The 97th radio program as part of the Center for Research and Security Studies’ (CRSS) counter-radicalization initiative Ulasi Taroon (Social Cohesion) was aired on December 06, 2019, on the topic of “Youth Development and Critical Thinking”.
The guests were of the view that developing critical thinking skills of youth is the fundamental requirement for their role in the national development.
The first guest on show, Mr. Amjad Hussain, Lecturer, Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies, University of Peshawar opined that critical thinking is such a skill through which we can distinguish between good and bad and have an informed opinion. It is the most important skill that the young people can ever have as it allows them to deal with formidable real life challenges; having been capable of complex problem solving. The educational institutions should be cognizant of this critical need and inculcate in their teaching methods as well, to create a critical mass of youth. Lack of critical thinking is poisonous to the system and highly conducive to conflicts and disintegration.
Our students should be encouraged to ask questions going beyond the ‘what’ aspect of the issues; asking and analyzing through ‘how’ and ‘why’ aspects. The learning resulting from this process will help them develop critical thinking skills and deal with the complex problems in real life situations.
Critical thinking is one of the most misunderstood concepts and it should not be confused with criticism. We should also promote the culture of dialogue – embedded in the democratic values – in the society.
The second guest on show, Ms. Umaima Zia, a student of International Relations from University of Peshawar, noted that critical thinking is as much an important soft skill as networking, communication, decision making, social intelligence and conflict management. Diversity is the beauty of any society that – if accepted and celebrated – nurtures critical thinking, whereas monotony in the society discourages critical mindsets. Critical thinking becomes much more important in this information age where there is a lot of knowledge and information available and users need capability to check its authenticity.
The third guest on phone, Mr. Bakht Zaman Yousufzai, from the Department of Journalism, University of Peshawar, noted that the critical thinking helps analyzing things not on the basis of already constructed stereotypical ideas but developing the objective understanding, unlearning personal biases and creating new knowledge.
About Ulasi Taroon
Ulasi Taroon is a counter radicalization initiative of Center for Research and Security Studies that aims to address the radicalization challenges, extremist ideologies and foster social cohesion through a discourse anchored in the core constitutional values which are fundamentally essential prerequisites for social peace and harmony. The endeavor aims to cultivate and sensitize the people of KP in the core values in the Pakistani constitution and our social contract. It’s an attempt to highlight the criticality of abiding by these ideals – such as adherence to rule of law, primacy and sanctity of constitution, equal citizenry, responsible citizenship, respect for fundamental human rights, tolerance for diversity and different opinions, inclusive democracy and good governance – as a measure of strengthening social cohesion and promoting peaceful co-existence.