It’s time to get rid of all our false hopes. Once thought of as places where people could think critically and get involved in their communities, the social science departments at our public universities have become empty bureaucracies that only make paper qualifications and leave people uninterested in learning. 

These departments are no longer places where people can think about public issues; instead, they are factories that turn out graduates who are obsessed with their CGPA, faculty who are disappointed, and eventually a workforce that has little connection to the fields they once wanted to study.

The damage is extensive and systemic. A never-ending cycle of term papers, assignments, presentations, and exam scripts that are all valued more for their format than their content, passed for academic engagement. 

From their first year on, students are taught to maximise performance rather than comprehension. Both explicitly and implicitly, they are taught that the goal of education is to earn grade points rather than to learn or think critically. This toxic culture produces graduates who have perfected the art of maximising their grades but are frequently ignorant of even the foundational texts of their field.

Faculty morale has hit rock bottom. Many professors, frustrated by poor administration and constant political meddling, have slowly stopped caring about their roles as teachers and mentors. 

A large number, overwhelmed by limited support and heavy workloads, now rely on old lecture notes and repetitive teaching methods. In these classrooms, real learning is replaced with robotic exchanges between teachers and students. 

What was once a space for thoughtful discussion now feels empty. Meaningful debates have faded, and research, if it happens at all, is often copied and pasted with little fresh insight. Academic success now relies less on genuine talent and more on mastering the silent art of fitting in and following the script. In such an atmosphere, creativity isn’t just ignored, it’s actively discouraged.

There are serious ramifications. The university starts to replicate mediocrity when CGPA is the only factor used for hiring, especially in the lecturer pipeline. To keep the system in place, the university hires people who are skilled at manipulating it. 

As a result, the university prepares a generation of future professors for survival rather than ideas. It should therefore not be surprising that a growing number of students view their discipline as a temporary burden to be endured while pursuing BCS or government job, rather than as a source of pride.

We must confront a difficult question: what is the purpose of these departments if they no longer serve the pursuit of knowledge? Are they to remain ceremonial halls where outdated syllabi are recited like scripture? If so, then the argument to shut them down gains unfortunate legitimacy. At least then we will stop pretending.

Yet a more productive alternative exists: reform. Social sciences demand institutional recognition of their unique nature, distinct from business studies and pure sciences. Unlike those fields, social sciences engage with complex, fluid human realities that cannot be measured by rigid metrics or standardised tests. Their teaching methods must foster critical thinking, open debate, and deep contextual understanding, not rote memorisation or assembly-line outputs.

Assessment should move beyond numbers and grades to include qualitative evaluations that reward originality, depth, and genuine intellectual engagement. Research in social sciences requires creativity, theoretical innovation, and sensitivity to social and political contexts; it cannot be reduced to mere repetition or box-ticking exercises.

To achieve this, recruitment must focus on intellectual integrity and teaching excellence, not just CGPA scores or political connections. Curricula must break free from bureaucratic stagnation and political interference, which often trap social sciences in outdated frameworks disconnected from real-world challenges.

Above all, universities must be restored as spaces where dissent and intellectual courage thrive—places where students and faculty can question power, challenge orthodoxies, and pursue truth without fear. 

This environment is essential for nurturing critical thinkers and socially engaged citizens. Without such deep reforms, social sciences will continue to deteriorate into hollow credential factories, denying society the vital insights these disciplines uniquely provide.

The continuation of the current model is not just unsustainable; it is harmful. It creates disillusioned citizens, cynical teachers, and hollow institutions. And while the statistics may show growing enrollment, the reality within the classroom tells a very different story: one of disengagement, anxiety, and quiet resignation.

The social sciences are not optional in a democracy. They are the disciplines that train us to understand power, question inequality, and imagine better futures. If we allow them to rot, we forfeit our capacity to critically shape the world. In that situation, it might be more honest to impose a ban rather than continue this ongoing charade.