Teachers back to classes
A fortnight-long stand-off between teachers and administration ends as government promises to remove grievances
By Waqar Gillani
Muhammad Ahsan, a student of ninth grade in Central Model School, Lower Mall, is very happy at the opening of the school after two-week long protests by its teachers. The oldest government-owned school of Lahore is being run under a Board of Governors (BoG).

One wonders whether raised walls and metal detectors can help avert an unforeseeable situation in Lahore's schools

 By Ammara Wyne Malik

"Some time back, my daughter was nagging me that I should buy her the relevant assortment of glitter glues, scissors and other art equipment for her grade one art class in school. Art happens every Monday. It's been over two weeks now and that Monday has still not come," lamented a parent of a child studying in one of the elite schools of Lahore.

The purpose of this writing is not to further terrorise the parents or students of Pakistan but to look at the situation objectively and to discuss possible solutions.

The uneasy question that comes to mind is whether we really need to close down schools and for how long? At this stage schools are closed all over Pakistan in a sporadic fashion.

While several elite schools are closed, several other schools remained open during this same period. This puts the parents in a fix. As one parent remarked, "I have to send my sons to school because the headmaster has assured us that there is no security threat. But my daughter's school is still closed. My sons have to go to school because if they don't, their attendance will be recorded low. Of course this will affect their mid-term grades where the attendance percentage is reflected in the result."

Several parents are not happy about the schools imposing tests and mid-term test passing requirements, including attendance percentages, on students, at a time when the nation is clearly in a state of war and some parents are still apprehensive about their children's safety.

The Assistant Director Security Measures, Inamullah Khan when contacted, confirmed that there are no 'specific threats' to the elite institutions and that some media channels are spreading false information without verifying the relevant facts. However, he acknowledged that "104 highly sensitive schools have been advised to adopt all possible measures for the security of the students".

Where so many schools are closing down, opening and again closing down while others are closing down indefinitely, one wonders who really is pulling the strings. Is it the provincial administration, the parents or unverified media reports pressurising the schools to close down? The provincial government has the authority to order the closure of schools through the Executive District Officer (EDO) Education.

It is not within the jurisdiction of SPs to close down schools. But when a private media channel reported that the SP Cantt had ordered the closure of all Lahore Cantt schools, all the Cantonment schools closed down. An investigation is underway to ascertain who made such orders (which the SP Cantt has denied giving).

One school administrator even disclosed that the school did not want to close down itself but they were "advised by friends in the army" that they should try to keep their schools closed until the Operation in Waziristan is complete.

Another 'elite school' decided to close down because the parents failed to see the point in sending their children to school when there was an obvious air of fear cumulating in low student attendance.

Some schools feel that by giving the parents the complete picture a lot of the parents' hysteria and paranoia can be controlled. The problem is that when there are different spokespersons for giving out information, including the media, the school administrations, the provincial governments and the agitated parents, there is bound to be rumour-mongering. To top it all, the grapevine on the parents' mobile phone networks is doing the security situation more damage than good.

According to the Additional Secretary Education Ghulam Abbas Sargana, "The English medium and co-ed schools have obvious threat but the 'administrations' have been put on alert. The schools have asked us for guards and ammunition. Where required, we are also giving the school guards training." The Education department official termed the rumours about security threats as "tactics of war to psychologically scare individuals".

On a side note, during the days that followed after the bloody massacre of students at the International Islamic University attack in Islamabad, majority of the parents were frightened while only a few were bold enough to send their children to school because a glaring reality now faces us all: It can happen to any student.

When the schools did open for a few days in between, the parents saw a mixed picture outside the schools. Several schools had not made any security arrangements. In some public schools, there were not even any boundary walls, let alone raising them to eight feet. The principal of one such public school explained exasperatedly that there is a tedious bureaucratic procedure that had to be completed for any school to get funds. Other schools are still closed to students for construction of boundary wall.

In one DHA public school, the parents were instructed to tell their wards' names at the gate and the children would then be collected and brought to them there. A few days ago, a parent noticed that the gate keeper who normally handled the metal detector was not present so the van drivers and parents were 'requested' to bear with the administration at that time by accommodating a substitute who was not trained in handling the metal detector.

One wonders whether raised walls and metal detectors can help avert an unforeseeable situation.

Apparently, the DHA Lahore's private schools' representatives have proposed the traffic be made one way at the time of opening and closing of the schools. In this regard, the DIG traffic has been directed to take the necessary steps, so hopefully the traffic outside schools will be regulated.

How do the students feel? Many students are sick and tired of sitting at home. The older students know that their valuable time is at stake. The younger ones are getting dull, sitting at home and watching cartoons all day long. One parent complained that her child's school had sent her some homework. The homework was of one grade lower than what was required. "On top of it, the school administration is going to grade this ridiculous homework. I was moving forward with my child because I had set a study schedule but now we have to move backward to do this easy work which the school has said it will grade. It's such a de-motivating step for bright students".

Some schools have already sent homework and guidelines for physical activities at home. The rest of the schools can follow this example and send the students such material that will keep the young minds constructively occupied. The older classes can form inconspicuous study groups and move ahead in their syllabi if their institutions decide to remain closed.

We will all be doing the nation a favour if we do not highlight rumours. Whenever one gets any information about security conditions or threats, the news must be confirmed from the most reliable source available before forwarding the message. This can help break the chain of panic that is clearly intended to be created.

In this hotch-potch situation, the EDO has taken a wise step to run beepers on tv, from where we got to hear about all of the 'elite schools' closing down. In case an educational institution is found lacking in security measures then such lapses can be reported to the EDO at 042-37310277.

What we must do in this situation is to remain vigilant and positive and immediately report any suspicious activities in and around educational institutions to the concerned quarters. We all have a national obligation to help stay calm and attentive. It is not the time for certain 'elite schools' to show airs and not dispense accurate information. After all, this is for our children and without our children we can have no future.

*Lecture Session on Lahore Walled City - Mochi gate by Rabia Ezdi, an architect and teacher at National College of Arts, on Sat, Nov 14 at Lahore Chitrkar at 7:30 pm. It will be the second of a monthly series of presentations, discussions and activity sessions about the Lahore city.

*Exhibition of Paintings by Saeed Akhtar at Ejaz Art Gallery from Thursday, Nov 12. The exhibition will remain

open till Nov 20.

*Exhibition titled 'Available Light' at Alhamra,

The Mall till Nov 30.

*Exhibition for Fall/Winter 09 opening today at 241 Tufail Road, Lahore Cantt, Opposite Services Club. Timings: 12:30 to 8:00 pm. The exhibition will continue till Wednesday, Nov 11. Six PIFD graduates will be showcasing collections which comprise of Eastern line: formal, semi formal wear and casual line.

Café Bol is the new place to hold discussions and dialogues

By Aziz Omar

With incense smoke filling the space and Sufi music intermittently permeating the air, the attendees of an unassuming gathering engage in an intellectual exchange while sipping qahva. Depending upon the day of the week, they might be going over the finer aspects of Nietzsche's philosophy, delving into the depths of the Greek philosophy, appreciating the various nuances of Urdu poetry or just having an open discussion on any issue that anyone of them feels inclined towards.

One might imagine that such a place might exist in the comfortable confines of some one's living room or would be a hideaway from the general hubble bubble of city life. One could also assume that participation in this meeting of sorts would be an exclusive right of a scholarly select few. However, Café Bol is a contradiction to all these notions.

Located bam smack in the hub of commercial and public activity that is Gulberg's Main Market, Café Bol is anything but a secluded retreat. Being operational for just three weeks, the cozy little café is slowly creating a presence for itself in the humdrum of everyday life. Did I mention "little", because by little I mean really small. Café Bol is an odd 15 by 8 feet space sandwiched between a shop dealing in lumber and a pizza takeaway joint in one Ali plaza on the radial fringes of Main Market. Pinning down its exact location can be somewhat tricky, but it's in a street facing the white mosque which is near Punjab tikka. I personally had to rely on the person who manages the café to come out and guide me in. However, an artistically appealing sign board to be mounted at the entrance of the Plaza is in the works.

The name of the café is a simple word that took a life of its own during the lawyers movement that sparked off in the reign of General Musharraf. "Bol" was a slogan that was printed on virtually every poster and banner that expressed the sentiment and demands of the lawyers and encouraged the common citizen to speak out against the injustices of the military regime. 

Café Bol is the brainchild of two academics with the vision of it becoming the place to be for left liberals desiring to share and debate upon their ideals of an open and alternative society to the one that we are currently used to. Qalandar Bux Memon is a professor of Political Science at the Forman Christian (FC) College and Asad Farooq teaches at Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS). The former is also the editor of Naked Punch, which is a magazine that carries interdisciplinary reviews of contemporary art and thought.

According to Muhammad Usman Farooq, who manages the café and is also the Editorial Assistant of Bol Magazine (Naked Punch Asia), the idea and implementation of Café Bol came about as a sort of an attempt to fill the void created by the closure of Pak Tea House which had been served as a hangout for notable cultural and literary figures for decades in Lahore. However, Café Bol hasn't started serving tea or coffee yet and the visitors have to make do with qahva that Usman typically prepares on a small gas fired stove. It is poured out and served in special earthenware crockery which along with other ceramic tops of the low tables is of Hala pottery that is distinctive of the Nawabshah region in Sindh.

"The café's ambience is like that of a Darbar and I feel that I am undergoing intellectual and spiritual development whilst also enabling other people to partake of the same experience", claim's Usman. He himself is a 4th year student of Sociology at FC College and has had a two year association with Professor Memon. Usman was personally involved in the developmental stages of the café and readily expressed his willingness to manage the place.

The music playing out of Usman's old MacBook connected to a set of small speakers and the ethnic pottery, rugs and cushions, creates a quaint blend of the modern and the classical. There are also a couple of art pieces adorning the walls - a result of Memon dabbling in art himself. 

According to Zohan Saeed who has started to frequent the place, "Café Bol creates an environment that facilitates and opens frank discussion regarding all aspects of an issue, something that one feels hesitant to engage in a classroom." Zohan himself feels passionately about the unresolved Israel-Palestine conflict and was an avid participant in the recent talk on the subject given by Dr. Magid Shihade, who is an Assistant Professor at LUMS.

Qalandar Memon feels very excited about the progress that this enterprise/project has achieved up till now. "You see, the whole idea of creating such a place in its current setting was to give it that very Lahori flavor and not a sense of escapism that people get when visiting the cafés that line MM Alam road. I believe that we have been able to provide a setting for an uninhibited exchange of opinions on all sorts of topics, something which is not possible in the bureaucratic atmosphere of mainstream educational institutions". In the near future, there are also plans to install a projector and screen for showing documentaries and short films. There is also a book shop that is going to open from next week in collaboration with the people involved in the café.

The charges are quite nominal, which range from Rs. 30 – 50 for attending a single day's session or a Rs. 500 membership that lets one come in for all the sessions in a two month period, whereas the qahva is always on the house. The café also carries print editions of Naked Punch Asia/Bol magazine that can be purchased for Rs. 50. Café Bol has a steadily growing following via its Facebook community page which also serves as a portal for information on events and happenings at the venue. The opening of such a place is a much welcome addition to the places where people can gather and indulge in impassioned dialogue on matters that are closest to their hearts and minds.

collection

Hanif Tayyab's TMG has some "rare" features

 By Usman Ghafoor

TMG, short for The Music Gallery, a classically done three-roomer, housed in Lahore's modest Muslim Town, is already a place with a 'mixed' identity. It's a gallery cum music shop cum event & celebrity management company. What's more, it is a place where you can book DJ Hanif Tayyab's expert services for a party or an event.

A self-confessed "passionate" "lover of music", Hanif, 43, is the person behind TMG -- it was his idea to convert an old, ground-floor house space that had been lying unused by his family. Launched in December last year, the place today is a haunt -- if not a haven -- for music lovers from around the city.

Though it's hard to detect from the outside, the ambience of the place is quite fetching: lines and lines of mounted LP covers and posters of some of the world's most celebrated music artists (Hanif's "prize collection") stare down from the dimly lit walls on the various, geometrical-shaped wooden racks with CDs arranged in order of genres, a high-end music system (boy, it's a 400-CD changer!) that is perched upon a wrought-iron deck, and a precise, few-people sitting area in the middle. The pattern is repeated in the adjoining rooms. Music is playing here all the time.

The place is sure to draw you in and also, depending on your taste in music, transport you mentally into another world. "People walk in and enjoy their favourite artists over a drink or a cup of tea/coffee. It's both formal and informal environment," says Hanif, talking to TNS.

It's also a one-stop music shop where you can pick from a wide ("rare", in Hanif's words) variety -- Jazz, rock, percussion, oldies, classical, original soundtracks (OSTs), unplugged, children's music, world music, party music and what not -- all under one roof. Except that "we don't do check-CDs-on-head-phones, which some big music stores do. Rather we play our customers' favourite track/music on the system we've installed in the gallery," he reveals.

Most young clients come in to fill their iPods. There is a 'Menu' card laid out on a side table that lists the many services afforded by the gallery, vis-à-vis their prices. A single, 6-minute track filling costs Rs 35, whereas personal music selection on CD is for Rs 800.

Hanif admits that he's "a little expensive, compared to the market, but when you consider our sound quality and time efficiency -- we hand over the CD in half an hour's time -- you'll notice that it's actually worth it.

"People select a service and tell us the kind of music they are looking for. Our job is to find them their favourites and, also, to suggest them other interesting variety," Hanif adds. "There's no song wanted by an individual which is not found in the gallery. We've a ready, off-the-rack collection of 20,000 tracks in addition to over 80,000 that are saved digitally."

In maintaining the lists, Hanif is aided ably by Hasan Malik, a recent BNU graduate, who also looks after the PR and marketing.

Hanif's own knowledge of music "which I have inherited from my father" coupled with his extensive research in multiple genres of world music helped him start compiling a collection at what is now TMG and also got him proposals to disc-jockey at his friends' parties. Soon he was doing both things at a professional level. Today, he is one of the most expensive DJs in the country. "I charge up to Rs 40,000 a party!" he declares.

At TMG, Hanif says, "we also promote music teaching and learning". There are Guitar classes on offer. As for celebrity management, a couple of new artists have been signed on, such as Massarat Abbas -- Zee TV's Sa Re Ga Ma 2007 finalist from Lahore. "Together we are working on his first album."

When asked if TMG is modeled after a place he's seen locally or abroad, Hanif says: "No. It was all created by a random thought. As I went along, doing other things like DJ-ing, event management etc, I created a market for the gallery as well."

What exactly is his target market?

"I am catering to a class/niche audience basically."

TMG is open seven days a week, from 3pm to 2am. But there is never a moment when music isn't playing in the gallery.

A fortnight-long stand-off between teachers and administration ends as government promises to remove grievances

By Waqar Gillani

Muhammad Ahsan, a student of ninth grade in Central Model School, Lower Mall, is very happy at the opening of the school after two-week long protests by its teachers. The oldest government-owned school of Lahore is being run under a Board of Governors (BoG).

The series of protests that originally started in mid October, were based on the row of allegedly bad attitude of recently appointed administrator in the school and transfer of four senior teachers. For the first time an administrator was appointed by the BoG in the school despite the presence of a government-appointed senior headmaster and deputy headmaster.

The teachers' protest started on Oct 20, 2009. It all started with the transfers of some senior teachers of the school, apparently because of some disciplinary issues. In the meantime, the newly appointed administrator of the school allegedly slapped on the face of a senior student which provoked the other students who threw furniture and plant pots here and there in anger. This led to lodging of a police case against the protesting teachers when they had nothing to do with the students' reaction

The issues which sparked controversy with the BoG which was not ready to listen to the teachers and students, ended on November 5, when the Executive District Officer (Education) visited the school and concluded a series of meetings with the teachers and administration, assuring them to review the transfers of the teachers through an inquiry committee.

"The authorities have assured to review the transfers through a review committee which has started its meeting. The police case against teachers will also be withdrawn. It's a win-win situation a school has come back to life," the school headmaster Chaudhry Muhammad Yousaf told TNS. Teacher Abdul Wahid, a prominent staff member of the school, also expressed satisfaction at the handling of the case, hoping that justice would be done.

Such standoffs are common in the government-run educational institutions but it was new to CMS. What worries the parents is the setback to the studies of their children, especially in a school like CMS which enjoys good repute because of its better educational standards.

Tariq Mahmood, a local businessman running a small factory, sharing his view with TNS, says that he is happy that the controversy is over and children are back to school. The father whose two sons study in this school, says the major issues were wrong policies of the authorities. He says the strength of the CMS lies in the values, traditions and norms upheld by its teachers who have been transferring them to their students for years and years. "This is the thing we enjoy against the expensive private school systems. It should be an institution and not a factory," says Tariq.

The government gives the funds and administration is in the hands of the board of governors (BoG). The parents demand from the board of governors to ensure quality. A large number of parents want the government to announce it has no plans to privatise the school.

During General Pervez Musharraf's regime, when many educational institutions were being upgraded and handed over to private organisations under "Adopt a School" programme, the Punjab Education Department also showed willingness to hand over the CMS to some private company. In 2005, the Abu Dhabi Group expressed interest in adopting the school. The Education Department prepared a proposal and was waiting for the company's formal response. As a gesture of its consent, the department dissolved the school's board of governors in September 2005 but the plan did not materialise.

The boy who topped in Matriculation examination 2009, was from Government Central Model school. The school has always shown very good results and it still does. Many luminaries are old Modelians. The list is long. Let's hope the BoG and the teachers at the CMS would work to make it an even better institution.