Unscheduled holidays
I am writing this with reference to your editorial of January 28 titled ‘Unscheduled holidays’. It has highlighted an apt and much-needed issue that needs to be addressed on an urgent basis. The current so-called democratic dispensation presided over by incompetent rulers has given very low priority to education. We have witnessed a gradual and systematic neglect in our education system for almost four decades for various reasons.
Readers may be surprised to know that almost all government colleges observe a daily working routine of a mere three hours, from nine am to noon. In fact, it’s not as if the teachers are teaching this whole time; they are only required to be present. In absence of any accountability and monitoring by superior authorities, the teaching-learning process suffers.
During my teaching assignment in Tunisia in 1974, I experienced an altogether different teaching routine. Schools, colleges and universities all over the country functioned from eight am to six pm with a two hour-break in between. There was no concept of any kind of leave except a weekly holiday on Sunday. And the result was a highly educated, civilised and cultured nation. Until and unless we enforce strict discipline in our education system, we may never be able to develop into a civilised nation.
The current academic session commenced from August 1 of last year, and so far, regular instructions have taken place for only 107 days. The current state of affairs in our society can only be corrected with proper academic discipline; otherwise we will be a society of ‘C’ and ‘D’ graders. As a test case, the government could have begun by withdrawing the Kashmir Day holiday this year — the heavens would not have fallen if students had got an extra academic day.
Cdr (retd) Najeeb Anjum PN
Principal
Sir Adamjee Institute
Published in The Express Tribune, February 5th, 2013.