It is in a small town, few miles away from the city of official government seats and decision makers, Islamabad. Alamdar, my student, asked me to leave him early as he was not feeling well. “But why did you come if you are seriously ill?” That was the question I asked and he responded, “It was the order of my mom to go and take an official leave from your teacher.” He was looking on the ground with utter despair and anguish as I was not facilitating him on any condition. The bell rang and I left the class without granting him any leave.
It is in a small town, few miles away from the city of official government seats and decision makers, Islamabad. Alamdar, my student, asked me to leave him early as he was not feeling well. “But why did you come if you are seriously ill?” That was the question I asked and he responded, “It was the order of my mom to go and take an official leave from your teacher.” He was looking on the ground with utter despair and anguish as I was not facilitating him on any condition. The bell rang and I left the class without granting him any leave.
It was a cold day, I could feel the touch of chilly air on my cheeks. While passing through the corridor, my eyes were fixed at the beautiful sight of falling leaves from the trees. Meanwhile, I heard the voice of my colleague, “Excuse me Madam! Alamdar of your class wants to leave early, kindly allow him.” “But he is making excuses only, I fear he wants an escape from studies” was my answer. He completely agreed with me, the student is lying but he added that he works in a catering tent-service to make his ends meet.
He then explained his reasons, “Alamdar is very intelligent and competent so we should smooth the way for him. Otherwise he would leave studies for the survival of his family. You are new to this department and unaware of such issues. Our purpose is to provide the children with education in every possible way. Strictness, abidance of rules and our behavior make such students leave the school.” I went back and asked Alamdar to leave a bit early even before the break.
Young minds and delicate bodies of Pakistani nation are burdened in an indescribable way. They carry numerous responsibilities of upbringing and survival, in the springtime of their lives. These innocent faces describe the story of all the struggle and tussle of their existence on independent state. The pure souls are the seeds of a fruitful tree. Extra care and attention make them to provide the surroundings with fragrance, colors and priceless treasures but what if we do not take care of the seeds of our garden? What If we let the dainty plants to grow in the windstorms and tornados? We know, nothing fruitful will come out and our garden would only present the picture of bushes, thrones and barbs.
It’s been the story of many decades since the birth of Pakistan; we haven’t understood, what the word ‘responsibility’ means? The word ‘responsibility’ seems unfamiliar and misunderstood by the Pakistani nation. We are not only unaware of the meaning of this word but are also unfamiliar with our roles and duties as the member of family and society. Our upbringings might teach us how we can give justifications and build arguments of our illogical decision and policies. But when it comes to the fulfilling of duties and responsibilities, we usually fail.
My question is responsible? Is this the family who let their progeny to face their destiny? Or is this the government who has failed to develop polices to improve the standard of poor children? Or is this the society who welcomes these pure souls to embed in the hardships of survival? Who is the responsible of this death of innocence?
