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his revolutionary idea, today, may appear to many an ordinary fact that even a common man can fathom quite effortlessly. Nevertheless, it is this ordinary perspective that often keeps me engrossed either with a different question, which emanates from this almost three centuries old adage, or an obvious conclusion, which may be reached through this premise using simple logic. The questions that provide me direction and food for thinking include why an issue, which was highlighted by Danton and, later, endorsed by his and our contemporaries globally, fails to go beyond mere head nods, why even after three centuries many countries and cultures have yet to devise a concrete plan to provide people their fundamental need, why education expenditures globally are far lesser than other insignificant expenses especially in countries with low literacy rate. Conversely, if one uses this axiom as a premise then one may easily arrive at some very logical conclusions that are worth investing time on. For instance, education is the second most basic need of people; consequently, this becomes the second priority in line, after food and health, for the international and local policy makers and statesmen. Also, reducing illiteracy is directly connected with poverty alleviation, precisely with feeding people and keeping them healthy, as it is their first need and education the second one. This implies that there is a need to devise a double barrelled strategy that focuses on helping people in attaining both essential wants; and a failure to do so may result in endangering human race, as happening in many parts of the African continent. I am time and again inspired by the progress that France has made in different domains – science, engineering, health, agriculture, education, arts, culture, tourism etc. From the Airbus 380 to the world’s most powerful rocket facility, Airiane Space, the country’s scientific and engineering feats continue to mesmerize the whole world. The fact that France is the country that has won the most Nobel prizes (for any country) for Literature and the second highest in Mathematics definitely evidences that establish the validity of Danton’s statement.
Like many Asian countries, Pakistan, too, has been struggling against the challenges of providing these two indispensable needs to its masses. Deteriorating economy and increasing unemployment is pushing more and more people below the poverty line. Education sector is in dire need of major reforms in order to enable millions of individuals to access education across all academic levels. The initiatives introduced by the government or foreign agencies in the education sector lose their overall impact owing to the fact that people are struggling with how to feed themselves and others dependent on them. It is disturbing, then, to see the rampant ostentatious consumerism that is on the rise especially in the urban settings among affluent populace, and is gradually trickling down to the have - not segments of the society. The trend has been promoted vehemently through media and marketing acts which, ultimately, allured people towards activities that are in no way priorities of a society that is grappling with the kinds of problems we are currently confronted with. These deliberations, above, serve as a preamble for requesting academics and thinkers within different social sciences subjects and adjoining fields of study to organise education on the lines that it enlightens and empowers people to set the right course for themselves and for all others they are responsible for.
The “Forum” article included in this issue extends these thoughts further with a specific critique of the higher education reforms introduced lately by the Higher Education Commission. Taking a social scientist’s stance, the author, passionately and quite objectively, attempts to identify issues that different stakeholders must consider in order for the policy interventions to actually create the desired impact. The paper concludes by making suggestions for different stakeholders connected with public and private universities that would make these universities, as author puts it, ‘worthy of their academic status.’
The “Articles” section comprises papers on three different themes – urban transport policies, Islamic marketing and English phonology. The paper on urban transport policies is an extensive comparison of transport policies of Pakistan and New Zealand. The paper appears relevant and timely owing to the fact that the new government, that won the recent elections, has improvement of the transport system on top of its agenda. The paper offers, anyone who is interested, an opportunity to review the existing policies that shaped up Lahore and to foresee what amendments are necessary for future country-wide policies that the Lahore-based premiere will be delineating soon. A study on the perceptions and willingness regarding Islamic marketing principles and practices is reported in the second article. The authors probed to what extent those concerned with marketing are aware of Islamic marketing principles, and are willing to adopt Islamic marketing practices. The paper identifies a need for systematic implementation strategy and more probing for better insights regarding prospects and challenges to Islamic marketing locally. The perceptions related to the local and global comparison and the difference in ethical and Islamic marketing are interesting findings reported by the authors. Acquiring phonetics of English Language by second and foreign language learners is quite an uphill task, and in multilingual contexts, like ours, this becomes even more daunting. This difficulty poses a serious challenge to English language teaching [ELT] in Pakistan perhaps owing to a dearth of experts and qualified individuals in English phonology and phonetics. The paper “acquisition of alveo palatal fricative by Pakistani Learners of English” seems good omen on two accounts: first, it is a contextualized study focusing on Pakistani learners of English based on one very commonly confused phonetic sound; and second, the author caters to the pressing need for having trained faculty in phonology to support ELT in their universities and regions; and, also, to enrich the national pool of academics.
Sajida Zaki . (2013) “After bread, education is the first need of people.”, Journal of Social Sciences & Interdisciplinary Research, Volume 2, Issue 1.
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