Zubair Afridi

Department of the Philosophy at the University of Peshawar has not attracted a single student since the launch of the four years bachelors degree by the Higher Education Commission (HEC).

This disinterest on the part of students compels one to look into the reasons behind why philosophy is not attractive anymore, lost is importance in the age of technology or lacks market value.

TNN talked to the philosophy faculty at the University of Peshawar and CECOS University.

Sher Zada, who a philosophy faculty at the University of Peshawar every year seven to eight apply for application in BS philosophy programme. However, he said that under the HEC rules, every academic programme must have 18 to 20 students; therefore, they are compelled to send these students to other departments. He said that policy makers need to revise their policies.

Besides, he said that earlier last year, KP government advertised 1900 vacancies of lecturers from across the province; however, there was not a single philosophy vacancy among them.

Mr Zada said that on the other hand every bachelor programme taught philosophy courses like political philosophy, logic and critical thinking and philosophy of science to its student. In addition to this, he said that in the past most of the philosophy graduates were hired as lecturer. Mr Zada when there were no employments opportunities for philosophy graduates, the students also feel that graduating in the subject will create problems for them in their career.

In addition to this, he said that even departments like political science also refuse their graduates offer to teach political philosophy. “Though this subject is branch of pure philosophy, yet the department does not agree to us teaching their students,” he said.

Mr Zada said that those associated with the subject have also failed to attract students to it.

He said that disinterest in philosophy will baldy affect Pakistan education system as social science research was greatly impacted by this subject.

Similarly, Syed Jawad Ali Shah, a faculty at the CECOS University said that there were many universities around with several new disciplines and department which has resulted into philosophy lacking its luster for students.

“Study of a philosophy is just a hobby these days,”  he said.

However, he said that the real purpose of the subject was give birth to critical thinking in a society as creating harmony between various cultures and religions,” he said.

He said that perhaps this was the reason behind the fundamentalism in the society as majority of people were unaware of these concepts.

Mr Shah said that in a situation when people of other disciplines will start teaching philosophy, it will defiantly fulfill the academic criterion; however, it will kill the basic aim of studying the subject.

He said that applied philosophy was helping in creation of new knowledge and information in many developed countries of the world; however, in Pakistan even theory was no more.

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