| October 28, 2006 | Saturday | Shawwal 4, 1427 |
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Education policies
KU supplementary exams
Mixing cricket and religion
The death of ideas
Orhan Pamuk is a real winner
Faulty auto import policy
Ideology question
Nobel Peace prize
Driving licence
Readers are requested to restrict their comments to a maximum of 400 words. We reserve the right to edit letters for reasons of clarity and space. Letters, including those by e-mail, should carry the complete postal address of the sender. The views expressed in these columns do not necessarily reflect the views of the newspaper.—Editor
MR Anwar Syed’s article, ‘Unhappy state of teaching’ (Oct 15), is quite instructive. He has rightly categorised the stages, e.g., when a teacher at elementary school, playing the role of a surrogate parent, communicates basic information and skills to his student in a compassionate manner, inculcating in him the lasting bond and affection; then as a teacher at higher school level, he, however, faces a grown-up person having intrinsic physical tendency to rebel and fight back, and thus needs tactful handling so as to harness his centrifugal energies fruitfully.
It is at the college and university level when a student’s usefulness is finally determined, but it solely depends on the kind and the way instructions he gets. Here the role of a good teacher is to create in a student the ability of how to think and not just what to think.
The details of high amount of pays and perquisites paid by some developed countries to their teachers only reflect awareness and the recognition about the decisive role a teacher plays in making an individual a useful citizen of society. However, while comparing the emoluments paid to the teachers in India and Pakistan, the writer has wrongly assumed that salaries paid to their Pakistani counterpart are “generally higher than those in India”.
In order to examine this issue we have to analyse the overall structure of education operating in the country. At the time of independence education was the sole prerogative of the strong public-owned sector, barring a small number of private-sector schools, with some missionary institutions. This system continued with no value addition till entire education was nationalised by the government in the early 1970s, not realising the enormity of the task.
This caused a serious setback to the already weakening institutions. The process of nationalisation, however, was reversed in the early 1980s with lax regulatory system, resulting in mushroom growth of private institutions.
Thus by now in the private sector a quite sizable number of schools, colleges and universities are imparting education and some of them are undoubtedly maintaining the best standards.
The public sector institutions because of the low priority accorded to education are doing the worst. Not only existing infrastructure is totally ruined but the salary paid to the teacher also remains extremely low. The primary teacher, according to scale starting from BS-5, gets not more than Rs5,000 a month. Similarly, a teacher at high school and college level gets emoluments according to pay-scales not commensurate with market-based salaries.
Moreover, the important aspect is not the amount but the purchasing power of the rupee. Thus, even otherwise, when compared, salary in terms of Pakistan rupee, a teacher in India is getting qualitatively 50 per cent more.
Because of these iniquities there are ghost school and ghost teacher phenomena common nowadays. The low wages paid by the government also discouraged promising students from adopting teaching as a profession. The worst sufferers in the present scenario are rural areas catering for 65 per cent of the population with lowest of facilities.
In some recognised private-sector institutions, i.e., universities where competition is tough, teachers are paid better perquisites. But here too more harm is inflicted because the government’s abdication of its responsibility in favour of the private sector, coupled with the negligent regulatory system, the latter are charging fabulous fees that could be affordable by only the rich few, thereby creating a privileged class in the country.
The syllabus, the attire, the environment and the mode of instructions in these expensive institutions are producing a class whose destination is beyond the sea and not the native land.
The dream of better education and to all will, thus, remain elusive unless enough funds are set apart so as to pay the teachers adequate salaries to satisfy his both ends and develop facilities such as proper buildings, furniture, libraries and scientific laboratories. Equally important is to update the curriculum by removing obscurantist material and anomalies from the course and enforce strict regulatory system to make the facilities of private institutions available to all.
MANZOOR H. KURESHI
Karachi
THE Pakistan army runs various educational institutions throughout the country. There is (in fact, was) a general impression that the schools run by the defenders of the frontiers are the best. That’s what my family thought when my nephews and nieces were admitted to an army-run school in Quetta. The city, unfortunately, has less than few options for educating the folks on whom our future depends. We did not find any difference in the standard of education, except that the fees were much higher than the regular private schools.
Of late the army board has decided to change the pattern of examination. Recently the results were announced and approximately 70 to 80 per cent of students failed badly. The reason being the format of the examination was changed, and the children were unfamiliar with the way the examinations would be taken. The change was based on the decision of higher-ups in Islamabad.
This change has shocked parents and children. The authorities need to realise that any change in a running system should be brought in gradually. I don’t have any disagreement with the format of the examination or the syllabus. The parents appreciate that it was better than the previous one, but the way it was introduced and implemented across the classes.
I don’t think that there will be any disagreement that the education system in the country is getting worse. It doesn’t promote critical thinking in children, especially in Quetta where there is lack of good teachers. Children are used to memorising and responding with specific answers to questions. They were not able to adapt to the new pattern of examination.
The educators should take the parents and teachers into confidence, as during discussions the teachers said that they were just following instructions and were unable to help. There is a need to analyse the situation carefully and make changes according to areas, as Quetta is different from any city in Punjab in many ways.
MOHAMMAD IMRAN KHAN
Baltimore, USA
THE University of Karachi has decided to discontinue the holding of supplementary examinations for the BA (pass) and BCom students.
Degree supplementary examinations were resumed a couple of years ago, after having remained suspended by the Karachi University for about a decade.
Dr Akhlaq Ahmed, the pro-vice chancellor of Karachi University, has said that “to facilitate regular examinations of the KU and the affiliated colleges in a smooth manner, the supplementary examinations for degree class students would no more take place in future”.
He said that “the number of students in the affiliated colleges had increased rapidly over the years and as such the KU has to conduct examinations of about 100,000 students. In view of all this, it was decided that holding of supplementary examinations should be discontinued.”
This is sad news. It will create an negative impact on the lives of those students who want to qualify for a graduate degree, which is a prerequisite for getting into a respectable job, whether in the government service or in a private organisation.
Students who will not clear all papers in one annual examination will have to wait until the date of the next annual examinations are announced, and that takes place after a year when one full academic session is over.
To overcome the heavy workload, the KU should recruit more staff to help the regular staff in organising and dispatching admit cards and mark-sheets to the degree class students. The university should also construct a separate building on its campus for the students appearing in the supplementary examinations.
As far as the dates of annual and supplementary examinations are concerned, these can be fixed in a manner that students who fail in the annual examinations should be able to appear in the supplementary examinations, within the same academic year, so that their valuable time should be saved.
SYED A. MATEEN
Karachi
IN the 1990s Dr Nasim Ashraf, the new PCB chairman, was very popular among the Saudi Wahabi/Salafi circle (extremists by present standards) in the masjid of Eugene, Oregon.
He used to invite almost the entire masjid-going community to his home in Roseburg for Iftar dinner once in the month of Ramazan. Iftar dinner was followed by some religious discussion and Salat-i-Taraweeh in his home.
I have personally attended two such Iftar dinners in Dr Ashraf’s home. During that time he was also supporting the Mujahideen in Afghanistan. What a metamorphosis. Machiavelli must be proud of him.
FIDA MOHAMMAD
Associate Professor, State University of New York, USA
I MUST congratulate Dr Ashraf who has boldly brought out in the open what majority of Pakistani cricket fans feel about keeping cricket separate from one’s religious beliefs. It is very awkward, and at times embarrassing, to hear captain Inzamam giving rhetorical interviews at the end of a match, watched by millions of people of different faiths.
If one starts using sports-related interviews to propagate their religious ideas, then sports events will lose their importance. This trend by Inzamam covers up the deficiencies, incompetence and bad performances of the team and players. In any case, I am sure the international audience watching the interviews is more interested in the technical aspect of the event.
The game of cricket should be played in true spirit of a game. The Bangladeshi team members are also Muslims, so what’s wrong with us?
KHALID HAMEED
Karachi
THIS has reference to ‘The death of ideas’ by Ayaz Amir (Oct 20). At the end of the article he writes: “We should remember that civilian governments are insecure and vulnerable and, therefore, relatively easy to remove and replace. But with a military government we are stuck”.
This reminds me of a very interesting incident that happened about 30 years ago. As a very young officer, I often drove my official vehicle as my driver was a bit shaky.
He was made to sit next to me in the passenger seat. After some time my boss came to know of this.
He asked me to stop the practice and advised that “when the driver makes any mistake or speeds, you can always check him, but if you are doing the same, he would not check you’. He was very right.
MIR MOATAZID
Karachi
THE recent announcement declaring Orhan Pamuk, the Turkish novelist, as the winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature comes as no surprise to people familiar with the work of this peerless master of modern fiction, but the questions being raised about his credentials are bewildering. In bestowing the Nobel prize on Pamuk, the Academy has given due recognition to a formidable figure on the worldwide literary scene.
In its previous track record, the Academy had ignored a number of significant figures, a recent example being Indonesian novelist Pramoedya Ananta Toer, and honoured some rather dubious figures. While it is possible, indeed likely, that the Academy and western media may have become attracted to Pamuk because of his views, but the fact remains that he is a great imaginative writer.
The letter writer’s questioning of Pamuk’s political stance (Oct 16) and considering this to be the real reason behind the world’s best known literary award is based, at best, simply on unfamiliarity with the work of this superb writer.
The writer also contradicted himself. If it was only the expression of sympathetic feelings for the Kurds counted as a qualifier, then Yashar Kemal would have bagged the prestigious honour decades ago. There is no doubt that Yashar Kemal is a major novelist of an international calibre and deserves to be better known here too but how does this diminish Pamuk’s worth as a novelist?
The writer considers that Snow is the only important novel by Pamuk, I find him in the enviable state that he is yet to discover for the first time and savour some of the remarkable novels by this great fabulist; and I can mention the ones I have been able to read.
While Snow is the only one of his novels to be openly political in the contemporary sense, his masterpiece is My Name Is Red, a novel on a grand scale, which is a murder story, a historical study and reflection on the Ottoman Empire. The Black Book and A New Life are comparable with the works of the great European writers, while Istanbul is a beautiful evocation of the writer’s native city. If only somebody could write in a similar vein about Karachi or Lahore.
It is said that all of his books have not as yet been translated into English but at least five of his important books are available. So there is much more of Pamuk to look forward to.
Pamuk is specially relevant to us because of the similarities with the society he describes, and he does this with a great sense of the novelist’s responsibility of being a witness to his age. The word has even reached the otherwise insulated Urdu literary world too. With an enthusiasm which is almost infective, Fehmida Riaz wrote an appreciative essay to introduce his work, Professor Umar Memon has translated one of his novels and Farooq Sarwar has penned an appreciation of his work which has a special appeal to us. Orhan Pamuk is to be read to be believed, he cannot and should not be dismissed without being read.
ASIF FARRUKHI
Karachi
THIS has reference to the news item (Oct 18) regarding government officials misusing imported luxury vehicles at government expense. It is a well-recognised truth that bureaucrats from customs and income-tax departments can devour taxpayers’ money at their will. The government’s overly liberal policy regarding auto import seems to be one of the main causes why these embezzlements occur. After all, inconsistent auto imports policy is only making way for such practices to happen even more often.
Rather than imposing heavy tariff barriers on the import of cars and making its officials use locally produced vehicles, through such policies the government is encouraging lavish culture of high-spending on luxurious items. Officials, therefore, are using the country’s hard-earned foreign exchange for their vested interests and personal luxury.
It seems these liberal import policies are implemented for the good of the elite, at the cost of immeasurable damage to the local industry, national economy and the working middle class.
The import of luxury cars should be banned with immediate effect. The government should provide support to local auto manufacturers by asking them to provide products needed by each customer category. Such measures can drastically help in creating jobs, reducing the import influx and reduction of ever increasing overall trade gap.
YAQUB HASHIMI
Karachi
MR Hairat has correctly pointed out (letter, Oct 23) that Muslim clerics had opposed the creation of Jinnah’s Pakistan. Even at that time they had wanted Pakistan, if it came into being, to be a theocratic state with Islamic laws. As this was vehemently opposed by M. Jinnah, the clerics supported Congress against the Muslim League on the question of Pakistan.
The Muslims of pre-partitioned India voted for Jinnah’s Pakistan, and not for the mullah’s Pakistan. After the establishment of Pakistan the mullah changed his strategy and raised the slogan ‘Pakistan ka matlab kya.... la Illaha illallah’. They are trying to hoodwink the simple Muslims of Pakistan, as if in a secular Pakistan the religion of Islam is endangered. I agree with Mr Hairat that the word ‘Islamic’ should be deleted from the Constitution of Pakistan.
HASAN NAQVI
Maryland, USA
I FEEL proud that a Muslim economist and banker of Bangladesh, Professor Muhammad Yunus, has won the Nobel Prize for Peace. His remarkable creation in the service of the poor in Bangladesh, the Grameen Bank is a legend.
I recall the achievements of another eminent Bengali economist, Dr Mahbubul Haq, who, as the finance minister of Pakistan, many years ago tried to revolutionise the economic system in Pakistan and give the common masses a better life.
I appeal to the OIC to invite Prof Yunus to tour some Muslim countries under its aegis, deliver lectures at universities, etc., on how to banish poverty in the Muslim world.
TV networks in OIC countries should telecast an informative programme on the Grameen Bank and suggest how this useful project in the line of poverty alleviation can be replicated in the poor countries of the Muslim world.
Saarc countries should also honour Prof Yunus and his Grameen Bank and let their people know more about the Grameen Bank. In fact, books on economics taught in educational institutions of Saarc countries should have a chapter on the Grameen Bank and its creator.
QUTUBUDDIN AZIZ
Karachi
I AM a resident of Lahore. My driving licence (computerised) was made in Lahore about six years back. It was renewed three years back while I was visiting Lahore.
Now that I have been residing in Karachi for over three years, I wanted to get the licence renewed in Karachi. However, I was in for a surprise when I was informed by the DSP (licence) office that I cannot get it renewed at Karachi, nor can I get a new one made here. I would have to make a learner’s licence and then wait for about six weeks to get a licence issued in Karachi.
I thought that with all our data computerised by Nadra, and even the driving data at Lahore being computerised, the data would be shared and used all over the country. Is the data only used to find culprits but not to make life easier for the common people?
Another point is that no forms were available at the licence office, while they were abundantly available outside — for a fee, of course.
I would request the IGs of all the four provinces to resolve these issues for the convenience of the public.
M. KHALID MIR
Karachi
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