The Miseducation of Pakistan - Reviews

School Library Journal - June 2007

The Miseducation of Pakistan. DVD. 30 min. Choices Inc. 2006, 2007 release. ISBN 978-1-933724-11-9. $59.95.
Gr 7 Up—The future of any country lies in the education of its youth. This examination of the condition of public schools in Pakistan is unnerving and enraging. The shocking degree of corruption and graft at all levels of government is disturbingly documented by the producers who visit a number of school settings and interview students, teachers, and officials. With an English-language narration and subtitles for the Urdu dialogue, the nicely paced presentation utilizes a mix of graphics and background music along with footage of the dire state of the schools. Since government officials almost universally send their children to private schools, there is little sympathy in those ranks for the plight of the almost 80 percent of the country's children from poverty-stricken families who are remanded to some of the worst education facilities in the world. In Pakistan, millions of children have no future. The program's six chapters may be individually accessed along with a still photo gallery and instructions for downloading teaching materials from the distributor's Web site. While the film closes with the promise from newly installed public officials that change is imminent, it is difficult for viewers to believe that the system will be improved.—Dwain Thomas, Lake Park High School, Roselle, IL

Video Librarian - May/June 2007

The Miseducation of Pakistan
(2007) 30 min. In Urdu w/English subtitles. DVD: $59.95. Choices, Inc. PPR. ISBN: 978-1-933724-11-9.
In the exposé The Miseducation of Pakistan, Pakistani journalist Naziha Syed Ali serves as a tour guide through Pakistan’s deeply flawed public education system (which receives a mere 2.6% of the country’s Gross Domestic Product). Ali visits schools marked by crowded classrooms, crumbling and inadequate facilities, and empty buildings now used as barns, pointing out inequalities and inconsistencies with a wry sense of humor (over shots of a government school playground filled with garbage and fetid water, Ali comments, “The only sport here is to get to the toilet without getting your feet wet”; the scene then transitions to children swimming in a huge, chlorinated pool, while Ali says, “A few miles away, at an expensive private school, getting wet is actually fun.”). Most government officials send their children to private schools, and are therefore seemingly uninterested in improving government schools. Interviews cover a broad range of perspectives, including those of children, teachers, principals, and government officials at the provincial and national levels. Collectively, they reveal that while poor Pakistani children want to learn, a combination of apathetic teachers, rampant corruption, and an antiquated, biased curriculum conspires to keep them ignorant. Featuring stylish graphics that present statistics and facts in support of its arguments, The Miseducation of Pakistan should appeal to those interested in both education and world affairs. Highly recommended. Aud: C, P. (J. Wadland)