Schools cross extremism out of textbooks
By Ashfaq Yusufzai Turn schools into hate-free zones, and achieving peace in violence-wracked Pakistan may not be far behind. This, says Fazal Rahim Marwat, chairman of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Textbook Board, is the thinking behind current efforts to weed out what he calls hate material used in school curricula that helps fan the flames of religious extremism in this South Asian country. (891 Words) - A poster published by the textbook board and pasted in schools in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. Photo: Ashfaq Yusufzai/IPS For years, says Marwat, Pakistan’s educational institutions have been unwitting tools in the spread of militancy in this mainly Muslim country. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Education
Our textbooks and the lies they teach
By Raza Rumi Due to the 18th Amendment, a momentous shift in Pakistan’s governance arrangements is taking place through a politically mediated and largely consensual manner. The federal government is being trimmed and 10 ministries have already been devolved to the provinces. A key development pertains to the devolution of education — lock, stock and barrel — to the provinces. Most notably, the odious era of setting poisonous, centralised curricula in the name of a ‘martial’ nationalism is finally over. Whether the past practices of turning Pakistan into a jihad project will end is uncertain, unless the provinces take the initiative and reverse the regrettable trajectory of the past. Pakistani textbooks have preached falsehoods, hatred and bigotry. They have constructed most non-Muslims, especially Hindus, as evil and primordial enemies, glorified military dictatorships and omitted references … Read entire article »
‘Reforming’ the education system
By Raza Rumi Pakistani students sit inside and on top of a rickshaw heading to their schools in Muzaffargarh in Punjab province, Pakistan, Tuesday, Nov. 2, 2010. AP Photo The recent debates on education have also highlighted how the education sector is not receiving its due compared to say defence, infrastructure and other expenditures made by the government. However, the discussion has yet to move to the most important area i.e. quality of schools and what sort of learning are they providing? The task of reforming the education system is huge, complex and some would say next to impossible. However, the 18th Amendment to the Constitution has opened the doors to avenues for change. … Read entire article »
Armed to Educate
By Zara Farooqui And Maheen Bashir Adamjee Forging a new future: Lyari, known for its gangs and crime, also has thriving “street schools” set up by locals. Photo: Danish Khan “Your car is parked on my classroom,” a visibly angry man scolded Newsline’s photographer, Danish Khan. Confused, we looked around to discover that the narrow lane in which we were standing – watched by curious half-clothed children with runny noses and surrounded by rubble, roaming goats and … Read entire article »
Unpacking the HEC debate
An amended, rationalised HEC needs to stay in place By Raza Rumi The 18th Amendment approved by the Parliament in 2010 signified a new era in Pakistan’s troubled federalism. Given our turbulent constitutional history, the new governance arrangements approved by all parties and federating units settled for a leaner centre and addressed long-standing demands of provincial autonomy. But the implementation of this amendment has been slower than expected, largely for reasons of capacity both at the federal and provincial levels. Despite the constraints, the Implementation Commission has delivered fairly well. … Read entire article »
Poem:The Hungry Face
” This poem was written to highlight the plight of children, far removed from education and comforts of home and confined to dreaded routines of existence” – The Daughter of Pakistan, in search for bread and water…….the quest continues and so her questions…. As she rests her soul against the pole The blistered feet and in tattered clothes The only place, where she can breathe The open fields and the crowded streets In search for bread and … Read entire article »
Filed under: Children, Education, Labour, Pakistan, poetry, poverty, psychology, Rights
Pakistani College Becomes Focus of a Social Struggle
The GT Road Blog BySteve Inskeep In Lahore, the University of the Punjab attracts middle- and lower-income Pakistani students hoping to make better lives for themselves. But the school’s campus is also the scene of an ongoing struggle over education and Islam. Alfred Cooper Woolner May 1878 – January 7, 1936, was a noted Sanskrit scholar and professor as well as the Vice Chancellor of Punjab University, Lahore. He died in Lahore Many of the 35,000 students wear jeans … Read entire article »
Filed under: Blogging, Education, Identity, Islamism, Lahore, Pakistan, Punjab, Religion, Women
The Ostrich Syndrome: A Teacher’s Perspective
By Nabiha Meher Shaikh As someone constantly exposed to the so-called “youth” of this country, I do believe I have some insight and some valid criticism of the recent ban on facebook, which, ostensibly, has to do with blasphemous content. Firstly, what is the “youth” of this country? And why are they lumped into a monolithic entity? Why is it assumed that they are all one and the same when their realities are different in many ways. To assume that our “youth” is living air-conditioned lives, constantly logged on to the internet, chatting away etc. is purely delusional. The truth is, the vast majority of the “youth” are very poor and cannot access websites. The “youth” is actually the majority of our population. And we are constantly trying to box them into … Read entire article »
Acting upon the Freedom of Information Act
By Naeem Sadiq In September 2009 I wrote to two Sindh government departments seeking harmless information on matters of education and pollution that should anyway be available to all citizens. I was confident that a formal request under the much trumpeted and much ‘seminar’ed Freedom of Information Act will do the trick. The law requires a response within 21 days. When nothing happened for 4 months, in Jan 2010, I approached the Sindh Ombudsman (as suggested in the law) to ask the concerned departments to do the needful. After digesting my request for 3 months, the Sindh Ombudsman finally asked the concerned departments (Education and Environmental Protection Agency) to appear and explain why they did not provide the information that had been asked for. I too was asked to appear. So I spent … Read entire article »
Filed under: Citizens, Civil Service, Conservation, Democracy, Education, Environment, executive, Law, Pakistan, Rights, Sindh
Room for optimism
['The audacity of hope'? 'Hope dies last'? Or, just the reality of Pakistan in its many aspects? Here's how Mohsin Hamid sees it. - PTH] Dawn, Friday, 09 Apr, 2010 EVER since returning to live in Pakistan a few months ago, I’ve been struck by the pervasive negativity of views here about our country. Whether in conversation, on television, or in the newspaper, what I hear and read often tends to boil down to the same message: our country is going down the drain. But I’m not convinced that it is. I don’t dispute for a second that these are hard times. Thousands of us died last year in terrorist attacks. Hundreds of thousands were displaced by military operations. Most of us don’t have access to decent schools. Inflation is squeezing our poor and middle class. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Democracy, Economy, Education, Identity, Judiciary, Languages, Media, Pakistan, Religion, Society, state, Terrorism
The Enemy Within
Terrorism and the denial problem By Dr Hasan-Askari Rizvi crosspost from Daily Times, 28 March, 2010 The most serious threat to Pakistan’s political stability and economic development is the growing terrorist attacks by the various Taliban groups and other militant Islamic groups that use violence to pursue their narrow-based religious and political agendas. Gen. Zia ul Haque Pakistan army soldiers carry a coffin of a colleague who lost his life during a fight against al-Qaida and Taliban Pakistan’s … Read entire article »
Filed under: Afghanistan, Al Qaeda, Army, Democracy, Education, Islamism, Pakistan, Religion, state, Taliban, Terrorism, USA
ASR Institute must be saved at all costs
Raza Rumi ASR Institute of Women’s Studies, Lahore is not a run of the mill NGO or a donor-sponsored institution. Pakistan, not unlike other developing countries has enough of such makeshift, quick-fix research institutions that advance the Eurocentric and inappropriate agendas of those who want to liberate and enable the natives to come at par with the ‘civilized’ world. Since 1983, ASR has held its own – under dictatorships, quasi-democratic charades and amid the rise of Islamism. Not content with radical research and speaking the truth, in 1997 ASR went ahead and set up the first women’s studies institute in the non-state domain. This institute is open for South Asians and boasts a curriculum and faculty that would compete with any similar outfit in the international arena. In February 2010, ASR organized … Read entire article »
Filed under: Activism, Education, Pakistan, Politics, public policy, Women
Pakistan, the Lost Generation
http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/pakistan901/video_index.html It’s morning in Lahore, the capital of Pakistan’s biggest province, and the country’s next generation is headed to school. But what children are finding when they get there is of increasing concern for those who want peace in Pakistan’s future. For 12-year-old Fatma, school is an abandoned brickyard. “I study at the Government Primary School in Lahore,” she explains. “I study English language, and I like it. There are no chairs. We have to sit on the ground. It’s a problem in the winter. When it rains, there is nowhere to sit.” … Read entire article »
Filed under: Economy, Education, Lahore, Pakistan, poverty, Punjab, Religion, Rural, Taliban, USA, youth
Let's refocus: Kashmir, not Kabul
We are publishing a Canadian view here at PTH. This op-ed was published today in the well respected Canadian Newspaper The Globe and Mail. It is written by Doug Sanders, Globe’s respected Pulitzer Prize winning Chief of European Bureau. Mr. Sanders urges the West to help resolving the Kashmir Issue. This issue has been used by Pakistani Army and the Establishment to keep the impoverished nation of ours mainly as an India competing nation. The issue has contributed towards our inability to focus on developing our society as a modern, progressive entity; a society that focuses primarily on protection, health and education of all of its members (PTH) By Doug Sanders, cross post from The Globe and Mail, Published February 20, 2010 http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/opinions/lets-refocus-kashmir-not-kabul/article1475138/ Acting like an especially convivial nightclub manager, Pervez Musharraf storms the room and opens with a … Read entire article »
Filed under: Afghanistan, Army, Democracy, Economy, Education, Identity, India, Islamabad, Kashmir, Liberal Democratic Pakistan, North-West Frontier Province, Pakistan, Terrorism, USA
Ruchika Girhotra, Safia Bibi and Mukhtar Mai: any different?
By Ishtiaq Ahmed Daily Times 05 Jan 2010 What goes on all the time in rural India with regard to working women, especially from lower castes, hardly ever figures in media discussions. Such women are constantly harassed and molested by men of the superior castes Some years ago, I met Indian human rights activists in Delhi. A lively discussion followed without the usual rancour that India-Pakistan interactions are notorious for, because we were interested in the rights and dignity of human beings as human beings and not as Christians, Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs and so on. The exchange of views and notes ended with us being unable to decide whether the Indian or the Pakistani dominant classes were more ruthless and heartless. That both were identical in their inhumanity was probably the … Read entire article »
Filed under: culture, Democracy, Education, human rights, India, Islam, Justice, Law
PTH biweekly Cartoon
Picture of the Week
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Sunrise at the Arabian Sea, Charna Island
24 Dec 2011
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