This is apropos of Azfar A. Khan’s letter, ‘Our PhDs or paper tigers’ (Nov 16) in which the PhDs have been charged with ‘crimes’ ranging from poor per-acre agricultural produce to the unending load-shedding conundrum.

While it is not entirely incorrect to assert that the 8000-odd (and counting) PhDs have not played their role, so far, to bring radical changes in higher education, or at least what was expected of them; it is not fair at all to bash them for mismanagements  beyond their control.

It must not be forgotten that a PhD degree is awarded for innovation and contribution to the scientific or literary community. One does not deserve to be awarded with a PhD if there is no significant or meaningful contribution on the part of the candidate. The post-degree assignment of a PhD is to keep innovating, researching and, in case of an academic environment, instil innovative ideas in the subsequent generations of researchers.

A PhD is supposed to propose solutions to problems; the responsibility of implementation rests with the authorities. The problems cited in the quoted letter prevalently present lack of will on part of the government and public to implement solutions rather than the unavailability of practicable way outs.

For instance, the desalination methods of land and water exist for more than a century now but they are not put in practice in our case to render the land useful for crops. Similarly, power generation from renewable energy resources is a well-established and mature technology by now and needs widespread implementation to start harvesting the benefits.

Then, it’s the state players’ efforts to enhance public interest in research and creativity which has not been the case unfortunately.

Take the example of a recently concluded International Defence Exhibition at Expo-Centre Karachi.

With these events we actually lure public towards investing in defence rather than in education.

Just ask a schoolboy about his future ambitions, and he would almost instantly express his wish to join the forces. This is what we are training our young minds with. How many events, such as open days, awareness weeks etc., have we seen in the course of our lives disseminating basic scientific knowledge to youngsters or even adults not belonging to science subjects? Perhaps, it is the scarcity of such events that leads us to fall prey to trickeries like ‘water-fuelled’ cars and the like.

While it is necessary to remind the PhDs of their collective responsibility towards the struggling masses, it should also be kept in mind that for any breakthroughs to come our way, a firm ground is first needed.

The Higher Education Commission’s current drive for equipping the universities with a vast number of PhDs is a step forward towards providing solid basis for a research-oriented university structure, which had been missing up until now.

SHAFIQ AHMED ODHANO Italy