Karachi News

At the Karachi Literature Festival 2015, Charter for Compassion Pakistan launched its first ever book called “Hum Qadam”, which is a collection of Compassionate stories, poems and articles. Reaching its followers through print and social media, Charter for Compassion themed this publication on its latest campaign Compassionate Karachi. Entries on the following topics were entertained:

• I am Karachi

• My Karachi, My Vision

• My Compassionate Karachi

• Karachi - Exhaling the New, Inhaling the old

• Spirited Karachi

The entries, in English and Urdu, were received through E-mail and post in form of stories, articles, poems and memoirs, ranging from entrants who were still in primary school to those who had retired. The response was phenomenal; within a month of the competition’s announcement Charter for Compassion was flooded with entries from all over Pakistan, including entries from prisoners in the Karachi Central Jail. CfC even received entries from across the border.

The quality of received literary work was outstanding, the stories were heartwarming and the memoirs were filled with sentiment and gave us valuable insight of what the city of lights had been like in the good old days. The writings reflected citizens’ longing for peace, tranquility and anguish for all the good that has been lost. Our young minds have also envisioned a violence-free Karachi in their writings; a Karachi which is serene and beautiful, tolerant and compassionate, cheerful and flourishing. The inspirational and optimistic accounts rekindled hope within us and we are all the more positive that the Karachi we are thriving for will soon be a reality.

“The world is moving so fast that if you do not educate yourselves you will be not only completely left behind, but will be finished up.”
-Muhammad Ali Jinnah

Charter for Compassion Pakistan, in collaboration with Eqbal Ahmad Centre for Public Education hosted a Round Table Education Conference “Opportunities and Challenges of Education in Pakistan and Alternative Pedagogies” in Karachi. The conference was attended by notable educationists, scholars, publishers and researchers. Amongst the speakers were: Dr. Pervez Hoodboy, Amina Syed and Mohammad Memon; the session was moderated by Amin Hashwani.

Some of the most critical points discussed at the conference were related to both quantity and quality of the education system, the frail examination structure and the lack of effective learning material.  The panelists said that examination of Pakistan’s public education structure reveals that a third of the children stay outside. They said that thousands of ghost schools exist in the Sindh province alone. Speakers were of the opinion that substandard learning material is the greatest hurdle for the dilapidated education system of the country.

The inclusion of religious material in textbooks was viewed as discriminating by the speakers as the curriculum is offered to multi-faith students, which is also in breach of Article 22 (1) of the Constitution of Pakistan. A number of recommendations were made at the end of the roundtable concerning the curriculum, teacher training and availability of education advocacy.