Of teens and charity : ‘Like OMG, I work for an NGO’
Areeba, not her real name, is a bright, conscientious 18-year-old off to college this September. She works on and off rebuilding a girls school in rural Sindh in an effort guided by her school. “I know all the girls names, they teach me Sindhi and mark my progress, I distribute sweets,” she says, her enthusiasm apparent. But then comes this observation: It’s something I’m really into, not like, I don’t know, wannabe hipsters who’re just in it for the certificate and the photo ops. Wannabe hipsters in it for the photo ops? I told my father what she said and his first ...
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Refund policy: The end of university looting
Largely unreported, Pakistani students earned a well-deserved victory in the Islamabad High Court last week. The High Court ruled the current policy adopted by several public and private universities to demand non-refundable deposits at the time of offering admission ‘illegal’. This is a problem that many students are familiar with. When the admission season starts, they apply to a range of institutions and even start hearing back from a lot of them. However, they are still in waiting for their first choice to respond. In the meantime, unsure whether they will get into their most preferred university or not, they start making deposits ...
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Are public schools not good enough for you?
It was surprising to hear that a senior official of the Capital Administration and Development Division had his three children enrolled in a private school. But what was even more shocking was that over 95 per cent of bureaucrats, politicians, business tycoons and corporate employees send their children to private elite schools rather than to government institutions. I asked the official why he preferred to enroll his children in a private school since he himself is looking into the government education system in the Islamabad Capital Territory. His answer was indirect but simple: If you have the choice to buy an ...
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Mubashir Luqman, why can’t you appreciate something good?
Last week, Mubashir Luqman conducted a show in which he revealed the corruption of PML-N’s laptop distribution scheme. The videos of the show went viral on YouTube. People admire Mubashir Luqman because of his thorough research, but I’ll be straight here – I actually like his show because it is in favour of the PTI. In the past, when Luqman spoke about the MQM, nobody liked him. But since he is now against the PML-N and his allegations are in great favour of the PTI, he has turned into a national hero. Let’s come to the allegations ...
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When college ends and real life begins
I know you guys have already read a couple of blogs about graduation; the ones that elaborated in 10 points how, after passing out, the realisation dawns that the world out there is very evil and that college was pure bliss. While these writings surely had their utility, what they failed to encapsulate was the experience itself; the four years of loathing that magically turn into a bitter sweet feeling as the end approaches. I still remember an incident from freshman year when I complained to a teacher about the excessive workload and she said, with a smile reminiscent of days gone by, When you are ...
Read Full PostCheating on exams: I blame the system
A recent news report in The Express Tribune titled “Rs100 is all your dad needs to have pharras delivered to you during the exam” began with the question; “Is there a point to sitting examinations at all?” The article was about the recent case in Sukkur where invigilators and school staff were found helping students cheat, as eager parents outside paid them off. Let’s start by considering the question posed – is there a point to taking exams at all? Across the globe, educational systems have implemented testing as a means by which to discriminate academic performance between students. However, this is a hangover ...
Read Full PostConnecting our cities not just with flyovers but with people
What do you want Islamabad to look like in 2042? If there’s anything the geography component of O’ Level Pakistan Studies taught me, it was to appreciate my city. One of the chapters was “Population in Pakistan” full of sketches of villagers moving to new cities. A friend underlined one reason given in the textbook for rural-urban migration: Bright lights. “Of all things, that’s why people migrate?” she asked with a bemused laugh. But that is true to some extent as Karachi is a city of bright lights. Take a ride at night and the billboards will prove this. Is your ...
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Free laptops: Incentive or publicity stunt?
The Punjab government’s initiative of distributing laptops among bright students has invited criticism from all quarters, including Transparency International Pakistan (TIP), which has raised questions about this self-proclaimed transparent process. Initially, the government earmarked Rs2 billion in the annual budget for this scheme and later increased it to Rs3.7 billion. Now, the education department has prepared a PC-I that has projected an amount of Rs4.4 billion for the purchase of 110,000 laptops. The Punjab government inked an agreement with a company for the provision of laptops at the rate of Rs37,700 per unit. The procuring department has now allegedly changed ...
Read Full PostBahria University: Arsalan Bilal’s hunger for justice
Ask the administrators of Bahria University Islamabad, who have reportedly expelled Arsalan Bilal from the University for threatening staff members by forwarding a poem by Faiz Ahmed Faiz. It appears irrelevant to the administrators that the same e-mail was forwarded to his friends, class fellows and family members. Yet, Faiz’s poetry is a reason good enough to warrant expulsion if a teacher is added to the mailing list. Bahria University has also declared Arsalan Bilal “psychologically unstable,” even though they are no experts in psychiatry. If so, the university appears to have ...
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Gilgit is to blame for this bloodshed
‘Paradise on earth’ might be a cliché, but it is the only locution that describes the beauty of Gilgit. Its elegance is matchless, but the sectarian violence that has plagued this area has reduced this city to a mere shadow of the beauty it once boasted. Spring had always filled Gilgit with a rosy fragrance, but this spring, all anyone can smell is the unmistakable stench of blood. It is truly baffling how the gardener has lit his own garden on fire. People from different sects are killing each other ruthlessly, and one doesn’t dare to venture out on the streets unless ...
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