Category Archives: Education

Budget in an election year

Economy, Education, Politics

By Zubeida Mustafa

THE budget betrays much about the priorities and style of a government. Since the money being spent is the taxpayers’ it is incumbent on their rulers to spend it responsibly and honestly.

A cursory look at the Sindh budget 2012-13 reveals much about our elected government’s political designs in an election year. It is not really strange if a government that has not shown much concern for the economic hardships of the masses should suddenly adopt policies that try to appease the electorate. However, when the allocations have an extraordinary pattern it is time to be skeptical and ask a few questions. Continue reading Budget in an election year →

Profile: Zubeida Mustafa — A life less ordinary

Education, Media, Women

By Rukhsana Mashhadi

We now know that it is a fallacy that “the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world,” for if this was a truism we would have studied “her story” as well as his, but if a woman wields a pen in her other hand then, through the power of her words, she can become a catalyst for change. Zubeida Mustafa, former Assistant Editor, Dawn and currently a widely-read columnist, nominated by the International Women’s Media Foundation for their Lifetime Achievement Award, is such a woman. The nomination describes Zubeida as a pioneer who paved the way for women in the media. Acknowledging that she did carve an opening by being incorporated at the policy-making level at Dawn, she emphasises that “if younger women hadn’t responded and seized the opportunity, the door that was opened would have shut. Without their presence where would my pioneering have gone!”
Continue reading Profile: Zubeida Mustafa — A life less ordinary →

The language conundrum revisited

Development and Poverty, Education, Language

PAKISTAN has failed to educate its children. This is shameful and now we have the proverbial insult added to injury.

It is in the form of the numerous myths and misconceptions about language circulating on the Internet and in conferences on education that have caught the public imagination. This creates pressure for education in English.

An article by Gwynne Dyer, a Canadian syndicated columnist, in this paper spoke of ‘The triumph of English’. It was a clever piece of writing in that it dwelt very convincingly on the importance of the English language in the globalised world of today. It also said, “The amount of effort that is being invested in learning English is so great that it virtually guarantees that this reality will persist for generations to come.” Continue reading The language conundrum revisited →

Educating the Educators

Children and Youth, Development and Poverty, Education

By Zubeida Mustafa

THE commodification of education is going full steam ahead. Not only is education being recognised as a good to be sold, its sales strategies are also being discussed. Any good sells better if it has a brand name that has a popular appeal, we are told. Forget what Naomi Klein writes in No Logo There.

Faisal Bari’s article in these pages ‘Expanding school systems’ (April 27, 2012) came as an eye-opener. In the article, the writer appears to have written off the public school system altogether. Undoubtedly it has reached the lowest ebb and can sink no further. But does that justify an approach that apparently consigns the common man to the bottom of the heap and absolves the government of all responsibility in the matter of educating Pakistani children, Article 25-A of the constitution notwithstanding? Continue reading Educating the Educators →

The pleasure of reading

Books, Education

By Zubeida Mustafa

IN a country where a commonly voiced lament is that we are not a society of book readers, any effort to get people interested in literary pursuits is a feat in itself.

From time to time, the National Book Foundation (NBF) has made efforts to promote the reading habit. Its latest move — previously it had appointed ‘book ambassadors’ and honoured authors — has been to institute the Bibliophile of the Year award. For 2011, Ghazi Salahuddin, a senior and competent journalist and for many years my colleague at Dawn, has been named the winner. Continue reading The pleasure of reading →