BRIEF STORY OF WHAT I LEARNED FROM 9 DIFFERENT EDUCATIONAL PLACES, I ATTENDED
Is it the reason for my being a loser in life or is it the reason which enabled me to understand a lot of life matters whether its emotions, human psychology, behaviors or leanings and inclinations?. Obviously it was not my choice, nor should it be. I realized and felt sad about it when I looked upon the life of my friends. Even my brother and sister. All of them went to the same school till their college or board exams of matriculation and intermediate. Then university and straight to a job which they are still doing for many many years. My experience was totally opposite. I was sent to more than 9 educational places. Even I could choose the last 2 or 3 but the initial 5 compelled me to go by the field or already set path. Before going to how it affected my life, let's check the places briefly I attended till the age of 39.
VILLAGE SCHOOL:
As far as i remember, I do not remember the exact age but maybe I was 3 or 4 when I was admitted to school in the village some 3,4 kilometers from our village. I was not attending school regularly due to being far or there was no pressure to go. My father was doing a job in a big city very far from the village. He visits a few weeks a year or 6 months. I remember the feeling of pressure when I was ordered to read the lesson and I could not. Slowly I learned to read. And just after a few months of school, we moved to Karachi.
GOVERNMENT SCHOOL IN KARACHI:
My father had a government job in Karachi. So he decided to move us there. It was not that motive but something happened like a fight between tribes or casts and all the people from the village migrated to some other places. Later they returned. We also went to a village on vacations. We have lands there. I was admitted to class 2. Government school was not considered good for education. The Main memory I can share is the teacher beat all of the class with a stick on hand a day before exams just to frighten us to prepare for exams.
SINDH MODEL SCHOOL:
When I completed class 5. We moved to another vicinity and my father changed my school from government school to a private school named Sindh model school where i was
As far as I remember, we moved to Karachi when I was admitted in class 5 which i had already passed. It was a good school. I was very happy with the friends I had. It was such a memorable time that I did not want to go home due to being happy with the friends doing jokes and talks etc.
CADET COLLEGE PETARO:
It was just after 2,3 years that my father asked me to prepare for the entrance test for cadet college. I passed the test and was admitted to class 8th which I already passed. The Schedule and routine in the college was strict. I can write a separate entry on my experience there. It was very good there; good food, good life routine, good learning stuff and good entertainment but I was fed up with punishments by the seniors and strict routine of running everyday. So I left it after a year and half. It can be said as my mistake but i was not capable of thinking for long term good for my life.
GULISTAN SCHOOL KARACHI:
After leaving cadet college, I had to continue education so my father was admitted to Gulistan School in SMCHS society, Karachi in class 9th. There are board exams for these 4 years. So for class 9th and 10 I studied in this school and for 11 and 12 in a college named Gulshan college.
GULSHAN COLLEGE:
I have not attended all the classes here, just a few but did full NCC (national Cadet Corps )training. It was a board exam so many students rely on notes, guess papers to pass the exam. It is pitiable in Pakistan that the majority just memorize the answers and write in the exam. So did I. I had no interest in Physics, Chemistry, Biology, or Mathematics. I was fond of books on history, literature, politics etc. In my previous school I enjoyed reading some subjects like social studies, English, Sindhi. Science subjects were interesting to me but in Pakistan those are not educated to just pass the exam, not to build pupil's interest to go through research etc. So I was caught in these subjects and wrote notes to memorize for exams. Then it became necessary for me to be admitted in Engineering for inter level and then in university in Textile Engineering even if I wished to study fine arts or literature.
MEHRAN UNIVERSITY OF ENGINEERING & TECHNOLOGY:
To get admission in this university, I had to pass the entrance test and for that I memorized a book of questions and answers named ECAT by locking myself in a room for 2 months. I memorized all the questions. This is the age if all energy supplied to any task in life, it is the best and prime age to crack all the difficulties in the way but my two months memorizing thousands of question worth nothing except getting admission in Textile Engineering, in which I could not do any progress rather I focused on what to present in university functions or events as a ‘One Man Show’ rather focus on the study and thesis for future jobs. I was just making comprehensive short listed notes and memorizing to pass the exams. This technique was not working for Engineering Drawing and Electronics, so I failed many times in these subjects and finally passed anyhow by practicing the numericals and equations. I was term-backed two times; firstly when I tried to kiss a girl persuaded and influenced by movies and second time when my attendance was not enough to progress in the next term or semester. I had a great time at university. My best friends were from Sindh university, which is for all other subjects than engineering. My closest friends were studying English Literature, Psychology and Social Science. My time was spent going to Sindh university library, reading novels and literature books rather than the library in Mehran university. I have unforgettable times in university in addition to most boring, depressive times. I intend to write about that time in my next writings.
WATERFORD INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY:
It took 5,6 years to secure a bachelor's degree in Textile Engineering from 1998 to 2003. I secured about 77% of marks in the final year and 66% overall for 4 years and luckily got the job of trainee engineer with a good salary of 7000 pkr compared to many others who were getting 5000 at entrance level. But I was not happy with my job due to the behavior of Managers towards me to teach me or let me learn and due to lack of my own interest, I also did not take any initiative to self learn the processes. So it just kept me busy with routine work of checking machines, making reports etc and eventually I left the job after 8,9 months. Then it was a period of doing many types of other jobs for different time lengths. It is also an interesting and tragic story of looking for different types of jobs, leaving them to get into business and then again trying some different types of jobs. I will write about it in my next blog. I did these types of jobs and a business until 2012 when I prepared to leave the country and was admitted to Waterford Institute of Technology college in Ireland. Again I was not free or entertained to study journalism or any arts subject but was bound to be admitted to the Engineering field and it was Masters of Innovative Technology Engineering. I was approached by some guys to leave the college, get admission in a cheaper college and do odd jobs to make money like many other Pakistanis do whose sole purpose is to settle . But I don't know why I continued studying hoping I will get a job after it. I had a very bad time putting my heart and soul or interest into studying and focusing on these subjects. I only loved entrepreneurship, in which I presented a comedy skit for a task to do. I was failing in subjects therefore, hardly passed without doing thesis and secured postgraduate diploma instead of masters. Even on that degree when I returned to Pakistan and was hyped to get job due to foreign degree, I failed to get job in Siemen, Textile or other companies rather end up as Distributors claim handler job in Zafa Pharmaceuticals.
HALMSTAD UNIVERSITY, SWEDEN:
Since I was regretting returning from Ireland, I prepared again to go abroad and got admission in Halmstad university in Sweden. This time I applied for a visa for my wife and children too. In Halmstad university, my subject was Industrial Management. I deliberately tried to get admission in this discipline to avoid Engineering subjects. I was again hopeful to do an internship in any company because of my good work of doing presentations and assignments but after just 3 months when my family came to Sweden, I had to engage in odd jobs to support me and my family and compelled to leave the studies after second term, even not completed the second semester. And due to visa issues I ended up leaving Sweden with my family.
So these were the 9 educational places I attended. The readers can assess how tragic, interesting and unfortunate or fortunate it was for me to pass through different educational places, ending up doing different types of jobs and still looking for career options at the age of 43. What I suffered from changing schools and colleges is a big gap regarding making friends and finalizing careers etc. that cannot be filled ever, if it is about making friends. Following are cons including these two importance aspect of my life:
When I was in the phase of adjusting with the environment of school, feeling comfortable with it, I was taken away from it and put into a new type of environment which influenced my psychological, behavioral and mental issues.
I do not have long-term or closed friendships. Even I am deprived of friends to whom I can talk regularly, to go with them for tours. Camping and adventuring with them is a luxury, but I was deprived of even having coffee or tea with people.
Changing institutes again and again did not let me choose a particular career. I was not in any decisive position to finalize my career and work for it. It results in making me always in survival mode, doing different types of odd jobs. It even not let me go to a bar to have a drink with someone I know or tea or coffee with a person I know. Making friends and enjoying life with them was impossible. Marriage and family can be said to be reasons to some extent but changing educational and place’s environments made it a mess from which it was difficult to choose a path and pursue it.
These are many other repercussions of not being let in one educational place till the end or for long term but above stated are the main and enough to make one a loser or different in life.
On the other hand, there are some pros, and here are these:
Meeting different types of people, experiencing different types of environments and many aspects which can make you mentally strong and not be taken away by particular thinking, mode or approach to life.
I experienced a different approach to education from each place I studied. I have noted what type of education is given in government schools, how much a private school is concerned about educating students, what is the strategy of cadet colleges for provision of education and training to its students and lastly how they treat.
I explored many types of educational and behavioral environments. It made me mentally strong to be adjusted in any type of environment. It enhanced my coping power to deal with stress, trauma and any type of anxiety. And I have seen different colors of life.
Having free time has become a positive phenomena for me to at least figure out somehow intending or planning what to do in my remaining life. One of which is to write all about my past experiences and opinion on subjects I passed through and intend to claim those moments I was deprived of. On the other hand it made me poorer when it was about feeding my family. But I am hopeful that maybe I will figure out some ways to make money and lead a life I want. We are waiting for visa and job permission but I promise that I will not leave the writing which I started. I request the readers to comment, though I will write all about my life experiences in coming blogs but readers can ask details in every blog. That will make it easy for me to write. Also I request readers to suggest. But I think one needs to know everything first. So please do not hesitate to ask and comment. Lastly I request readers to share this as much as they can. My purpose here is to express myself, talk about my opinion, perspective, talk about issues, show my work and more importantly make friends and engage with them as much as possible.
Thank You very much for reading.
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