January 08, 2007	Monday	Zilhaj 17, 1427

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ISLAMABAD, Jan 7: Education would serve its true purpose when the system and the teachers allow the students to think and question freely.

Vice-chancellor of the Punjab University Lt-Gen (retired) Arshad Mahmood presented this view in a talk on his experiences in higher education at the Allama Iqbal Open University over the weekend.

Universities are considered places where new ideas are created and students should be allowed to learn whatever subject they want to but within the bounds of their religious, social and cultural norms.

Besides teaching textbooks, students need to be taught at school and university levels to develop their thinking ability for a better understanding of various concepts.

“It gives really a bad taste to me whenever I visit a class room and see students sitting with long faces, hardly arguing with their teachers. And similarly, most teachers try to follow a set pattern of teaching, with the least involvement of students,” he observed.

“This should be changed,” said the retired general, asserting that the best way to develop the mental faculties of students is to let them form their own opinion “after reading more than one writer on a certain topic”.

That unfortunately was not the practice at the Punjab University, said the vice-chancellor presenting a case study of the Punjab University.

Gen Mahmood recalled “the mismanagement” in the university before he assumed charge and brought some order at the country’s oldest and biggest university.

“When I joined the university back in 1999, it was in total mess with Islami Jamiat Tulaba (IJT), the student wing of the Jamaat-i-Islami, virtually running the university’s affairs,” he said.

“They influenced the selection process of not only students but of teachers also. Nobody could dare to reject if an applicant had been recommended by the IJT. The university has dismissed 32 students responsible for such rackets recently and has embarked upon a zero-tolerance policy in this regard,” said the vice- chancellor who is serving a second extension in the office.

It was not an easy thing to do as they had significant support within the university administration. But after diagnosing the problem, “we did not look back and continued with our cleaning process”.

In response to a question asked by this reporter, the vice- chancellor said he was very much supportive of student unions in the educational institutions but without any patronage of political parties.

“There is nothing wrong to have student politics at an educational institution, but it should be within the boundary of that institution,” he said.

About the recent row over opening a department of musicology in his university, the vice-chancellor said some elements accused the university administration of moving towards westernisation and obscenity. “This is totally baseless”.

Recently some teachers went to the Lahore High Court against the semester system introduced at the university. “Thank God, the judiciary rejected their petition accepting the importance of the new examination system,” he said.

With the introduction of new examination system, students seem busier in their studies. Under the old annual system, they could prepare themselves for a selected number of questions at the end of the academic year and go through the examination easily.

Gen Mahmood also talked about other departments started by the university in the recent past. “We have the best DNA testing laboratory in the country which had effectively handled cases like the killing of the American journalist Daniel Pearl,” he said.

Realising the fact that 25 per cent of the country’s GDP comes from the agriculture sector, the university has set up separate departments of Mycology and Plant Pathology and Seed which are working on new seeds and various diseases of plants.

Another change the university is witnessing, the vice- chancellor noted that today 60 per cent students of the university are females and are outperforming male students in the exams.

Meanwhile, a meeting was held at the International Islamic University Islamabad to consult eminent educationists from all over the country on the restructuring of the programmes of the education department and the faculty of social sciences.

The scholars were from the leading universities like Aga Khan University, Karachi University, Allama Iqbal Open University, Peshawar University and International Islamic University, Islamabad.

Dr Khurram Hussain, a PhD scholar from the USA also participated in the discussion through video conferencing and gave very useful feedback on presentation. Dr Ijaz Shafi Gilani, Dean FSS chaired the session. It was decided that a consolidated report of the proceeding of the meeting will be prepared.

Dr Gilani termed the meeting as useful to establish relationship with other universities. The participants committed to remain in touch with the university and shared their experiences and knowledge as and when required.