Chowrangi

Ed. Note: Following is an email reply from Mr. Syed Mohammad Husain, sent to express his views on the report published by Chowrangi about Yaqeen Model School. It is published verbatim.

Assalaam Alaikum Wa Rahmatullah Wa Barakatohu .

As suggested by Mr Kashif Aziz , I hereby submit my comments on the Media Report published in various news papers and reproduced in ” Chowrangi “.

MY PREVIOUS COMMENTS ARE AN INTEGARAL PART OF THE COMMENTS CONTAINED HEREIN.

My other comments contained in my previous e mails to ” CHOWRANGI ” are an integral part of these comments and they must be read in conjunction with the comments contained herein.

Sindh Minister for Education Pir Mazharul Haq headed the meeting of steering committee in his office in which Education Department Sindh had decided that there would be no restriction on uniforms in schools and colleges of the province, while ajrak could be made an optional part of school uniform if desired so by the education institutes.

The decision if implemented, while opposed by the city council, will surely create a class difference among the students. A uniform is a symbol of social unity and discipline in institutions ending discrimination on the basis of students’ status. ‘Ek hi saf main kharay ho gay Mehmood o Ayaz’ will lose its real meaning.

Now let me be clear about this (as Obama would say): I’ve got nothing against kissing, particularly if it’s between men and women. It’s the kissing of men by men that I find offensive, even if it’s done in months other than Ramadan. But the recent publicizing of a case in which a LUMS girl playfully pecked a boy’s cheek (when she thought no one was looking) has again generated adverse publicity for the country (something it could do without). So what happened? Another student hiding somewhere photographed the scene and distributed it throughout the world, which led to LUMS permanently banning kissing of boys by girls (and vice versa).

World Teachers’ Day has been commemorated on October 5 since 1994 when it was created by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) for teachers all over the world. The theme for this year’s World Teachers’ Day is “Build the future: invest in teachers now”. According to UNESCO, “World Teachers’ Day remembers the anniversary of the signing in 1966 of the UNESCO and ILO recommendation regarding the ‘status of teachers’. This day also brings attention to the global problem of the shortage of teachers and the challenges of being a teacher today.”

While the focus of media is on the Science books that have controversial sex education content, Dawood Public School management has introduced a book about Islam that contains content objectionable by religious standards. Ironically, media down played this and all the supporters of DPS and sex education went dumb over it.

According to some parents, this book (or part of it) is introduced in Class IV. Any information about the book or its content were not made available to the parents. They have been just asked to pay “contribution” for an Islamiat book. On inquiry, it was told that the book will remain in school and students will use it there. When students came to know of the contents, they told their parents, who lodged complaints in school, resulting in expulsion of some students.

Regarding my previous post on Chowrangi about the controversy of sex education at Dawood Public School there is an overwhelming response and quite an outrage. Many commentators on my previous post spend a lot of time praising the school administration and curriculum. As I have titled it Controversy which means that the truth about issue will unfold in near future. But still the other side of the story is unavailable except the post by alleged student of DPS. I am amazed by the number of people who are quite in favor of teaching ‘objectionable material’ without thinking about the right time or age for it.

[Editor’s Note: Following the post on the Controversy of Sex Education By Dawood Public School, we are overwhelmed by responses in and against favor of the school. We would like to emphasize that our post was mainly compiled from what is already available in the media, offline or online.

Below is a write-up by an alleged student of Dawood Public School, supporting the CEO and criticizing the parents.

If someone has pretinent information related to this issue or want to share their side of the story, Chowrangi will be glad to offer publishing space.]

THE REAL STORY

After the case of Al-Umer Foundation School and the demise of Yaqeen Educational Foundation in Karachi some serious steps by the government and education department should have been taken but it looks that all efforts of journalists and media are ending in smoke as another educational crisis hits Karachi.

Dawood Public School, a renowned girls school in Karachi, came into news when Daily Ummat published a story about the school having a Science textbook in its curriculum containing sex education.

At what age should children be taught about sex in Pakistan? Remember that this is a country where most girls in the rural areas get married at puberty and are already mothers at age thirteen. Even in cities like Karachi, this happens in many localities where migrants from other areas have settled. Yet the hard line religious political party (the Jamaat-e-Islami) led a demonstration against the Dawood Public School, where children aged twelve are taught about biological reproduction.

Fifty years ago, no one thought it was wrong to have children admitted to schools at the age of five (or even later). Now even two-year old children are admitted into schools. If there is any reason for doing so, it can only be that others are also doing it (the same logic is used by bribe-takers and fornicators: everyone’s doing it, so we also do it). What parents don’t realize is that their children are being turned into nervous wrecks by being forced to go to schools at eight in the morning. Children need to play and interact with others to grow up into healthy human beings. But with this absurd practice of keeping them away from homes for five hours daily, not only is their health being adversely affected, they will end up hating everything to do with the learning process. And then there is the huge workload given to them.