For the past several years, the education system has evolved from being just a source of rote learning to an all-around development of the students. Besides curriculum-based education and a huge focus on intelligence quotients (IQ), the world is more focused on inculcating personal and professional skills in the pupils. Yet, in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, there have been multiple discussions on upgrading the curriculum and technological use in education settings, but with very little or no consideration given to emotional intelligence (EI). As a psychology scholar, I would use this platform to advocate for the importance of this necessity in our education system. Mostly mistaken for a luxury, I believe that EI is a necessity in today’s world.
Conceptualizing Emotional Intelligence
Daniel Goleman, a psychologist, has defined emotional intelligence as the ability to feel, manage, use, and regulate the emotions of oneself or others. According to Goleman, there are certain sets of soft skills that, if developed, help in the strengthening of emotional intelligence among people. For instance, coupled with good IQ, certain skills like empathy, sensitivity, rationality, social skills, and motivation can produce constructive individuals for society.
The Crisis in Pakistan
With 22 million children out of school, unfortunately, in Pakistan, the education system lags in structure as well as in function. Almost 80 percent of the schools existing in Pakistan either do not have well-trained and emotionally aware teachers, or the systems running the institutions are deeply immersed in the race of competition and cognitive skills. The only gauge for students’ performance is examinations.
Moreover, the staff is overburdened and overloaded, making it impossible to address the emotional issues of the students. Unfortunately, bullying, aggression, frustration, and insensitivity among kids go unnoticed, or in the worst-case scenario, become normal. Very little space is provided to the students to express their feelings, convey their emotions, or reflect on their emotional growth.
Additionally, children who develop emotional suppression equate it with weakness and drown in their emotional illiteracy later in their lives and suffer psychologically. They come across challenges in relationships, self-confidence, and leadership roles, and remain unable to break those barriers even in the work dynamics. They fail to manage anxiety, pressure, and stress, which damages their academic as well as personal lives. Their self-images as weak and destructive persons dominate, and performance depreciates. Rationally, a framework for emotional intelligence training can prove to be ideal in this context to transform the lives of the future of our country.
Challenges to Implementation in Pakistan
The biggest challenge faced by the education system in Pakistan is the budget: a mere 0.60% can add nothing good to the system. The education system in Pakistan lags because of a lack of funds in hand. Such negligence can be very damaging for future generations. Similarly, if emotional intelligence training is considered, the conservatives of the society rise, labeling it as a luxury and equating it to a more Westernized education system. This halts the progress, if any is ever seen.
Moreover, teachers feel reluctant to adopt new methods and ways of teaching to kids given the lack of time and resources. Similarly, the parents seem negligent of the emotional needs of their kids. They consider financial providence as their utmost responsibility towards their kids and neglect their holistic development. This again is a result of the downtrodden education system prevailing for years in the country. The cycle goes on to the next generations, too. However, reforms in education systems, structural and functional, can bring betterment to the situation.
I believe that in our society, kids are taught to be successful, be in the race, and be the toppers throughout their academia. We teach the kids all ways to celebrate happiness, success, and joy. What we fail to teach them is how to face failure. They do not know how to behave when they are under pressure, how to manage sadness, or how to differentiate between temper and anger. This is where the emotional intelligence training becomes a necessity.
A Blueprint to Incorporation of Emotional Intelligence in Education
In educational settings, emotional intelligence training can prove very fruitful. It can add to communication skills, stress management, pressure handling among peers, and being empathetic towards each other. Not only for students, but also for teachers, it can help in understanding, processing, and regulating emotions of themselves and their students. They can better equip themselves with a strong teacher-student bond and more satisfaction in work life.
Coming back to Goleman, who gave a five-factor model for emotional intelligence: a) self-regulation, b) self-awareness, c) empathy, d) motivation, and e) social skills; emotional intelligence can be developed in a very normal way in our daily lives. These attributes can develop individuals who are productive for the whole of society. In addition, emotional intelligence comes with its benefits for students and teachers.
First and foremost, it can improve academic performance, build up confidence in communication, provide an inclusive school environment, better mental health for teachers and students, social integration and cohesion, healthy competition, empathetic classrooms, personal and professional satisfaction, and, most importantly, students can learn how to be resilient in life to face and manage failures and losses in life and bounce back from them. Hence, inculcating emotional intelligence training in education settings can be a win-win situation for all.
Implementation Strategies
Moreover, EI is not a Western concept at all. The Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) manifested EI throughout his life through his humility, self-control, empathy, kindness, patience, and humanity. So, it can also be inculcated under religious, moral, and spiritual development. For its implementation, training programs for teachers and parents should be regularly scheduled; it should also be included in the curriculum to analyze the progress of the training via feedback programs and behavior-based assessments. Emotional intelligence training should be mandatory for all students and teachers so that collaborative efforts can be made in this regard. This way, emotionally intelligent brains can bring the best for the country.
Conclusion
In a nutshell, the education system in Pakistan needs to address emotional development along with academic performance to produce more empathetic, emotionally intelligent, kind, socially strong, and compassionate individuals in society. Emotional intelligence should be taken as a necessity in the education system, or else the country will progress in the Kingdom of Morpheus.
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The views and opinions expressed in this article/paper are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial position of Paradigm Shift.
She is a clinical psychologist and author with over six years of experience in freelance writing, specializing in mental health, social issues, and global affairs. She co-authored L’Art de Vivre, a book on positive psychology, and contributed to flood relief efforts in 2022. She also qualified the CSS Special Competitive Examination in 2023. Through her work, she is committed to promoting resilience, raising public awareness, and fostering informed discourse by combining psychological insight with socio-political analysis.