R O N I Nammar yasir’s personal blog

Photograph: Asif Hassan/AFP/Getty Images

The other day I was having a word with a friend who moved to Lahore after her marriage. We were discussing how the lives of an average Lahori been affected by the recent wave of terror attacks in the city. According to her the outgoing residents of this lively city feel extremely insecure while going out. But one can’t change its life style because government has failed to provide decent security to its taxpaying citizens against a group of terrorists who are out there to change the way we live our lives. I on the other hand was feeling lucky to be living in Karachi which was considered comparatively more protected, as no major terror attack took place since the assassination of Benazir Bhutto. The local Government claimed that it’s a result of their firm security measures against the growing threat of “Talibinization”.

But like any storm there is an episode of unfathomable silence, the two year peace turned out to be same. While I am writing this post, 45 reported civilians have lost their lives, 150 or more are injured and many disfigured bodies are yet to be identified. The second tragedy that shadowed the impact of the bomb assault was an immediate attack on Pakistan’s biggest wholesale, cloth and plastic market in the same area. Thousand or more shops were burned down and business worth billions of rupees turned into ashes while the shop owners were helplessly witnessing the site. Every shop is equivalent to a family so one can only imagine what these families will go through in the coming future.

Like after any other tragic incident (which in Pakistan occur quite frequently) every tom, dick and harry (including myself :P) was out there with their views, reactions and suggestions. Majority condemned the bombing and the attack on the residing market in the area, while some like always proposed the million (Afghani) dollar solution, which involved negotiation with the Zaliman (better known to them as Taliban). Now I fail to understand that whenever a terrorist attack takes place, why on earth the failed religious cum political parties, their leaders and fans proposed this flop idea or try to link the incident in Pakistan to US attack on Afghanistan? If an Afghani is killed by Nato or US troops in Kabul, does it becomes a moral and religious obligation for a Pakistani Taliban to kill a Pakistani civilian in Lahore or Karachi? And if that is the case, the argument to hold peace talks with these terrorists, is a suggestion which is criminal in nature itself.

Another absurd argument that floated; was calling the Moharram processions off or limiting it to a close compound (by close compound I guess they meant, a concentration camp). Now if these well wishers ever bothered understanding the history of Mohrram processions and its significance to the shia community, this kind of unfeeling offer would never have been given. The month of Moharram is commemorated throughout the Muslim world in remembrance of Prophet Muhammed (SAW) family and friends. In these processions, millions of Muslims register their protest against oppressing and extremists elements that are present in every era. These processions are extremely close to shia belief, calling off Moharram in other words is a suggestion to call off burial of a family member. But even if we set the above stated facts aside, can anyone claim an event when a mourner (while participating in moharram procession) ever broke law or committed a criminal act? If not then why the terror victims should pay for crimes they never committed.

These facts paint a very gloomy picture of our future, but hope is all we have. The question is, are we ready to surrender our way of living and everything that is close to our belief? If yes then how far are we ready to go with this surrendering attitude? Is this attitude going to guarantee us our lives? I don’t think so, if you are ready to surrender the very principle that represents your existence then my friend you just lost yourself the right to exist.

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Does School, colleges and universities really stop you from thinking big? Are they preparing you for an office job when you can aim higher and think way bigger? Let’s first hear 17 year old APICTA and Pasha Award winner Zayd Inam who according to some, is Pakistan’s Steve Jobs in the making.

So this young man believes that schools play a good part in killing innovation, as they are always about exams, grades and assignments. Knowledge is essential but without practical implications, an individual will lend up with an average job in some office. Now, something that took me 16 years of formal education and 2 years of working experience to understand came naturally to Zayd. It got me thinking about the number of courses that I took at school, colleges or at university level that never ever helped me in anyway, I am sure you share a similar experience. Now if you take those credit hours and subtract them with your educational period, the number that comes out will surprise you or make you angry in my case.

When I put up the same question on twitter, I got many interesting answers. Munir Usman (MVP and Entrepreneur) who by degree is a telecom graduate but pursued his career in the software industry. On my question, whether schools are responsible for killing innovation among students, replied:

“Ideally they are not meant to kill innovation, but looking down at the quality of local education. They are not only killing innovation but are responsible for destroying a good amount of time of the students. Instead of giving proper education to help innovation, they waste time and money in useless courses and activities, as a result students end up doing Ratta (memorizing course lectures) for exams.

When I asked Sabahat Zakariya the same question, she gave quite an interesting reply:

Schools only have meaning when an extremely rare teacher not yet jaded by the system and the administration comes and inspires you. All schools care about are grades for they are quantifiable, abstractions have no meaning in a school ’system’.

On my question to Sabhat and Shahrzad (teacher from Iran) on how we can improve this situation in schools, their reply was:

Stop nurturing mediocrity in faculty. Stop ostracizing teachers with opinions, passion and a voice – Sabahat

Students should be motivated to discover, arousing sense of yearning to learn instead of giving them some formulas to pass the exams- Shahrzad

During my initial experience at work, I met a business man who used to teach entrepreneurship at Pakistan’s top business school; IBA. According to him once an individual passes early 20’s the chances of becoming an entrepreneur almost diminishes and sadly these top business schools are not making leaders but labors. This was a very strong statement coming from a teacher who was very much involved in the business market. On my question to Munir on whether Universities should encourage or teach entrepreneurship at graduation level, his reply was:

Yes the course should be mandatory in every degree but the million dollar question is, who will teach this subject? Most teachers won’t qualify to teach this subject

Muhammed Nawaz (IT Consultant) coined following views on the same question:

Yes Of course they should. One thing important to understand is whether they consider self confidence a virtue or taboo Self confidence raises the chances of people actually taking decisions in their own hands and doing what’s right for them. At the same time, ensuring that with all this virtue comes the aspect of responsibility So when they take a decision, they know what the impact of their decision would be. Accordingly take a step forward.

So if Schools are not doing their jobs right why the parents are desperate to enroll their children in the most expensive of schools. But can you blame them for doing so? Their aim for getting their children admitted in popular schools is to get an admission in a good college or a renowned university, so their children end up with a secure future and a job that pays off well at the end of every month. Not every family can afford an entrepreneur in their house; somebody has to pay mortgage on regular basis. So it’s more about economics then learning or getting education.

Conclusion:

Dropping off from college or Universities is not a preferred option, not every kid is as bright as Zayd or Steve Jobs for that matter. A lot of us might start off slow but end up being a successful individual and professional. Having said that there should be a regular check on the curriculum of college and universities, considering the dropping standards of local educational boards like HEC. The need of having a quality educational body has become inevitable. This independent body will work like a bridge between educational institutes and business market.

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