Dormant and flawed curriculum of Punjab a cause of concern

By Fraz Ahmed Munis

Being a student of sociology, I have observed a lot of follies in our Punjab Text Book Board curriculum. If I go into the detail, about the existing course contents of intermediate there are a lot of things that reflect poorly.

It is shocking that since 1987 to 2008, the date of birth and death of Faiz Ahmed Faiz was incorrect. All the textbooks and helping books are the example of this disgraceful act and it is humiliating for those who are considered the ‘mentors’ and are selected for the accomplishment of curriculum.

What sort of message do we extract from such careless and irresponsible educationists? Such types of blunders indicate that our curriculum is neither scrutinized nor authenticated.

Apparently the technical, experienced and skillful teachers are being ignored and are being denied the opportunity to impart their services for the construction of the course content or the resource material for the textbooks.

The fabrication of our curriculum is illogical and it contains the poisonous ingredients which are becoming a colossal menace to the structure of education and requirements of the learners and society.

If we read the course contents of Urdu and English in intermediate, it is pathetic, ridiculous and disgusting. How we are brutally treating our educational system is revealed when we see the Urdu poems, fictions and short stories translated into English and being included in English textbook.

The stories written by Ahmed Nadeem Qasmi and Ghulam Abbas have not been completely reproduced. Obviously the incomplete story cannot covey the message in totality.

I fail to comprehend what’s the need to have the stories of Ahmed Nadeem Qasmi and Ghulam Abbas both in English and Urdu textbooks. What great our planners expect by repeating the same things?

The translation should have been avoided in prose as well as poetry. The verses are completely depleted with their actual spirit and essence. These verses are translated in such hilarious way that their original context and meanings have been completely lost.

What on earth compels our policy makers to do such childish acts as reveal their sheer ignorance and incompetence? The English literature is replete with shining and appealing writers, then, why we do inculcate our local literature into English irrationally. Every language has its own aesthetics and the inclusion of the translated pieces humiliate the sanctity of the languages and make it ugly.

There is a chapter Tashkeel-e-Pakistan in Urdu textbook, covering the Freedom Movement of Pakistan which is totally the same as being taught in Pakistan Studies too.

Why this repetition is? Has the Urdu literature nothing more informative to teach? Or the Urdu literature lacks depth? The repetition and irrelevant amendments in the curriculum should be avoided while promoting the educational culture.

The curriculum of any educational system is the symbol of “Justification for Existence” and “Mental Integration”, but we appear to be using it as an agent of social disintegration and mental fixation.

Three things are very important while designing a curriculum; Structure and nature of knowledge, need of learner and need of society.

There is a dire need for the construction of logical curriculum which truly reflects the presentation of philosophy of education leading towards goals and aims, specific instructional objectives and outcomes, task analysis and appropriate content selection and availability of genuine learning ecologies.

Now, it is the time for the serious speculations and prompt decisions for the planning of our curriculum. We should have to exempt the blurred and irrelevant contents. Subjects like biology, chemistry, physics and mathematics are very lengthy according to their time span, because from mid September to the end of March, these subjects cannot be injected into the minds of the students.

It can be made possible only because of teachers’ chauvinism and agony. Students have to carry this heavy load because if they refuse to carry this weight they will be declared as the deviants.

We have to avert the growing false perception about the irrational dichotomy of education and productive works. There is urgent need to take some timely measures to make our curriculum, ‘Demand-oriented’. “Academia liaison” with industry should be made possible in the course contents. Accessibility of updated texts, references, materials and degree of availability of novel studies should be induced.

Education plays its role in transmitting two different ways of thinking; the subject matter or discipline content of course( what to think) and the correct way to understand and evaluate this subject matter ( how to think).

But unfortunately in Pakistan, the respective academic disciplines cannot be set on the basis of proper thinking, sincerity, commitment and coordination. Our policy makers and curriculum setters go inconsistent and never bother to take a serious look on the deteriorated and dilapidated educational system. And, by the way, why do they take a headache for the betterment of education because their own children are mostly too far away from this miserable education system. Isn’t it?

Drug smuggling: accused remanded in police custody

KARACHI: Judicial Magistrate of a local court of Karachi Tuesday remanded in police custody till June 27, the three alleged accused involved in deceitfully smuggling drugs into Saudi Arabia—Sarwat Hussain, his wife Shafia and son Faraz Hussain.

All three accused were presented to the court belatedly in the afternoon. Special Public Prosecutor and investigative officers told the court that all three accused belonged to an organized coterie involved in smuggling drugs abroad, adding their activities earned bad name for Pakistan.

The officials said the investigations with these people aimed at nabbing the other people of their group, therefore, they demanded for 14-day remand.

The accused opined that Al-Huda Travel Agency has nothing to do with this, nor are they involved in the drug smuggling.

They told that Az-Zohra Trust provided the slippers to the pilgrims and they are responsible for the whole episode.

The court remanded the accused into police custody till June 27 for further investigation.

Surprise dope test of Shahid Afridi

LONDON: The officials of International Cricket Council (ICC) conducted surprise dope test of Shahid Afridi at the end of T20 World Cup. The test is a part of ICC routine and any player could be call for the test. This time Shahid Afridi was called for the test. Afridi had an ankle injury and will return home after treatment.

Frenchmen killed in Karachi ‘over submarine money’:

CHERBOURG: A probe into the 2002 killing of 11 French engineers in Pakistan is focusing on France’s failure to pay a commission for the sale of submarines to Pakistan; a lawyer for the victims’ families was quoted as saying, claim a report of a foreign news agency.
The lawyer, Olivier Morice, said former president Jacques Chirac and former premier Edouard Balladur had been mentioned in the decision to halt the payments.
Morice spoke after two French anti-terrorist investigating magistrates had met with families of the engineers killed in the attack on May 8, 2002 in Karachi. A car packed with explosives was driven into a minibus carrying the Frenchmen, all engineers working for a French state firm, DCN, which was building submarines for Pakistan. The 11 engineers and three Pakistanis were killed.
Investigators had been looking into an Al-Qaeda link to the attack.
But Morice told media: ‘The Al-Qaeda track has been totally abandoned. The motive for the attack appears linked to the non-payment of commissions.’
Morice said the payments were stopped when Chirac became president in 1995 because he wanted to stop part of the money financing the campaign of Balladur, who was his political rival on the French right at the time.
Magali Drouet, a daughter of one of the men killed, quoted one of the anti-terrorist judges, Marc Trevidic, as telling the families that this theory was ‘cruelly logical’.
She added that according to this scenario, the attack was carried out because the special payments were not made by France to Pakistani government officials.
High-ranking politicians would likely be called in to testify, said Morice. Details of the payments emerged in 2008 as part of an investigation into French arms sales.
Police seized documents from the French firm, now known as DCNS, which discussed the companies used to pay fees in connection with arms sales.
One unsigned document spoke of Pakistan intelligence services using militants.-

Bulls return to Karachi Stocks, KSE 100 Index surges by 203 points

KARACHI: Bearish trend ended at Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) on Wednesday as fresh buying pushed the benchmark KSE-100 Index up by 203 points to close at 7,075.

The stock market opened upbeat and the major Index remained in the green throughout the session as investors took fresh positions in various stocks.

The trade volume improved to 90 million shares today.

OGDC emerged as today’s volume leader which gained Rs2.58 to close at Rs72.75.

KSE-30 Index surged by 259 points to finish the day at 7,539.

Meeting with arrested Pakistanis today

JEDDAH: Acting Ambassador of Pakistan in Saudi Arabia Muhammed Sarfraz Khan Wednesday said that consular access to the arrested Pakistanis at Jeddah airport will be given today.

Talking to Geo News, he said he received information regarding heroin recovered from the Pakistani family, after which the Pakistan embassy requested the Saudi officials for consular access to the arrested Pakistani family.

‘We have not contacted the affected family as yet,’ he said.

Noting could be said regarding the timeframe for the release of the arrested Pakistani family, as such cases take a long time in Saudi Arabia, the acting Pakistani ambassador added.

Extremists buying children to use as bombers: Rehman Malik

ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Rehman Malik has said the government is determined to continue the war against terrorism till the Taliban are flushed out of the country. He said that the terrorists were using children for their barbarous terrorist activities, adding a suicide bomber was paid Rs500,000 to Rs2.5 million from terrorist outfits.
He was speaking at an award distribution ceremony for martyred and other police officials at the National Library Auditorium here on Monday. The minister said the government has decided to increase the police strength, and 20,000 more personnel would be recruited in the Capital Police to overcome the shortage of the force.

He said the Chinese government would provide security equipment to the tune of $280 million to Pakistan for capacity building of the law-enforcement agencies. He said the Chinese government has made this commitment during his recent visit to China. He said gadgets would include vehicular scanners, mobile scanners and other items required for security purposes. He said different donors have pledged to give an amount of $65 million for capacity building and improvement in the police department. He said weapons and ammunition were being supplied to terrorists from Afghanistan and the government of Pakistan had taken up this matter with Afghan President Hamid Karzai. He appreciated the performance of the police department, especially, the Capital Police, for curbing the incidents of terrorism and for nabbing the potential terrorists.

He paid tribute to ‘Shuhada’ of suicide attack on Rescue 15 in Islamabad and said he would request the prime minister to bestow Quaid-i-Azam Police Award upon them. He announced plots in Islamabad for the families of police officials who embraced ‘Shahadat’ during the last 10 years and payment of full salary to their families up to the age of 60. He said duty hours of the Capital Police will be reduced and they would be given uniform allowance, vehicles for pick and drop and APCs.Earlier, the minister distributed medals, certificates, and cash prizes among police officers and officials for their outstanding performance.

Police officers and officials received prizes included: SP Nasar Aftab, SP Sajjid Kiyani, SP Saqib Sultan, ASPs Muntazir Mehdi, Liaquat Ali Malik, Farukkah Rashid, DSPs Liaquat Hayat Niazi, Ehasanullah (CID), Bashir Ahmed Noon (CIA), Inspectors, Ashraf Shah, Abdul Razzaq, Arshad Ali, Muhammad Auqab, Muhammad Baqir, Tahir Hussain, SIs Munir Jaffery, Muhammad Sharif, Shahid Mehmud, Muhammad Yasin, ASIs Nadeem Mughal, Ansar Mehmud, Muhammad Rashid, HCs Raza Ahmed, M. Arif, Fida Hussain, Wajid Ali Shah, Atif, Constables Mehtab Hussain and Noor Ahmed.

The minister also distributed shields among Islamabad Chief Commissioner Fazeel Asghar, DIG (operations) Bin Yameen and SSP (traffic) Dr Sultan Azam Temuri. Speaking on the occasion, Islamabad IG Syed Kaleem Imam said the Capital Police were committed to protecting the life and property of the citizens. He said despite deficiency of staff and resources, including transport and accommodation, the Capital Police were showing best performance. He, however, called for more facilities for the police department, including provision of modern equipment, to enable them cope with terrorism. He expressed his thanks to the prime minister and the interior minister for giving raise in salaries of police officials and provision of other facilities.

Agencies add: Rehman Malik said terrorists were targeting innocent people and they have no link with Islam. Every citizen having Pakistani passport were being considered as terrorists in the world. The terrorists have tarnished the image of Islam and Pakistan, he added.

Anti-state elements were buying children and making them suicide bombers, he said and added the terrorists were using civilian as human shield. “We had two options either to surrender before the terrorists or fight with them and now terrorists were bound to run from Swat, Dir and Buner,” he said. He warned the terrorists to lay down their arms otherwise they would be killed.