I recently visited the National Library in Islamabad and noticed a peculiar scene. Many seats were vacant, with only books or notebooks placed on the tables while new people arriving struggled to find a place to sit.
At first, I could not understand the situation but upon inquiring, I found out that many early comers reserve seats for their friends or acquaintances by leaving out a book or two on tables. What they don’t realise is that this deprives others of fair access to library seating.
Another problem was the suffocating environment in the hall. Each reading room only had three to four fans and only three air conditioners, which were insufficient — especially for those sitting far away from the AC units.
Most of the readers there were competitive exam candidates or job aspirants. Unfortunately, if such individuals, who misuse even the smallest authority in a library, secure positions in offices, one can imagine what they might do with greater power and discretion.
This small incident was a glimpse of corruption practiced by ordinary people when given even a minuscule advantage. In our country, it is a common trend to criticise people in positions of authority for corruption, but in reality, ordinary citizens also indulge in the same behaviour. The only difference is the scale of corruption, determined by the amount of power one holds. Education is meant to reform individuals by instilling ethics and morality. If it fails to achieve this, then what we call ‘education’ is nothing but an illusion.
Irfan Mehdi Kurovi
Rawalpindi
