Articles and letters may be edited for the purposes of clarity and space. They are published in good faith with a view to enlightening all the stakeholders. However, the contents of these writings may not necessarily match the views of the newspaper.
Shut illegal universities
Supreme Court ordered the Higher Education Commission (HEC) to shut down illegal campuses of private universities in the country. The context of the case is Preston University and Al Khair University. Higher education is a privilege in the country as it is, and it is extremely unfortunate to see such cases of students being exploited by fraudulent institutions.
Thankfully, the court has directed the HEC to award degrees to the students who had passed out from illegal campuses through some special arrangement. The students must be facilitated as they bear no responsibility for this. At the same time, it is imperative that this issue is tackled with the utmost seriousness as the education sector in this country has already suffered enough.
There can be no compromise on the provision of higher education to the young generation and the federal and provincial governments should fully cooperate to maintain HEC’s standards. However, the HEC has said that it will be taking measures to strengthen its monitoring mechanism to weed out malpractice, what we need is a cultural and structural overhaul to improve our overall standards and focus on producing original academic research.
QAZI JAMSHED SIDDIQUI
Lahore
Daughters
are a family’s precious jewels
A daughter is a very special creation in the family. They are created by God. They are not only delicate and lovely, but they are also a strong pillar of the family. Sometimes their sweet, smiley faces and beauty, encapsulates the joy of parenthood and becomes the cornerstone of strength in the families.
The joy of raising a daughter up into a fully-grown woman means a lot to parents, thereby, showing that a girl child needs special treatment as the flower of the house. As a result, creating beautiful and sweet memories for daughters matters a lot. A son is a son till he gets himself a wife, but a daughter’s a daughter all her life.
JUBEL D’CRUZ
Mumbai, India
Happy shooting
On the night of 15th December, just after midnight, a stray bullet hit one of our main pipes situated in 39/2, Khayaban e Badar DHA, on our house roof top and damaged it.
As a result water gushed out with force and emptied our overhead tank. This was probably the result of Happy Shooting going around in the area because of a wedding. Have we lost our civility or we are oblivious of the consequences of our actions?
DR AYESHA USMAN
Via email
Outdated curriculum
One of the social issues that I have observed in my hometown is the presence of an outdated educational system. The teaching methods applied in my hometown are quite lacking as compared to some developed cities. I often feel that a thorough impetus on conceptual learning is lacking in our educational institutions. Students are taught for the sake of passing exams rather than actual learning and understanding of what is being taught.
Sometimes, I feel that various colleges and academies of my town are so much indulged in a rat-race for getting better scores that they have lost the drive to actually teach students good morals. Moreover, I also feel that these institutions lack the necessary exposure of students when it comes to extra-curricular activities. Very rarely will you find a good speaker or a good writer produced by them.
Coming to the possible solution of these problems, I think that the people of my town should understand that merely getting good marks is not an achievement; rather a student must also be groomed to be a useful citizen of the society.
MUHAMMAD UMAIR
Machianwala
Increasing pollution
Pollution means to destroy the purity of air. Generally, pollution denotes the presence of harmful material, chemicals and gases in the environment be it: land, air or water. Pollution has become a grave problem which is affecting everything atrociously. There are several types of pollution. Air pollution is one of them which is increasing with every passing day.
Air pollution exists owing to burning of chemicals. After these chemicals are burnt, they emit carbon dioxide and other gases in a large quantity which mix with air and cause air pollution. When we breath this polluted air, we fall ill and suffer from various diseases such as skin cancer, throat cancer and diseases related to lungs and respiration.
It is undeniable that Ozone layer protects our earth from ultra violet Rays coming from the Sun. But, alas! Ozone layer is being damaged by harmful gases of machines we use including refrigerators, generators, air conditioners and so on. These machines emit deleterious gases which affect the Ozone layer, resultantly Ozone layer cannot stop ultra violet Rays reaching the earth. This causes global warming and climate change, which destroys the earth and nature on it.
Pollution can only be stopped if we work collectively. We should lower the use of machines which emit deleterious gases. Secondly, authorities concerned should also take concrete steps to stop pollution. Otherwise, the earth will damage within a few years and would become a dangerous place to live.
MAHNOOR MEERAL
Hub city