Students on the other hand do not seem to be bothered about the standard of education. A four year long B.A seems never ending to them. Aleena a third year students feels that she is unfortunate to be born a year late if she was born a year earlier she would not have to g o through a four year pain. According to her “four years are complete wastage of time and money”. Sana Arif who has left Kinnaird after F.A for Pakistan School of Fashion Designing tells that she finds a three or four year B.A “rather boring” she says, “it is better to acquire a professional degree rather than wasting four years and doing nothing”.
Many girls like Sana are leaving college because they think that the courses offered, at Kinnaird or any other government college, are not of any professional use. The only job opportunities after doing a B.A (hon) in subjects like English Literature or Political Science etc are that of teaching. The general approach is that teaching is also possible after a two year B.A so why should students spend four years. Students think that four years of Bachelors like LUMS, FAST or UET is worthwhile but not at an institute like Kinnaird or Lahore College.
Students who come from an A level background have a different view point. They think that the present system despite many flaws is better than the previous one. Qudsia Aziz thinks that “the previous degree was completely useless”. Her friend Mehr thinks that “four years is a little too much, even for admission in foreign universities for futher studies we require a three years bachelor’s degree so if we study here we are going to waste one important year of our life”.
As far as the semester system is considered students seem to be happy and satisfied. They also like the idea of home examination. Qudsia says “now at least I don’t fear that an examiner would ruin my life just because he has been henpecked by his wife before checking my paper”.
Lahore College for Women Lahore and Government College University right now offer a two year B.A / B.Sc and a three year B.A / B.Sc (Hons). Students at both the institutes do not seem keen on opting for the three year B.A programme. Boys are not interested in studying humanities courses and they want to go into some technical field which would earn them more money.
Shahid Hafiz a second year student says “ I think a B.A (Hons) is worthless, its not going to make me any thing better than a regular B.A so why shouldn’t I join a professional college”. He and his friends intend to leave college after F.Sc. Those who want to stay there are more likely to go for a two years bachelor’s degree. Amman a third year student is doing his Bachelors in Political Science and History, he does not intend to join B.A honours. He says “I would rather do a two years B.A and a two years Masters so that I can acquire a master’s degree in lesser time”. Luqman one of the few students who have opted for an honour’s degree says “ I don’t know why people say it’s a wastage of time, I think what you learn is never wasted, the honours programme is only offered by very few colleges and it should be taken as an opportunity”
Girls at Lahore college have their own logics behind disliking the three year B.A (Hons). Ayesha Habib a third year student dislikes the idea of hounours because her parents are interested in marrying her off, she goes like “I am going to end up in marriage, so the sooner the better!”. Parents generally are only interested in providing their daughters with basic education and for them an honours degree is a wastage of time and money. Mrs Zakir, a mother of three young daughters simply says “ for girls three or four years a re too much parents cannot afford to wait for such a long time before they can get their daughters married, boys on the other hand should acquire such degrees”.
Tehmina an other B.A student says “I want to go to Punjab University for Masters, PU does not consider a three year B.A as a plus point so for me hounours is going to be nothing but waste of time.” Mehwish a student of B.A (Hons) tells “I have ended up in doing honours because I could not get admission in PU, hence I could I would be on the verge of completing Masters”.
The rest of the government colleges are still following the old course of studies. Students of these colleges do not know any thing about the three or four year Bachelors programme being offered in top most colleges of Pakistan neither do they seem interested. When Shahnawaz a student of Govt. Degree College Model Town was asked whether he would want a three year B.A with semester system, he simply said “No”.
Mrs Nayyer Shah Lecturer of English at Gulberg College explains why students at her college cannot afford to take the up the option of a three or four year B.A. She says “a three year B.A/ B.Sc is only affordable for the upper crust of Pakistani Society, the poor masses are already hunger stricken, some of the students are self financing their studies if the government intends to make a three year B.A how would they be bale to afford it, I have seen students fainting in front of me because they were not properly fed. The better option would be if the government makes vocational training compulsory for students so that they can earn for themselves as soon as they complete their studies”.
A change in the pattern of education at B.A level is not being welcomed by all classes of society for one or the other reason. The few who like it are those who can afford to study abroad, but such people are very few. Because of various economic reasons only autonomous institutes like Lahore College, Kinnaird College and Government College can afford to offer their students a three to four years Bachelor programme. Yet the students are still not willing to accept it. To make the change acceptable to all classes of society government will have to make efforts for reduction of cost of education at grass root level.
MAGAZINE JOURNALISM
Mid Term Assignment
FEATURE WRITING
BEENISH RAI / M.C III
7TH OCTOBER 2003
