Letter From Lahore: Tough times for academics

On two occasions in the past month, teachers and college professors have been ruthlessly baton-charged by the police as they attempted to stage rallies in Lahore.

The images of these men and women of letters being beaten as they lie on the ground have filled newspaper pages and shocked many who still hold the profession in some esteem. The extent of the violence unleashed by the police on peaceful demonstrators has also been alarming, with grave injuries suffered by sometimes elderly academics who took part in the public meetings.

The issue at hand concerns the government decision to denationalise all institutes of higher learning, and hand them over to the private sector. The matter is one that involves arguments both in favour and against the move, and there are no clear-cut answers available.

Issues of access to education, the quality of learning and the fees paid by students all form part of the complex puzzle that requires time and effort to piece together.

However, there is no dispute about the fact that teachers do not deserve the kind of brutal treatment meted out to them. It remains completely unclear why such massive use of state authority was deemed necessary, and why the meetings could not have been allowed to proceed without intervention.

The main concern for the protesting teachers is their fear that under the privatisation scheme, they will be made jobless. The Punjab governor has assured them this will not happen.

However, lecturers and professors based for many years in Lahore and its many distinguished colleges point out to the fact no institutes in the city will remain in the public sector means that they will, necessarily, be transferred to other cities and smaller towns.

Under the terms of service for government servants, this in most cases will also involve a cut in salary as well as the inconvenience of a move to a new location.

It would, however, seem that the entire dispute is one that can be amicably resolved over a cup of tea or perhaps several such cups. Why the administration should be unwilling to engage the teachers in such a feather-soothing dialogue is one that most have failed to understand.

Indeed, it has been argued that this dialogue should have been initiated even before the denationalisation move was announced, so that some agreement with teaching staff could have been reached.

The indications that even at this late stage, the government may at least agree to discuss the issue with the teachers is a positive one. But, regardless of such details, the sight of teachers being kicked and slapped by constables has been a deeply saddening one.

To an extent it indicates the extent to which this once honourable profession has suffered degradation in the last few decades.

The respect once enjoyed by teachers is now a thing of the past. Few opt voluntarily to take up the profession, and those who are driven into it, often due to a lack of options, face difficulties such as low salaries, numerous administrative hurdles and in many cases harassment by college students seeking more marks in examinations or admission to a particular college.

The condition of many of Lahore's best-known college buildings themselves reflect this state of decline. The once impressive library of the prestigious Diyal Singh College lies in ruin, sewage water flooding its floors.

The historical buildings of the Islamia College are crumbling, quite literally, to the ground and even the most prestigious institutes, such as the Government College, have seen a distinct decline in educational standards.

It is uncertain if the new denationalisation strategy can halt this decay. But the treatment received by teachers can send out only a negative message, that can do nothing to bolster their image or that of education as a whole in a city known as a major centre of learning within the country.