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.
Don’t harass us, Mr Modi
Sending children to Catholic schools has long been a badge of pride for the middle class people in the Hindi-belt regions of India, but these same institutions are now being targeted by vigilantes belonging to various saffron parties.
Narendra Modi has been harassing Christians and Muslims right from the time he became the Prime Minister of the country. Hence, I request Christians and Muslims not to vote for the BJP, as it is a party of liars and cheats. If the BJP wins this time, Christians and Muslims will have a hard time and will have to chant ‘Jai Shree Ram’ all the time, instead of chanting the name of their God —’As-salamu alaykum’ (Peace be upon you) and ‘Jai Yeshu’ (Praise the Lord).
JUBEL D’CRUZ
Mumbai, India
Strengthening port operations
Right now, the Tuticorin port in Tamil Nadu has created a major breakthrough by successfully handling a big vessel loaded with the longest wind blades and towers. In fact, the so-called cargo vessel had left the Tuticorin port for Germany loaded with the longest wind turbines. Thanks to perfect infrastructure, efficient administration and skilled workforce, Tuticorin port has long been proving its cargo handling operations.
In fact, my first-ever job was into port operations in the Tuticorin area way back in the early 2000s. That apart, I have always been attracted to the Tuticorin port because of its beautiful infrastructure and neat operations/cargo handling. Plus, factors like agricultural activities and other industrial operations will help boost port operations across the board. My native areas like Tuticorin have been home to major agriculture activities and salt production operations.
After all, port operations are usually interdependent. Still, there are steps required to furthermore strengthen facilities and infrastructure in port areas. For this, Asian countries should take bold steps to streamline inter-port operations in the best interests of all.
P SENTHIL S DURAI
Maharashtra, India
Flaws in our educational system
Through the columns of your esteemed newspaper, I would like to draw the attention of concerned authorities towards the flaws. Indeed, every country in the world considers education as its biggest treasure and tool to overcome the problems in the social, economic and political domains. In simple words, education is the cure for several problems, but the quality of the education system varies among countries due to certain structural flaws.
The Pakistani education system lies at the bottom of the listing of top-quality education systems across the world, critically lacking the characteristics that it must possess to compete with countries even in the South Asian region.
Unfortunately, the entire education system is based on rote learning instead of providing space and room to young minds to think critically, an approach that would lead to creativity and innovation in the process.
The contemporary education system only encourages students to memorize the whole content and score good grades that are no valid evaluation of their capabilities.
This is one reason why Pakistani students, especially those from government schools, struggle to adjust to education systems abroad. Outside Pakistan, there is little demand for what the Pakistani education system is producing.
In a nutshell, if a country like South Korea can change and restructure its education system in no time then why can’t Pakistan? It is time to remove the flaws from the education system that’s hindering our growth and progress.
This is entirely possible with the addition of creative exercises in the syllabus from the primary to the university level and encouragement of talented students through various incentives in terms of scholarships. Additionally, the fair evaluation and selection of teachers at all levels and equipping them with modern teaching methodologies via special educational training programmers under the guidance and supervision of academic experts and educationists that we already have in our country will bear the required results.
BILAL NASEEM
Islamabad
