the breeze drift in the heavens’ scent
Let us dress the earth in green
And like the sap of a young tree
Let the grace from within sustain us
Let us carve gems out of our stony hearts
And let them light our path to love
The glance of love is crystal clear
And we are blessed by its light.