Category Archives: Education

Language question in education

Education, Language

By Zubeida Mustafa
Source: Dawn

LANGUAGE controversies have been a sensitive issue in Pakistan. Half the country was lost in 1971 when, among other things, we could not concede the right to the people of East Pakistan to use Bangla, their own language, in the affairs of the state.

In 1972, language riots took place in Karachi when the “new Sindhis” were unwilling to recognise the right of the people of Sindh to use Sindhi as the language of the government. The alienation that was caused ran deep and has still not been bridged.
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Female militants’ show of force

Education, Islamisation

By Zubeida Mustafa
Source: Dawn

IN ITS latest issue, the Time magazine titles its cover story as “The truth about Talibanistan” which it claims is gathering strength in Pakistan’s “wild borderlands”. Last week events took a new turn.

The show of force by the Lal Masjid strongmen and the Hafsa madressah’s female guardians of morality in Islamabad was an indication that the tentacles of the Taliban are spreading rapidly to the heart of the federal capital.
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Killing education reforms

Education

By Zubeida Mustafa
Source: Dawn

EARLY this year, education in Pakistan appeared to be on the verge of experiencing a change of a positive kind . But this may not happen now. Those who control power are actively opposed to reforms though they will never acknowledge it publicly. Hence they go through elaborate motions of bringing about a change without actually changing anything.
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Missing factors in health education

Education, Health

By Zubeida Mustafa
Source: Dawn

THE good news from the medical sector is that Dr Azhar Faruqui, the enterprising director of the National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases, Karachi, has taken the initiative to establish a paediatric cardiology unit at the NICVD.

This will be the first of its kind in Karachi. Lahore already has one such unit. Until now, infants needing cardiac surgery did not have many choices and many of them went abroad for simple corrective surgical procedures if their lives were to be saved.

Some medical professionals resent it that patients are taken to India when similar procedures can be performed here. But the fact is that the facilities here are very limited. Recently, Shabina, who runs the Garage School for children of the katchi abadis in Clifton and also arranges for the healthcare of her students and their families when needed, took Maxwell Happy, aged 14 months, to Chennai for a congenital heart problem that needed corrective surgery. Doctors in Karachi had refused treatment saying they did not have the post-operative care facilities to perform the operation on such a young child.

It is therefore heartening for children like Maxwell that the NICVD will be setting up a unit for paediatric cardiology. Dr Azhar Faruqui told media representatives that he plans hiring the services of foreign surgeons and anaesthesiologists for the paediatric unit.
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