Education on TV

THE announcement by the minister for information and technology that the government plans to introduce two round-the-clock satellite channels devoted entirely to educational programmes deserves to be welcomed. He said that infrastructure is being developed to bring these two channels to viewers in the near future. Given the fact that only a couple of foreign satellite channels broadcast educational programmes, fruition of the promised initiative could prove to be very useful in terms of enhancing literacy levels and spread of knowledge and information in the country. Once these channels are operational, the government could also consider allowing the private sector to compete for airtime. The reason for this is that privately produced programmes, especially those with some kind of educational or instructional value, are generally better produced and less prone to being perceived as projecting the official line on issues and problems of academic significance.

Accolades for the proposal aside, one hopes that the content of the programmes to be broadcast on these channels will be such that those interested in furthering their knowledge and understanding will actually want to watch them. The millions spent on bringing the channels on air will be wasted unless the shows cater to the innate inquisitive nature of people, especially the youth. To be successful, much of the programming will have to be indigenous so that viewers can more readily relate to it. However, shows from channels like Discovery and National Geographic could be dubbed in Urdu and shown, but it should be made certain that these are recent and topical, and not the decades-old documentaries, with awful dubbing, that PTV usually broadcasts. Purely pedagogical programmes are bound to become boring because of too much of sermonizing. To generate interest among viewers, it will be necessary to have shows on all kinds of topics — from, say, travel and archaeology, to analysis of events in our history and drama. This brings to the fore the other key concern regarding the success of such a proposal: whether our planners and producers have the originality and creativity required to make such programmes a success.

Making local govt. work

THINGS between the Sindh government and the Karachi district city government took a turn for the worse on Tuesday when the provincial government arbitrarily transferred key officials serving in the city administration. The Karachi nazim went on record saying that his government was determined to work for the betterment of the city despite the unhelpful attitude of the provincial government which has increased in recent weeks. This is not fair given that the provincial government is supposed to play the role of a facilitator under the devolution plan that brought in the local government system in August 2001. Relations between the provincial government and the city government began to develop strains soon after the present elected government took charge after last year’s general election. Differences in political outlook and orientation between the two sides are understandable, as the city government largely comprises deputies sympathetic to those occupying the opposition benches in the Sindh assembly. But this is no reason for the provincial government to try to obstruct or undermine the city government. Both are elected bodies in their own rights and should learn to respect each other’s rights, responsibilities and prerogatives and have a proper working relationship.

Since its inception 18 months ago, the city government has been running the civic affairs of Karachi’s 18 towns in a fairly smooth and efficient manner. It has helped ease traffic congestion at key crossroads in the city by means of traffic engineering, building and redesigning roundabouts and constructing roads and generally done a good job of civic management. Despite his political background, the city nazim has not indulged in partisan politics and his government’s record in power has been fairly admirable. The Sindh government would do well to help rather than hinder the process.

Granted that the devolution of power plan, which brought in the local governments at the district, city, town and union council levels, has some flaws. To start with, the local bodies’ elections were held on a non-party basis, which created an anomaly at the grassroots level. Elections to higher political institutions — the provincial and national assemblies, which represent the upper tiers of the political institutional hierarchy — were held on a party basis. Logically, the process of devolving power should have started from top downwards, with the federal government devolving authority to the provincial government and the provincial government in turn transferring powers to the institutions of local government. The actual process of the federal government devolving power directly to the local bodies provides no mechanism for coordination between the local institutions and the provincial government. This is one serious flaw in the system that must be corrected.

But until that happens, the provinces should be able to provide the help and assistance that the local governments need to function and discharge their duties properly. In the case of the district city governments, the plethora of urban problems that these are up against, they require a sympathetic understanding on the part of the provinces — not arm twisting and interference by them or their bureaucrats. The city governments of Lahore, Peshawar and Quetta are said to be getting the helping hand they need to discharge their responsibilities from the respective provincial governments. In this regard, the Sindh government can learn a lesson or two from the other provinces. The city government of Karachi must not be allowed to fail. Karachi has a disproportionate number of long-standing urban problems that need to be resolved, not compounded. For this, the city government must not be made handicapped for reasons that have their basis in political spite and resentment.

Better eye care

STATISTICS regarding eye impairments in Pakistan put the number of blind people in the country at 2.3 million. Another 3.2 million can see from one eye only and more than double that number have other impairments. What is more worrying is that an increasing number of people are believed to be losing eyesight because of various diseases, birth defects and accidents every year. Doctors say that patients with genetically transmitted eye diseases are not easy to cure. Similarly, those with complications involving optical nerves have scant hope of recovery. The good news, however, is that a number of eye diseases are preventable and curable. These include glaucoma and cataract, which occur in middle or old age, but are going untreated owing to low public awareness and inadequate eye-care facilities in the country.

Free eye camps for cataract surgery are set up from time to time to treat villagers in the remote areas. But these are not enough. Proper planning and initiatives are required for the prevention and treatment of visual impairment. This means setting up more eye-care facilities to make treatment available on a larger scale. Improvement in the treatment of eye diseases will also depend on the quality of research and training and availability of drugs and lenses as part of a drive to combat visual impairment. Today, even where treatment is available, thousands of patients continue to suffer because of a shortage of corneas, most of which are imported from Sri Lanka. The government could bring new hope to cornea transplant patients if it could help promote eye donation. There is also need for focussing attention on the most vulnerable groups like diabetics, and people from lower income groups who live under unhygienic conditions.