Bane of illiteracy
Tuesday, 14 Sep, 2010
ALONG with the flood-affected people, one of the chief victims of the raging waters has been the country’s vulnerable education sector. Indeed, even before the floods, the state of our schools had been a constant reminder of how Pakistan is falling behind in meeting the Education For All targets set by the UN. With no adult literacy programme worth the name and primary school enrolment in a shambles, it is not surprising that Pakistan’s literacy rate is one of the lowest in Asia. If after all these decades, the government has still not recognised the benefits of an educated population for economic productivity, social cohesion, public health and democracy, it is shocking. That it has not is the only explanation for successive governments’ failure to expand and upgrade the education system in the country which Islamabad is obliged to do under the constitution and the numerous international conventions to which it is a signatory.
If enough attention had been paid to this sector, the need for adult literacy programmes would have been more or less eliminated. An entire generation of school-goers would have raised the literacy rate considerably as the older generation of illiterates would have been eased out. But this did not happen and Pakistan continues to have people of all ages who have never learnt how to read and write.
What is to be done now? Given the state the country is in today, it would require a massive effort to create the infrastructure, the teaching resources and pedagogic aids as well as mobilisation to put a system in place. While finances are essential for the purpose of upgrading and expansion, money is not the only factor that could make a difference. It is equally important to monitor the system which was derailed mainly because of corruption. Dishonest people swindled money that should have gone into the education of children. The need for adult literacy classes will also have to be addressed. All this calls for a collective effort. A positive impact might be made if industries and the services sector that employ a large number of illiterate people were to accept their social responsibility and devise ways and means to provide opportunities for literacy acquisition to their employees.
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‘Yes’ vote in Turkey
Tuesday, 14 Sep, 2010
THE ‘yes’ vote in Sunday’s referendum on constitutional amendments has both long- and short-term implications for Turkey, where democracy seems to be taking a new shape. With a 58 per cent positive vote, the result of the referendum has handed a victory to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose prospects for a third term in the general election due next year have brightened. The most important result of the reform will be a weakening of the army’s hold on politics. Among other things, the reform makes the military accountable to civilian courts and gives the right to appoint judges to parliament. The amendments will enable Mr Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) to organise the high courts on lines conforming to the European Union’s entry criteria. What must have hurt the army most was the lifting of immunity for those involved in the 1980 coup.
Time will tell whether or not those who view the reform as Mr Erdogan’s attempt to gradually strip Turkey of its secular character are right. Traditionally, the army, along with the judiciary and bureaucracy, has considered itself the self-appointed guardian of the Turkish state’s Kemalist character and has overthrown elected governments four times. One reason for the army’s success in banning ‘Islamist’ parties was the series of mistakes committed by Mr Erdogan’s mentor and predecessor Necmettin Erbekan in taking on the army. Mr Erdogan has handled the situation with greater acumen, declaring that his party accepted secularism. Since 2000, when he became prime minister the first time, Mr Erdogan has proceeded cautiously, chipping away at the army’s powers gradually, beginning with the transformation of the army-controlled National Security Council into a civilian institution. His stature was raised when the EU agreed in 2004 to begin entry negotiations with Ankara after the AKP government enacted a series of legal and political reforms to conform to the Copenhagen criteria.
The EU has welcomed the ‘yes’ vote, and President Barack Obama congratulated Mr Erdogan and “acknowledged the vibrancy of Turkish democracy”. Straddling the continents of Asia and Europe, Turkey has a key role to play as a moderating force in the turbulent Middle East to its south. The passage of the reform package should help expedite Turkey’s EU entry negotiations.
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A callous culture
Tuesday, 14 Sep, 2010
MONDAY’S death of a newborn in Lahore has once again brought the abhorrent VIP culture into focus. News reports suggest the infant died when it did not receive medical care at the city’s Children’s Hospital. Access to the emergency section was apparently blocked because of tight security as the Punjab chief minister was visiting the facility. The newborn’s father was reportedly asked to fetch a copy of his CNIC in order to enter the hospital. The Punjab government has said that the parents of the infant will be compensated. Such crass and insensitive statements do nothing to lessen the tragedy; what compensation can possibly be offered for an innocent life lost due to the state’s ineptitude?
Tragic as the incident is, it is not the first of its kind and the VIP culture is certainly not limited to Punjab; in fact, it is a nationwide malady. Ambulances cannot get through traffic jams whenever major public figures are on the road, and not too long ago a woman gave birth in a rickshaw in Quetta as access to the hospital was blocked because of the passage of the presidential motorcade. The Punjab law minister was quoted as saying that certain personalities — including the Punjab chief minister — face a “strong security threat” while terrorists have also set their sights on hospitals. While this may be true, the visit of a politician or official to a medical facility does not justify causing massive inconvenience to the public. Those under threat can be offered sufficient protection even if public convenience is incorporated in security plans.
Closing down roads and barricading buildings is a very ham-fisted approach to security. What the state needs to do is implement security protocols that cause the least inconvenience to the public while shielding public figures from potential threats. Protecting the lives of the elite while not caring about the security and wellbeing of the general public is a despicable attitude that needs to change fast.