Muhammad Arshad
A little over a century ago, society was primarily agrarian, and the knowledge and skills required for daily survival were deeply embedded in everyday life. In these agrarian societies, children didn’t attend formal schools to learn; instead, they acquired essential skills naturally through observation and practice. A child accompanying their parents to the fields would learn the art of farming by watching and playing, often under the shade of a tree. This informal, organic form of apprenticeship was the foundation of learning, where skills for specialized tasks were absorbed through daily routines and experiences.
In this environment, the child learned not through lectures but through life itself. The skills needed for work were directly linked to the tasks performed in the home or on the farm. This practical approach sufficed when the demands of work were deeply tied to routine activities.
However, as society progressed, so did the nature of work. The Industrial Revolution marked a turning point, introducing new jobs that were not tied to the rhythms of daily life but instead required specialized knowledge and skills. These new roles could not be learned simply through observation. As a result, the informal, hands-on learning that had been sufficient in the past was no longer enough to meet the demands of this new era.
In response, formal education emerged as a necessity. Schools and universities transformed learning into a structured process, offering specialized knowledge to prepare individuals for the evolving workforce. Education, once an organic part of daily life, became an institution in its own right, and to this day, every child is required to go through a formal educational system.
This shift has not only shaped how we acquire knowledge but has also made education a significant economic sector worldwide. What began as a natural, community-based way of learning has now evolved into a global system that continues to evolve alongside the demands of modern society.
Today, however, we find ourselves at the edge of yet another transformation. The invention of internet in our generation is as revolutionary as the invention of wheel for early civilisations.In a way, we are returning once again to the self-learning age of the past, but with far greater freedom and possibilities.
The widespread internal availability and unlimited access to digital learning materials is redefining the way knowledge is acquired. Just as the child of the agrarian society learned by watching their parents in the fields, the child of today can now learn by sitting under the ceiling of their room.
Unlike the agrarian child, who learned only what their environment offered, the digital learner has the freedom to choose what to learn, guided by their interests and aspirations rather than the constraints of geography or tradition.A child in a small Pakistani village can learn advanced coding, 3D-design, or hard sciences from the comfort of his home. Modern education and specialised skillset once confined to prestigious institutions is now at our figure tips. In this new paradigm, learning is no longer confined to rigid curricula or limited by geographic or economic barriers.
As this trend gains momentum, we may witness a paradigm shift in education.In this new reality, formal education may no longer fully address the evolving needs of dynamic advancement.
The necessity of formal schooling may diminish for some, especially if the sole purpose is knowledge. The traditional centres of knowledge—schools, colleges and universities, no longer dictate what one should learn. But the shift provides freedom and enables a more personalised and adaptable approach to learning that aligns with individual aspirations and market demand.
The fields of the past have been replaced by digital landscapes, and the shade of the tree has transformed into the glow of a screen.This revival of self-learning empowers new generation that they can achieve mastery through independent study. Supported by the global repositories of knowledge available at their own ease. Now the challenge lies not in accessing knowledge but in identifying what to learn and how to apply it.
The writer is based in the UK and a PhD scholar at the University of Nottingham.
