A sharp deterioration of the quality and standard of education has been witnessed over the last 50 years in the history of Pakistan. But it has not only been the deterioration of the standard but also the irrelevance of the contents and methods of education to the lives of the learners. It displayed a pathetic indifference to the socio cultural necessities, thinking patterns, economic conditions and needs and interests of the society at large. The system has roots in the colonial system of education that obviously was designed to serve the interests of the masters. Unfortunately, it met with occasional symbolic and cosmetic changes here and there after independence. There was no effort made at the state level to make education an expression of the hopes, wishes and ideals of the people, and responsive of the times people live in. Rooted in the total absence of political will, education remained unable to realize the potential of the rich human resources it had. It was utterly at a loss to build a national character and ethos. It failed to have people pride in them selves and created an identity crisis and a sense of inferiority. Instead, it did help create self-alienation and drew a clear line between local and traditional ways of life as uncivilized and uncultured and western styles as an expression of modernity and good grooming.

Additionally, the contents of education and methods of teaching were designed to ensure blind followers and conformists. Critical thinking and questioning was systematically curbed that resulted in lack of articulation. Ineffective and inefficient instruction, lack of meaningful monitoring, poor quality teaching materials and teacher training, defective system of examination and poor infrastructure compounded the problem even further.

Education that has been reduced to obtaining a piece of paper and consequently to a means to earn a livelihood could not live up to that promise either. In what concrete terms a person holding a matriculation certificate can contribute in the society? At best, she can read and write in Urdu (the same can not be expected of her in English), can do some basic arithmetic. She had memorized some totally irrelevant information on what they call general science and some information on Pakistan Studies most of which she later forgot. This certificate that requires at least 10 years of schooling has lost meaning in the present day as the holder fails to contribute in any meaningful way in the job market.

The logical outcome of the above scenario is unemployment that breeds frustration, lack of purpose and a sheer sense of insecurity. The state of education in the country is responsible for problems like ever increasing drug addiction, higher rate of crimes and communal riots. It is not difficult to attract unemployed direction-less youth to extremist communal organizations that provide them with some space to ventilate their frustrations and anger and guarantees a means of livelihood also.

This is the ground reality that has pulled many low-income households away from education. This is not out of ignorance but a realistic appreciation of the education available to them when they say,  ‘There is nothing in education. It does not take children anywhere'. ‘Education leads to unemployment'. ‘Sending children to school is waste of time'”. These thought-provoking statements are rooted in experience and refer to the urgency of the problem. They are a call for the steps need to be taken that make education a worthwhile activity. People, especially the ones whose resources are extremely limited can not afford the luxury of sending their children to school because getting educated is a lofty ideal.

Such was the analysis that became the starting point of the search for an alternative education that could respond to some of the problems discussed above.

Khoj believes that education is more about values and attitudes, about bringing purpose to the lives of people, about shaping the personalities, about building characters, about rights and responsibilities, about the place of the individual in a society and the relationship between the two. Education can not be reduced to literacy. Literacy at best and that too to some extent can provide some form to education but can never be the content of it. The education that has nothing to say about the human life but just becomes equivalent to literacy is capable of giving just a skill or technology. It can help only to read and write in order to become better and efficient users of machines, whose sole mission in life is to earn more and more money to get established in a materialistic and ruthlessly competitive world. Such education is at the cost of maturity in thinking and human purpose in life. As a result, human beings are de-humanized and self-alienated. They lose concern for fellow human beings, the environment they live in and the life around them. They forget about religious tolerance, respect for nature and an interest in the welfare of others. What is left with naked self-interest that leads to brutalities, oppression, exploitation, political expediency and senseless wars?

Mass literacy without education that is not based on social and economic realities results in a mass of mindless people who are uprooted from the culture, who are distanced from themselves and who start hating their own origins. The new education that we are getting is taking us away from ourselves, from our families, from our surroundings, our societies and our countries.