The issue of the co-education system of schooling never seems to lose steam
Feb 16: Spare a thought for the children of Swat. Their schools have been razed to the ground for reasons that are as perplexing as a hypocrite's mind. How can you avoid children from acquiring a decent education? How can an act of learning prove opposed to any faith, creed or system? Aversion to education breeds barbarism and savagery. There's no need to prove that. We have ample examples of it all around us.
It's not just the tribal areas and the developed localities in their immediacy that have been witnessing a hostile attitude towards schooling. Even in the bigger cities like Karachi and Lahore educational institutions are faced with myriads of problems that have sparked off obsessive debates all across the country.
The issue of the co-education system of schooling never seems to lose steam. A popular of schools in Pakistan have a segregated system of teaching, that is, separate building for boys and girls. Is that a healthy exercise? What benefits does it have? Why can't girls and boys study together to forge a better (gender-unconscious) civilization? What's the harm in it? Or is it really as morally dodgy as some people think it is?
A few months ago, a known school in Karachi opted to set apart its premises for boys and girls. Prior to that, the institution had one building for all students. What caused that to happen was a nauseating incident that involved a young girl and a few boys that pestered the life out of her! Is it a reason cogent an adequate amount of? Can't such activities be controlled or kept under check?
If you ever get a chance to visit an all-girls campus of a impressive school, you can't help but notice (read: hear) a constant buzz making you feel as if you've entered a bumblebee zone. This is not to put it to somebody that no such impersonation are to be had in co-ed setups. But the general compromise is that mono-sex or unisex environments tend to generate more lightheartedness. Still, unsettled, agreed.
According to Tazeen Erum, who teaches business statement at CBM, "The co-ed system helps students, predominantly girls, get into the spirit of antagonism. If our society doesn't adhere to a segregated system, then why should our educational institutions go for it?
"It is very important for us to realise that after obtaining their degrees students have to do jobs. It is the agency that requires a fair understanding of how men and women work. The women have to know the male psyche and the men need to comprehend the minds of their female colleagues. That's how you create a friction-free [work] ambience.
"Girls can have a major issue of confidence. Studying in a co-ed impression can take care of that problem. Once they step out of the institution they're more confident and can look people in the eye."
Sumera Asim, a teacher at a Montessori school in DHA also advocates the same. "It has generally been noticed that in an all-boys unit, boys tend to bully their peers with greater violent behavior and hostility. Similarly, girls are often seen indulging in trivialities when they're under no gender pressure. But in a non-segregated place each sex becomes more confident; and they mingle with each other in a less stressed out or exaggerated manner," says Sumera Asim.
"I remember when I was in college - not a mixed-sex one - girls would go completely bonkers if a boy entered our building. It would be like a rare incident.
"As far as the hazards connected with the co-ed system go, I think they can be easily taken care of by being governmentally tough and by keeping a vigilant eye on students," she says.
Tazeen Erum places of interest the downsides of the co-ed structure but insists that its positive points heavily outweigh the negative ones. "Girls can get obsessed with the other sex and try and attract preventable consideration, whereas boys sometimes get overshadowed by girls' progress and luminosity at studies. However, this is no big deal. This can be managed," she says.
This brings us to the students' standpoint. What do they make of the issue?
Mashal, doing her A' Levels at a famous school that has at least a century-old history, says, "It is very important to acquire education at a co-ed institution. You learn to deal with the other sex in a better way. I know girls who say talking to guys has made them more confident. above and beyond, we don't live in a uni-gender world. When we go out, we have to mingle with all kinds of people. So you have to learn to deal with all situations. The human race has progressed a lot. It's time we put an end to this debate."
But what about reports of moral misconduct emanating from some renowned schools? To this Mashal responds, "Recently our school management came down hard on some boys and girls who were implicated in activities unbecoming of them. The government asked them to leave. And they did. Then there were some students whose offence was not too worrying, but the government even on the edge them. Ever since there haven't been any such reports. So things can be proscribed."
However, Mashal acknowledges that each gender should be mindful of its limits. There are certain definite lines that they must never cross. It's by traversing those lines that things go awry.
supposedly, there doesn't seem to be a major issue vis-à-vis the co-ed setup. It's the combined mindset that needs to be changed. As a society, we have always harboured predetermined notions - be it the realm of culture, history or education. And it's these determined ideas that hamper our growth as a nation with a forward-looking approach to life.Nations have defied gravity and explored the infinite vastness of space, with men and women aboard their spaceships. They have produced Nobel laureates on behalf of both genders. Their men and women have invented life-saving drugs. The co-ed mystery is so passé for them. So should it be for us as well. - By Bilal Hussain
It's not just the tribal areas and the developed localities in their immediacy that have been witnessing a hostile attitude towards schooling. Even in the bigger cities like Karachi and Lahore educational institutions are faced with myriads of problems that have sparked off obsessive debates all across the country.
The issue of the co-education system of schooling never seems to lose steam. A popular of schools in Pakistan have a segregated system of teaching, that is, separate building for boys and girls. Is that a healthy exercise? What benefits does it have? Why can't girls and boys study together to forge a better (gender-unconscious) civilization? What's the harm in it? Or is it really as morally dodgy as some people think it is?
A few months ago, a known school in Karachi opted to set apart its premises for boys and girls. Prior to that, the institution had one building for all students. What caused that to happen was a nauseating incident that involved a young girl and a few boys that pestered the life out of her! Is it a reason cogent an adequate amount of? Can't such activities be controlled or kept under check?
If you ever get a chance to visit an all-girls campus of a impressive school, you can't help but notice (read: hear) a constant buzz making you feel as if you've entered a bumblebee zone. This is not to put it to somebody that no such impersonation are to be had in co-ed setups. But the general compromise is that mono-sex or unisex environments tend to generate more lightheartedness. Still, unsettled, agreed.
According to Tazeen Erum, who teaches business statement at CBM, "The co-ed system helps students, predominantly girls, get into the spirit of antagonism. If our society doesn't adhere to a segregated system, then why should our educational institutions go for it?
"It is very important for us to realise that after obtaining their degrees students have to do jobs. It is the agency that requires a fair understanding of how men and women work. The women have to know the male psyche and the men need to comprehend the minds of their female colleagues. That's how you create a friction-free [work] ambience.
"Girls can have a major issue of confidence. Studying in a co-ed impression can take care of that problem. Once they step out of the institution they're more confident and can look people in the eye."
Sumera Asim, a teacher at a Montessori school in DHA also advocates the same. "It has generally been noticed that in an all-boys unit, boys tend to bully their peers with greater violent behavior and hostility. Similarly, girls are often seen indulging in trivialities when they're under no gender pressure. But in a non-segregated place each sex becomes more confident; and they mingle with each other in a less stressed out or exaggerated manner," says Sumera Asim.
"I remember when I was in college - not a mixed-sex one - girls would go completely bonkers if a boy entered our building. It would be like a rare incident.
"As far as the hazards connected with the co-ed system go, I think they can be easily taken care of by being governmentally tough and by keeping a vigilant eye on students," she says.
Tazeen Erum places of interest the downsides of the co-ed structure but insists that its positive points heavily outweigh the negative ones. "Girls can get obsessed with the other sex and try and attract preventable consideration, whereas boys sometimes get overshadowed by girls' progress and luminosity at studies. However, this is no big deal. This can be managed," she says.
This brings us to the students' standpoint. What do they make of the issue?
Mashal, doing her A' Levels at a famous school that has at least a century-old history, says, "It is very important to acquire education at a co-ed institution. You learn to deal with the other sex in a better way. I know girls who say talking to guys has made them more confident. above and beyond, we don't live in a uni-gender world. When we go out, we have to mingle with all kinds of people. So you have to learn to deal with all situations. The human race has progressed a lot. It's time we put an end to this debate."
But what about reports of moral misconduct emanating from some renowned schools? To this Mashal responds, "Recently our school management came down hard on some boys and girls who were implicated in activities unbecoming of them. The government asked them to leave. And they did. Then there were some students whose offence was not too worrying, but the government even on the edge them. Ever since there haven't been any such reports. So things can be proscribed."
However, Mashal acknowledges that each gender should be mindful of its limits. There are certain definite lines that they must never cross. It's by traversing those lines that things go awry.
supposedly, there doesn't seem to be a major issue vis-à-vis the co-ed setup. It's the combined mindset that needs to be changed. As a society, we have always harboured predetermined notions - be it the realm of culture, history or education. And it's these determined ideas that hamper our growth as a nation with a forward-looking approach to life.Nations have defied gravity and explored the infinite vastness of space, with men and women aboard their spaceships. They have produced Nobel laureates on behalf of both genders. Their men and women have invented life-saving drugs. The co-ed mystery is so passé for them. So should it be for us as well. - By Bilal Hussain
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