The Fourth Industrial Revolution and the Challenges Facing Education

According to Klaus Schwab, founder of the World Economic Forum, “The first industrial revolution gave birth to Britain’s economic and political power. 

The Fourth Industrial Revolution and the Challenges Facing Education

The Second Industrial Revolution gave birth to America’s global supremacy. Later, this supremacy was reinforced by the third computer-generated industrial revolution.”

Now that the fourth industrial revolution is advancing rapidly towards us, it is being speculated that everything will change after that. ? The answer is that our way of life will not remain the same. We will become something else; we will think in a different way, we will live in a different way.

We are in the early stages of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. The era that is uniting digital, physical and biological systems in a way that has never been seen before.

Virtual reality, augmented reality, artificial intelligence and robotics technology are rapidly changing the way we live and work. Not knowing automation will allow us to do something on our own or everything will happen automatically. It’s as if I’m wondering what the world will be like. ? After that, the economy will be molded in such a way that all ways of employment and livelihood will change at once.

In this process of change, the world has gone beyond three periods of the Industrial Revolution, because the first It was a time of mechanical change, in which things and their products were mechanized.

The second period was the production and abundance of mass production, while the third revolution was automation, after which we have now entered the fourth stage of industrial development.

The “Gig Economy” has given birth to new forms of relationship between employer and employee. Gig Economy is the name given to an economy in which employment opportunities are provided according to the nature and duration of work based on a project etc.

That is, a form of economy in which employment opportunities are temporary rather than traditional and permanent, which can now be accessed on the Internet, etc. It is as if now, instead of a fixed place, one can earn a living by working in complete isolation.

This is a very modern form of relationship between the worker and the client, in which the meeting between the parties is not even necessary. That is, a single performance by a composer or his group.

The modern-day laborer, since he or she can earn his/her living through single performances, has been given the name of “Gig Economy”. In this sense, it is to be hoped that in the future the Gig economy will be further molded.

With this new concept of employment, of course, the concept of education will also change drastically, so what we will learn after that, it will be necessary to keep pace with new technologies. ? Of course, we have now entered the age of acquiring or learning such sciences, where different disciplines will cross-disciplinary each other and will focus on personal and human skills.

Therefore, it is now imperative that the government and the private sector work together to achieve the “Future-fit-Education” that will be installed in the frame of the future. The present age is being called an age in which social and economic significance is undergoing a constant process of change.

Spontaneous advances in self-efficacy and artificial intelligence are affecting every aspect of life. This process of change and amazing change is becoming so common that people are no longer surprised to see even the most extraordinary.

Access to a variety of statistics and content has become much easier and more common. Almost every sector of the economy is affected by these technologies. All spheres and professions of life, including their expanses, seem to be in the grip of an astonishing advancement. Health, energy, finance, transportation and industry are all within its reach.

Experts say that just as the industrial revolutions of the past have benefited our lives with comforts and conveniences, so the fourth revolution of industry and craft is unfolding before us today.

There is no doubt that revolution does not rise suddenly from the darkness of night like the sun and appear on the horizon, just as the darkness of night turns into the light of day in a few hours. Until the revolution takes place with its omnipresence, our social, economic and societal life will continue to change slowly and gradually. The tip of the invention is to reshape everything with new carvings.

Those who have been listening to the revolution are predicting that these innovations will change the nature of our work in the future. Much is at stake because of this universal advancement in technology. Analysis and feedback from various sources are circulating.

In this process of change, education systems will have to adapt to new curricula and new structures. And this process will continue to happen simultaneously. According to a survey by the Organization for Economic Co-operative Development (OECD), 14% of jobs among its members will be highly self-employed. About 32% of jobs will change completely. And in recent times the economy has changed the traditional structure and style of work.

Adaptation to the changing conditions of the economy and society will be possible only by modernizing the education system, otherwise Asian and especially Muslim countries, which are already suffering from various crises, will lose jobs and youth. There will be more crises in terms of problems.

According to the Mckinsey Global Institute, 20 to 30 percent of the working class already enabled in the United States and EU member states. Technology and on-demand are engaged in creating autonomous jobs and this number is increasing day by day.

These changes and their statistics are a moment of reflection for us on how and on what basis we will have to adapt our education system and curriculum in the changing employment and economic situation in the future. Keeping an eye on future changes, People say that some new markets, new industries and jobs may be like this, which we cannot even imagine today.

Now that all of this is happening very fast, and at the same time this process of change is underway, it remains to be seen what possible changes we can make in the system and curriculum that Keep us in tune with modern requirements without cutting us off from our origins and keep us on the path of progress.

Many issues in this regard are so delicate that carelessness and carelessness can lead to dangerous consequences at the national level. In this regard, instead of blindly imitating, it will be necessary to work from the heart and look at all the aspects of good, bad, good and bad, profit and loss.

It is our national tragedy that the world’s sixth largest population, the only Muslim state with nuclear energy, and a country with more than 60% young population are still struggling with the basic problems of education. Even after 72 years, we have an illiterate population of about 50%, which our government is providing less than 2% of the gross national product in the education budget to make it employable. There is a well-known proverb that “time waits for no one”.

To address past shortcomings, on the one hand, we need to accelerate education and research, and on the other, we need to take new steps. Pakistan’s share in the world economy is 0.34%.

As a large population, the unskilled and skilled labor market at home and abroad was our greatest asset, facing severe challenges since the Fourth Industrial Revolution. With high-tech industries, robots and artificial intelligence, this labor market may no longer be able to meet the needs of the world. The fear is that such a large population will face even greater economic and educational challenges. Are we as a nation ready for this!!!

After the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the world will have to face a big human and even moral question whether to give the job to the machine or to the human being. Capitalist society, in every case, has its own interests in mind, even if it has to adopt some kind of brutal and ruthless economic policies, but a system based on high moral values must answer this question anyway. ?

It is as if after the Fourth Industrial Revolution we have to create new educational and economic frameworks as well as answer some new questions in the scientific, ideological and moral spheres. Hakim-ul-Ummah Allama Muhammad Iqbal had said this for such an astonishing and changing situation.

Originally published at Daily times