Independence for whom?
On August 14, 2020, I wrote: “Every year for the past twenty years, when August arrives, I suddenly go quiet. August holds so much weight for us – but for…
Going all wrong (Part – I)
Coming at the heels of the Minar-e-Pakistan ‘incident’, the prime minister’s recent lament that English medium schools are creating a class of individuals disconnected from their cultural moorings calls for…
English, education and elitism
The prime minister has said in a recent speech promoting the Single National Curriculum that English has developed into a kind of status symbol in the country, with everyone desperate…
Guru’s cuppa with Rumi
LISTENING to communist icon Kobad Ghandy express his affection for Afzal Guru — the late fellow inmate in Delhi’s Tihar jail — one couldn’t help missing the love of literature…
What pride, what honour?
Since leaving Lahore 50 years ago, I have related with fondness and yes, even pride, stories about what made the city of my birth so special. These memories are not…
Textbooks of ‘respectability’
Who we are as individuals depends in large measure on the combined effects of many contributing factors. Our educational experiences, cultural and social influences of family and friends, books read,…
Vaccination for a few
THE day the coronavirus vaccination campaign began, a friend called as he waited at one of the inoculation centres in Islamabad. It was a mess, he said. Too many people…
The curious case of the curative petition
When it comes to interpreting the constitution, invention tends to follow necessity very closely. One of the more notorious doctrines in the history of our constitutional courts is literally named…
Systemic deficiencies
We heard repeatedly that children – who tend to escape the more severe symptoms of COVID-19 – have had to sacrifice the education to which they are entitled. The school…
Textbooks for whom?
When development of the Single National Curriculum (SNC) began with the express objective of “erasing class differences”, observers who pointed to the pitfalls of using education in yet another attempt…
