A taste of Hunny

The Economist

A small start on the big problem of illiteracy

THE HUNNY SCHOOL, a private institution occupying two cramped buildings in Rawalpindi’s back streets, seems a happy place. The boys and girls packed into its little classrooms look pleased to be there. Some look much older than their classmates. They have a lot of catching up to do. Many were street children whose parents could not afford to send them to school. A future of illiteracy and perhaps crime and drugs beckoned.

Pakistan oblivious to child rights

Dawn-30/11/2010

Twelve–year–old Tehmina and her elder sister left Rahimyar Khan to work as domestic workers in Islamabad. On July 30 this year when she asked for salary to celebrate Eid at home, her ‘educated’ employers instead beat up Tehmina and threw her over the terrace breaking her backbone. Tehmina will never walk again.

Tehmina’s sister, Samina, recounting the horrible incident, said, “I sat with my sister in the porch from about 10am to 2pm, when the employer’s sister came and took us to the hospital, but by then the harm had been done. Now my sister is bedridden, unable to move.” To save themselves from trial and punishment, the employers made an out of court settlement.

Boys to study- Girls to Marry- Defining the Destiny of the Nation

Awaam

Look at the image below. It spells out the nuisance that shakes the balance of society. The more unfortunate fact is that the big businesses exploit the weaknesses of the society and build their profits on them… how about their social corporate responsibility?

Can it really translate into a ‘Better Future’?

If I am to put the caption under this image…it would rather be

“Boys to study- girls to marry- defining the destiny of the nation”

 

Frustrated Strivers in Pakistan Turn to Jihad

By Sabrina Tavernise and Waqar Gillani

Published: February 27, 2010

Cross Post from The New York Times

LAHORE, Pakistan — Umar Kundi was his parents’ pride, an ambitious young man from a small town who made it to medical school in the big city. It seemed like a story of working-class success, living proof in this unequal society that a telephone operator’s son could become a doctor.

Lahore has enduring social problems like chronic unemployment.

But things went wrong along the way. On campus Mr. Kundi fell in with a hard-line Islamic group. His degree did not get him a job, and he drifted in the urban crush of young people looking for work. His early radicalization helped channel his ambitions in a grander, more sinister way.

Instead of healing the sick, Mr. Kundi went on to become one of Pakistan’s most accomplished militants. Working under a handler from Al Qaeda, he was part of a network that carried out some of the boldest attacks against the Pakistani state and its people last year, the police here say. Months of hunting him ended on Feb. 19, when he was killed in a shootout with the police at the age of 29.

Mr. Kundi and members of his circle — educated strivers who come from the lower middle class — are part of a new generation that has made militant networks in Pakistan more sophisticated and deadly. Al Qaeda has harnessed their aimless ambition and anger at Pakistan’s alliance with the United States, their generation’s most electrifying enemy.

“These are guys who use Google Maps to plan their attacks,” said a senior Punjab Province police official. “Their training is better than our national police academy.”

Educating the Frontier

Dawn

Nasser Yousaf

Students at a girls school in Chiniot.— Photo from APP/File

THE recent spate of suicide attacks that has claimed scores of precious lives once again forced the closure of educational institutions in the NWFP. Earlier, the operation in Swat had necessitated the recent closure of educational institutions.

 

The terrorists seem to have won the day again, albeit temporarily, as one pictures them laughing all the way back to their dens, blanketed irredeemably in ignorance.

Islam & social reform

By Asghar Ali Engineer
Dawn- 23-10-09

It is very unfortunate that many ulema should still vehemently oppose everything new, only to accept it later, reluctantly, for their own survival. We often refuse to move with the times and then time forces us to move with it after extracting a price for our refusal to change. -APP/ File photo

Traditional ulema have nearly always opposed social reform calling it un-Islamic. Many are able to mobilise support from static Muslim societies by quoting either certain selected Quranic verses or the hadith. Historically, ulema have also declared reformers as kafir or mulhid, i.e. believers in naturism rather than God.

The real issues in Pakistan

Dawn Editorial, 18 Sep, 2009

PEOPLE are dying queuing for grain in Pakistan. This is a country where food inflation is forcing parents to pull their children out of school – they can eat sparsely or be educated, not both. Lives are being lost to ailments that are easily curable. Street crime is rampant across a country where human life is worth less than a cellphone. Yet our political leaders appear oblivious to the misery that is everywhere. They seem to have no perspective, no grip on reality. Does a man who can’t feed his children really care whether or not Pervez Musharraf is tried for treason? Is a mother whose child has died of gastroenteritis likely to give much thought to America’s military presence in the region? Will a jobless person be impressed by the president’s much-touted ‘achievements’ during his first year in office? Our leaders have clearly lost sight of the core issues.

This is a country where religious minorities are targeted by Muslim mobs while the law-enforcers look on. Deadly attacks against Christians, in particular, are on the rise in Punjab. As is usually the case in such incidents, the violence has been triggered by unproven allegations of blasphemy. Robert Fanish Masih, who had been arrested last Saturday on blasphemy charges after Muslims went on the rampage in village Jaithikey near Sialkot, was found dead in his cell on Tuesday. The next day his family and community members, who had all been forced to flee Jaithikey, were prevented from burying him in their native village. And this heartless, inhumane act wasn’t the work of Muslim vigilantes alone. The local police also told the mourners to turn back, on the grounds that their presence could fan violence. In short the victims were punished, not the aggressors.

The Punjab government needs to take urgent steps to protect minorities in the province for the situation there is deteriorating. Its stance on minority rights will be gauged by its response. The centre, meanwhile, should start working towards the repeal of the blasphemy laws. For too long they have been used to settle personal scores, grab land – and to kill. These draconian laws must be struck off the books.

New education policy envisages uniform system

The News

Thursday, September 10, 2009

Grade XI, XII to be made part of school education; Malik tasked to persuade religious quarters to agree to modern curriculum

By Saadia Khalid

ISLAMABAD: The long awaited National Education Policy (NEP) 2009, after facing many hiccups, has been finally approved by the cabinet and formally announced by Federal Education Minister Mir Hazar Khan Bijarani here on Wednesday.

The salient features of the policy, inter alia, are that seven per cent of GDP will be spent on the education and efforts are afoot to introduce modern curricula in Madaris. There will be uniform system of education across the country.

Balochistan home to lowest-literacy rate in Pakistan

Balochistan stands poorly against the national female literacy rate With only 27 percent literate women

Daily Times [June 09]

Balochistan is home to the largest number of school buildings that are falling apart. It also has the least number of educational institutions, the lowest literacy rate among both males and females, the lowest ranking in the Gender Parity Index (GPI) and the smallest presence of private educational institutes in the country, according to the recently issued National Economic Survey (NES).

According to the survey, 8.6 percent out of the 10,381 educational institutions in the province are in a ‘dangerous’ condition. About 24.7 percent of these need major repairs while 36.6 percent require minor repairs. Only 30.2 percent are in satisfactory conditions.

“The total number of institutions in the country that have buildings is 216,490. Out of those, 51.6 percent are in satisfactory conditions, 26 percent need minor repairs, 17 percent need major repairs, and ‘only’ 5.7 percent are in dangerous conditions.”

The highest percentage of school buildings that fall into this category are from Balochistan, said the survey.