Noble profession

The Punjab chief minister seems to have realised that the decline in the standard of education is due to educators’ involvement in extra duties. Shahbaz Sharif has prohibited them from accepting responsibilities other than teaching. His decisions to himself adopt one school to monitor activities of teachers and asking PML-N MPAs to own one school each and supervise daily attendance of staff and teachers are praiseworthy.
Nevertheless his assessment to hold the teaching staff solely responsible for the declining standards of education does not appear to be fair. Teachers do not willingly involve themselves in extra duties but are forced by rulers to fulfil their desires to achieve popularity. For instance on any official visit of a foreign dignitary they are asked to greet a visiting head of state along with schoolchildren. The pay and privileges of educators are less than other services. A very small amount is allocated for education in the annual budget, lip service being paid by politicians notwithstanding. Therefore, the chief minister or the federal government need to pay more attention to diagnose the real cause of the deteriorating situation of educational standards. They should work towards restoring the dignity of the profession in order to create a more diverse, tolerable, healthy and peaceful civil society.
Raja Shafaatullah
Islamabad