Abstract:

Major aim of the critical pedagogy is to promote consciousness of freedom, civic empowerment and social responsibility among the students. Education system in Pakistan strengthens its foundations on a dominant religious ideology. The political history of the country reveals constitutional and un-constitutional interferences of several pressure groups in education related decisions. The scientific and liberal norms, resultantly, could not root in the higher education institutions of the country. The current inquiry investigates outcomes of the higher education system analyzing the prevalence of consciousness of freedom, civic empowerment and social responsibility among the university students in Pakistan. A sample of 800 university students was selected from four public sector universities studying in different under-graduate and post-graduate programs. A self-reported questionnaire based on different indicators of consciousness of freedom, civic empowerment and social responsibility was developed to gather data from the selected sample through multi-phase sampling techniques. The collected data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Findings demonstrate that the university students assume they are free, empowered and socially responsible. They however are unaware of the many social and cultural factors which diminish their liberties and empowerment and shape their sense of social responsibilities.

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