Editorial
Textbook festival an auspicious beginning
Divest education of commercialisation
At the start of a new year which also marks the completion of our 40 years of independence, we applaud the education ministry's initiative to celebrate the occasion by distributing free text books across the country among students of primary, secondary and technical education schools, and Ebtedayee and Dakhil madrasas. What could be a better way to celebrate the first day of the year than provide our tender-aged children with fresh new books?
While we reflect on the last year in retrospect or ponder carving out ways to move ahead, we often leave our children out of the purview forgetting that today's children are the future nation builders. The education ministry, however, has made a difference by prioritising children's education and by ensuring that all children regardless of their class and creed have an access to education.
Having said that, we would also like to put stress on what our children at primary and secondary levels are learning because it is through education that a nation instills in its young minds a sense of patriotism and a vision for building a prosperous country. For that to happen, the preparatory level of education has to incorporate an initiation to all the historical epochs that altogether constitute our national identity.
Above all, effective classroom teaching must be addressed which largely depends on teachers' efficiency. It is with dismay that we have noticed in recent times a commodification of education leading to the rise of coaching centres and private tuition. Timely and free distribution of books is the foundation on which we build further improvements to impart learning at the primary and secondary levels. With our collective vision of ushering in a prosperous era, we urge all concerned bodies to divest education of its commercial tilt and make it a tool for turning students into better human beings.
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