| 08 October 2004 | Friday | 22 Shaban 1425 |
Edhi Foundation and CBR
US support to Israel
Medical students' enrolment
Twin cities' water supply
Of building dams & reviving KCR
Sialkot carnage and PTV
DHA schools & colleges
PTCL scheme
Teaching art
'World in arms'
Plots for officials
PTV licence draws
Mulk Raj Anand
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Prof Anita Ghulam Ali's letter "Improving public schools" (Sept 20) made disappointing reading. We all know about the chronically explained causes such as the shortage of funds and teachers, unequal placement of teachers, lack of school buildings and substandard textbooks.
But the question is: what did she do to improve public school education or, in her own words, "to bell the cat" when she was the education minister of Sindh or as managing director, Sindh Education Foundation (SEF)? One may also ask: how come the authorities in the early years after independence, when we had scarce resources, were able to launch model and pilot schools in the public sector while their successors ruined them and passed the responsibility on to the private sector?
For instance, the old Sindh Non-Recognized Educational Institutions Ordinance 1962, which provided for registration and control of the fee structure of private schools (though kept in abeyance for unknown reasons), was replaced overnight by the Private Educational Institutions (Regulations & Control) Ordinance 2002, under which the registering authority (government) was prevented from tampering with the fee structure of private institutions. The efforts of a provincial ombudsman to rein in these institutions were thus thwarted.
The education department's role in letting the public sector education rote appears to be unedifying. The harmful effects of its flawed policies and the lack of commitment are manifest in declining educational standards, rampant corruption and lack of patriotism among students of private institutions, which are affiliated with foreign universities of all credentials. It is necessary to identify those responsible for damaging education in Sindh.
And to make up for the shortage of teachers, buildings and equipment, we should bank upon our own resources and exploit them to the maximum. Sindh Education Minister Dr Hameeda Khuhro's plan to set up vigilance committees to improve the overall functioning of schools (and of colleges) and to ensure payment of salaries to teachers is commendable.
Also, as reported by Dawn on Sept 25, the minister told the Sindh Assembly that 7,000 teachers would be appointed after funds were released for the purpose. This will of course take time. Meanwhile, classrooms will remain empty.
I suggest that to overcome the shortage of both school and college teachers, the services of retired teachers should be availed of as a stop gap measure. Experienced retired teachers should be posted in institutions nearest their residences. They may be provided with a pick-and-drop facility and paid a reasonable honorarium.
Many school buildings in the province are said to be in a dilapidated condition. They can be maintained and utilized. Education can also be imparted in tents and under trees in parks.
Many schools in Sindh have been adopted by well-meaning individuals and organizations. There is also no dearth of philanthropists who would like to finance any scheme for the promotion of education. Private sector education should be duly encouraged in coordination with public sector education and not at the latter's cost.
MOHAMMAD ALEEM SHAIKH
Karachi
Edhi Foundation and CBR
The Central Board of Revenue has successfully epitomized the government. According to a report (Dawn, Oct 3), the CBR "...did not permit unconditional release of 112 vehicles the [Edhi] foundation imported from China for welfare work". With duties and taxes being imposed on them, the Edhi Foundation threatened to terminate its ambulance services.
Reading this article, I went on Yahoo.com and researched Edhi Foundation. And because I recently moved here, my understanding about government agencies is limited. I ran a search on the CBR and the government.
Having spent about three hours clicking to links and reading about Edhi, the government and the CBR, I came to the conclusion that the government in this country is irresponsible yet blessed.
A government by definition not only exercises authority over people, but also manages the affairs of a nation or state, through people and/or agencies. Our government does not manage affairs within its jurisdiction, nor does it exercise any authority.
Irresponsibility of the government and its agencies explains the existence of hungry families, unemployment, and the numerous articles about violent crimes, rising prices of food, the energy crisis, water shortages, diseases and faulty flyovers. I assume there is more glamour in expanding defence capabilities than there is in ensuring the fundamental right to safety and security and proper nourishment.
Blessed is our government because of the existence of citizens taking initiative in areas the government is less than enthusiastic about. Philanthropists, celebrities and organizations take up projects, organize and delegate, and contribute time, effort and money to assuage the plight that strikes our less fortunate brothers and sisters.
The government has been lucky because someone else is managing the affairs of the people at the most fundamental level. And it is irresponsible and callous if those who work for the people that societies are supposed to protect are harassed, as in the Edhi case.
The government has done more than just insult the very organization that supports our neediest population. It has shown its misanthropic attitude towards its people, and the repercussions of its lack of social responsibility will be suffered by all - the rich, the poor, the haves and the have-nots. More than an apology from the CBR and more than a handshake from the president are needed here.
MUNIZA AGHA
Karachi
US support to Israel
Mr Omar Kureishi has rightly said ("No matter who loses, Israel will win", Oct 5) that American foreign policy is very much tilted in favour of Israel. The rightwing lobby directly or indirectly controls the media in the US and Canada.
The media usually depicts Israel a victim and Muslims in general and Palestinians in particular as warmongers and monsters. Its propaganda is very sophisticated - so much so that listeners will never feel they are being brainwashed against a particular race or religion.
Its modus operandi is also very sophisticated. For example, Muslims here in Canada collected a fund for the treatment of an Afghan boy some time back. While reporting this news, a particular channel never mentioned Muslims in its report for the simple reason that doing so would attach a positive tag to them. They were just quoted as Canadians, but when it comes to negative things, Muslims and Islam are quoted more often.
By the same token, our political as well as religious leaders can be blamed for the present predicament of the Muslim world. Most Islamic countries are run by autocrats and dictators who are more interested in personal power than the welfare of the common people.
Our religious leaders are bent on imposing their narrow-minded dogmas on the masses. This narrow-mindedness has cost Muslims a lot in terms of social progress. They consider democracy anti-Islam and secular education at best useless and at worst a sin.
Most of the problems of the Muslim world are of its own making. Some Islamic societies even approve of the subjugation of women in the name of religion. Israel has a positive side in that it is a democracy and its judiciary is independent.
But look at the Muslim countries, where corruption is rampant, dictators and kings are all around and the judiciary is suppressed. We cannot solve our problem unless we become equipped with education and freedom with a positive approach towards the whole world.
SHAKEEL NIZAMANI
Toronto, M1L., Canada
Medical students' enrolment
This refers to the Dawn report (Oct 3) about a disagreement between the vice- chancellors of the Dow University of Health Sciences (DUHS) and Karachi University (KU) over transfer to the DUHS of about 3,000 medical students who got themselves enrolled with the KU three years back.
I would like to know how the DUHS will justify transfer of these students, considering the expenditure that this move will incur both in terms of finance and loss of man hours. Secondly, what will be gained in the end from this exercise? Is this just being done to increase the number of enrolments at the DUHS?
When they enrolled three years back, the students selected the Dow Medical College because of its affiliation with Karachi University - a large, well-known and well-established university.
Transferring them to the DUHS (still an unknown and unranked university) will be an injustice to them. The DUHS will take years to gain the reputation of the KU. It is easy to establish universities in this era when the establishment of universities seems to be the primary objective of the government.
Instead of making universities cover broad areas of research and providing them with sufficient funding to spur research, our government is bent on dividing them into so many specialized fields that even the legitimacy of calling them universities can be questioned.
While the easy part is setting up a university such as in the case of the so-called health universities, the hard part is getting them working and acquiring a reputation for learning and scholarship. Only time will tell how much is gained from splitting up a well-known university to form a new one.
ADEEL NAFIS
Singapore
Twin cities' water supply
It does not require a foreign consultant to plan a proper water supply for Islamabad and Rawalpindi. Neither World Bank nor Asian Development Bank financing is necessary to implement a viable water supply scheme for the twin cities that are growing very fast and, unless immediate attention is given, a serious water shortage seems imminent.
I have not received a single drop of water from the CDA connection this entire calendar year. I live in House 3, St-47, Sector F- 7/1 of Islamabad and want to make it clear that the CDA revenue department charges me every quarter for not supplying water.
I have been paying these bills promptly and regularly. Sometimes I feel that if quick justice was available, I should have tried to sue the CDA administration. Some seven years back I could see this situation developing. I dug a tubewell for my house on which I am solely dependent now for water.
According to one estimate, 30 per cent of the water supply is coming from underground water-bearing strata. We do not know how much and from where the recharging of ground water is taking place.
A study could possibly be carried out by employing local engineers, meteorologists, hydrologists, geologists, seismologists and others. The expenses of this study should be borne by the beneficiaries and not by the tax payers in general. Will somebody in authority have pity on us?
ARIF QAMAR KHAN
Islamabad
Of building dams & reviving KCR
The president's training and service in the armed forces must have qualified him to talk about many of the subjects he refers to in almost every speech and interview, but not about the two issues which appear to have become a passion with him - restarting KCR and building dams, both high and low. These require not only sound knowledge of engineering but also vast practical experience in the field.
I have practical experience of construction of rail lines in both the then East Pakistan and here in this area, including the Sylhet-Chhatlak section on the right bank of the river Surma in the East in the shadow of the Khasi Hills and Cherrapunji, the wettest place in the world. It is perhaps the most curved railway in plains in the world. It was completed in 1954.
My assignment in present-day Pakistan was the survey and construction of the first 40 miles of the Kashmor-D.G. Khan section, Mazarihand, in 1952. Although Mithinkot was beyond my charge, it is on the railway map today.
In 1960 I opposed the KCR project on sound engineering grounds, keeping in view the future growth of the city. I then considered it, and still do, a crime against the city and the nation. However, the resources already invested in it can and must be utilized.
I was directly concerned with Phase II of the project in 1970, from Wazir Mansion Station to Karachi city. Only this length must be retained to serve and connect these two stations which should deal only with goods traffic for the city and to and from the port after connecting it with the double line of the northern bypass railway to Port Qasim.
The rest should be dismantled immediately and converted initially into an expressway for heavy road traffic and then for the city's mass transit system, along with the length of the main line between Drigh Road Station and Daud Centre.
Railway consultants from China should first construct a high-speed passenger terminal, as was done in Beijing in 1950, at the site of the Faisal airbase of World War II.
Before the president takes any firm decision on the construction of additional dams, he is requested to read two books "Cadillac Desert (the American west and its disappearing water) by Mare Reisner and A River Lost (the life and death of the Columbia-Snake river system) by Blaince Yarden on dam construction in the US, a country with the maximum number of dams in the world, and data about floods in Pakistan, especially the report "60 pc water shortage feared" (Dawn, Aug 25). The country needs rainfall, not dams.
H.A. HAJI
Karachi
Sialkot carnage and PTV
Most people, especially in rural areas where cable TV is not yet available, rely on PTV for acquiring information and news. But the policy of the state-controlled TV about covering important events is pathetic. For example, it did not air as breaking news the imambargah bomb blast in Sialkot. One wonders why it downplays important events like this.
Does the government think that it can hide its failure in maintaining law and order in the country by downplaying incidents on the state electronic media? PTV's coverage of the cyclone that hit the coastal areas was also below par. It should have kept the people living in the coastal areas updated about the cyclone.
BEENISH KHAN
Karachi
DHA schools & colleges
For the last few weeks, DHA schools and colleges are opening on Saturdays according to a decision of the DHA management. It seems unnecessary to call students on Saturdays as DHA students have been producing good results for the last many years.
If students had not been given good results, they would have accepted the decision to improve their performance, but when they are already doing well, it is not good for them to force them to attend school on Saturdays.
SHAIKH MUHAMMAD IQBAL
Karachi
PTCL scheme
The PTCL easy scheme is in fact quite complicated. First, you have to dial an access number, listen to an unnecessary message and then dial the number with the city code. Again, a useless announcement comes on and the number is connected.
It cannot be used for Internet and fax because there is no dial tone due to the announcements. The PTCL should make connectivity similar to post paid and mobile phones. Internet and fax should be provided for.
NAHEED IQBAL
Karachi
Teaching art
I agree with the proposal made by Ms Kharunissa Zafar and Mr Khalil Zafar to include art as a compulsory subject in schools (Dawn, Sept 26). In fact, for the last 12 or so years I have been pleading through various forums, including the media, for starting teaching art as a subject from the primary level up to higher studies.
It is necessary for any society or nation to promote art and culture in order to build its identity. To achieve this objective, we also need to train good art teachers for schools and colleges.
AFTAB ZAFAR
Chairman, Pakistan Art Institute, Karachi
'World in arms'
In his presidential address on April 16, 1953, US president Dwight D. Eisenhower said: "Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.
This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its labourers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children... This is not a way of life at all, in any true sense. Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron."
This is food for thought for Bush and Kerry in particular and all those who believe in war as a policy.
MIR TABASSUM MAIRAJ
Islamabad
Plots for officials
It is indeed a relief to read in this newspaper that the Punjab government has taken notice of an advertisement for a housing society where plots have been offered to 750 state functionaries/decision-makers, including judges.
The Punjab local government secretary has voiced his concern and urged the DMG association to take serious notice of this embarrassment inflicted on the civil servants of the country. But I wish the Supreme Court had taken notice of this as, contrary to all social and legal norms and all existing international moral standards (Islamic and un-Islamic), the housing society has tried to drag judges into the scheme.
SALEEM A. SETHI
Islamabad
PTV licence draws
Ptv announced a few months back that it would hold 'licence to win' lucky draws every month. The first mega draw was held on August 14 with great fanfare, and the results were published in newspapers on August 19.
So far, we have heard nothing about the holding of the second draw although the current month is about to end. Will PTV let us know when the second draw will be held and when its results will be published?
A. AHMED
Lahore
Mulk Raj Anand
Dr Mulk Raj Anand, who hailed from Peshawar, was one of the great English writers of the subcontinent. He waged a war for the downtrodden and low-caste people in a way that few writers had done before him.
The story of a teenager, unfolded in his famous novel Coolie, is masterly and a vivid example of his concern for the poor. He died at the ripe age of 98, yet his death will be lamented by his countless readers both in India and in Pakistan.
M. SHAFIQUE AHMED
Karachi
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