Lahore

LAHORE, Dec 13, 2007: The results of MA English Part-I announced by the Punjab University on Tuesday are once again poor and disappointing exposing the declining standard of education at colleges and especially poor schooling in the subject of English right from primary level. As many as 9068 candidates had appeared in the MA English Part-I Exam 2007 and only 1477 of them were declared successful while the overall pass percentage remained 16.3 per cent. Last year, over 90 per cent candidates had failed in the MA English while more than 100,000 candidates had failed in the compulsory subject of English in the BA/BSc Annual Exam 2007 conducted by the Punjab University. Most of the students blame that aggregate system of marking responsible for their failure at both MA and BA in the subject of English level besides some irresponsibility on part of the examiners. Students at MA level are also critical of PU examination system saying candidates appearing under semester system exam had more advantage over students appearing under annual exams since the latter had to appear in comprehensive exam. However, academicians opine that poor schooling particularly in the subject of English was responsible for the deterioration standard of higher education particularly in English language and literature. They believe that overall standard of English was deteriorating right from the beginning. Chairperson PU Department of English Language & Literature, Prof Shaista Sonnu Sirajuddin, while commenting on the issue said overall standard of the subject of English was deteriorating right from the primary level. "This starts from school level and culminate in MA", she added. She also said student lot reaching MA level was not well prepared therefore they failed to perform well in the exams. She further said, "Our students are not dim but they are not prepared well". She admitted there were loopholes and flaws in the examination system adding there was no system to be labelled as perfect. "Teaching community needs to be improved especially at primary level", she added. Sohaib Ahmad, a lecturer of English at a government college, said there was no enthusiasm among students to learn English language. "Most of the students just scram for their exams, which in no way is going to develop critical and analytical ability in them," he added. He also said that poor schooling of English at primary level especially in the government run schools was responsible for deteriorating standard in the said subject. "If the very foundation is weak how one could expect a good structure?" he questioned. Ahmad, a student of Government Islamia College, said he would have a good command over subject of English provided his English teacher at school had taught him well. "I was never encouraged to learn or speak English," he added while mentioning, "We, students, were given home assignments and we use helping guides since we were not encouraged to ask questions." "The situation is not so good in colleges too", he further added. An official of the Education department said the burdensome teaching methodology, poor classroom instructions and incompetent English teachers were the main causes for deteriorating standards of English as a subject. Haleem, father of a student, said government schools imparted education in Urdu medium although English as a subject was also taught but the private schools were almost English medium where entire subjects were taught in English. Special Secretary (Schools) Capt (Retd) Zahid Saeed admitted that government schools teachers, teaching subject of English, were not fully

competent since most of them could not communicate in English. PU Registrar Prof Dr Muhammad Naeem Khan said there was no problem in the aggregate marking system at BA or MA level adding students should be more focused in their approach and should work hard. He further said that colleges affiliated to PU also needed to improve and upgrade their library facilities besides urging the government to improve the standard of English teaching at schools and colleges so that students have a firm base in the subject. Dr Khan further said standards of English had gone down after 1970s adding the subject was ignored in the name of religion. "English language is a powerful tool of technology", he said adding, "Colleges and schools should come out of traditional teaching methodology". Iqbal a unversal poet: PU AVC DR Allama Muhammad Iqbal was not only the poet of Muslim Ummah but also was a poet of the whole world. The most important thing in his poetry is the love with Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). These views were expressed by Acting Vice Chancellor of the Punjab University Prof Dr Muhammad Arif Butt while addressing a special ceremony on 'Bayaba-e-Majlas Iqbal Wa Yak Wa Dau Saghar Kash' at PU Oriental College, Allama Iqbal (Old) Campus, organized in connection with 125th year of the PU establishment. VC said PU Oriental College has the distinction that Allama Iqbal was a student of the college and, after completing his education, he also served the college as a teacher. He always had a great respect for his teachers and this can be observed in a way that when he was being awarded the title of 'Sir', he refused to accept until the award of title of 'Shamsul Ulema' for his teacher. 'Our youth also must respect their teachers and this is the key to their success', the VC said. Principal of PU Oriental College Prof Dr Mazhar Moeen and other faculty members also addressed the ceremony. VC also announced cash prizes for the students who presented the Kalam-e-Iqbal on the occasion. Lecture on 'Public Defence' The Punjab University Department of Botany held a special Public Defence lecture here on Wednesday. According to a press release, M Ziaul Rehman delivered the lecture on the topic of 'Palynological Chacterization of Marine Gondwana (Chhidru Formation-Dzulfian) Sequence, Salt Range, Pakistan'. The News