EACH year competitions including recitation, Naat, debate, speech, essay writing are organised at tehsil and district levels to provide a platform for the budding students.

The winners from each district compete at divisional levels and by beating their opponents make their way to provincial level competitions. A huge investment in terms of time, commitment and hard work both on the part of students and their teachers make this arduous journey end pleasantly for some in the form of victory.

Despite playing a constructive role in the personality development of students, these competitions also result in loss of studies. These competitions are organised either in February or March, the peak time of academic activities when students are busy in in the form of pre-board, pre-university examinations and syllabus completion, and revisions.

Students at public sector colleges already suffer owing to the non-availability of regular teachers and the late appointments of college interns. They face a further loss of studies because of these competitions at such a crucial time of their academic year when their teachers are busy acting as a judge at these competitions or organising these events.

We already see poor results in the board and university examinations. The authorities concerned should revise the schedule of these competitions which should be held in the last week of October or first week of January.

Tehmina Malik

Kallar Kahar, Chakwal

Published in Dawn, May 9th, 2018