Today I started looking for the word De-Educated in the dictionary, then I googled it. But ‘De-educated’ is not in the Oxford Dictionary. But it should be, because the word we don’t have perfectly defines the crisis.
To be de-educated is not to be uneducated or illiterate. It is totally different.
It is to be armed with a degree but disarmed of thought. It is to be schooled, but not awakened. It is to be shaped into a tool — for political rallies, religious extremism, or digital mobs — but never into a citizen.
This is not a failure of our education system. It is its intended, planned outcome, carefully engineered over decades — especially in Punjab.
Punjab today is littered with examples of youth who hold credentials but lack clarity, who pass exams but fail reality. The system has given them certificates but stolen their capacity for critical inquiry and analysis.
Why? Because educated minds interrogate, they question. They challenge unjust policies. They ask about economy, water, agriculture, drugs, governance, inequality. And this doesn’t suit the political order.
What suits them instead is a generation that can chant slogans without knowing their meaning, protest without context, and follow without reason, like sheep being herded.
Today’s true classrooms are no longer in schools — they are in our phones. Social media has become the ultimate teacher. Reels are the new mentors. Knowledge is not absorbed — it is swiped past. Substance is reduced to spectacle. In this 30-second universe, education is replaced with entertainment, and learning with loops of rage and distraction.
A de-educated mind is fertile ground for manipulation. It is the perfect raw material for political fodder — for dharnas, rallies, and even anti-social activity. Such minds are easily radicalised, quickly polarised, and perpetually mobilised. They are not seekers of truth; they are consumers of outrage.
And here lies a deeper danger — the de-educated are not humble. They are not aware of what they do not know. Instead, they are arrogant in their ignorance, convinced of their own wisdom because they mistake noise for knowledge, and opinion for fact. This false confidence is what makes them dangerous — to themselves and to the society they influence.
De-education is no longer just a condition — it has become a culture. A culture where noise is mistaken for knowledge, where those who shout the loudest are heard the most, and where loyalty to ideology replaces independent thought. In this culture, the ability to question is seen as disloyalty, and blind certainty is valued more than honest inquiry. It is a world where depth is dismissed, nuance is mocked, and superficial confidence crushes genuine understanding
The answer is not more schools, apps, or digital dashboards. The answer lies in restoring the original purpose of education — to liberate, not to domesticate and psychologically captivate; to spark curiosity, not conformity; to produce awareness, not arrogance.
Let “de-educated” enter the dictionary — not as a new word, but as a warning label on what we have become. And unless we act, we may soon have a society full of degrees, but empty of direction — proud, loud, and utterly lost.
Because the true crisis is not that we are uneducated.
It is that we are arrogantly, proudly, dangerously, de-educated.
Gurpartap Singh Mann, a former Member of Punjab Public Service Commission (2018–2024) and an ex-Chief General Manager of Punjab Infrastructure Development Board wherein he played a key role in infrastructure development through Private Public Partnerships.
