Smog

Anti-education in the name of smog

It is a recognized fact that we are collectively an anti-education people. The effects of what is being taught to our children in the name of education are showing on the society. Disagreement and opposition have disappeared. Scholarly dialogue has disappeared.


The trend of questioning in educational institutions has disappeared to such an extent that if a student asks a question at the university level, he has to face the biased attitude of the teachers, while in religious institutions, those who ask more questions are considered rude and rude. In an educational environment where Pakistan is spending only 2.3% of its GDP on education, where the literacy rate is reported to be 66% but the ground reality is completely different, a country that according to the UNDP report is at number 152 in the world in terms of educational standards, where the number of children who drop out of school is 23 percent, where after the Covid, about 9 lakh 70 thousand children who left school and did not return, where the education system is 50 years behind in achieving the global goals of primary quality, closing schools under various pretexts is not anti-education, what else?


Sometimes our educational institutions are closed in the name of winter, sometimes in the name of summer, sometimes there are December vacations, sometimes April vacations, sometimes students are on strike, sometimes teachers are on the streets, whether it is census or election duty, in short, any work of Pakistan that has nothing to do with education, teachers are brought to the streets by suspending educational activities, there in the name of smog. If closing institutions is not anti-education, what else is? Is Pakistan the only country in the world where there is smog?


This is not the case. The word smog was first used in the 1950s when Europe and America first faced air pollution due to the Industrial Revolution. 40 percent of Americans live in areas where smog means pollution. The quantity is quite high. Air pollution in China was the highest in the world in 2013, but in September 2013, it announced its clear plan in this regard, after the implementation of this plan, there was a clear reduction in air pollution. All the developed industrialized countries of the world are suffering from this problem, but till date it has not been reported anywhere that any country has closed its educational institutions, but these countries controlled this problem through long-term planning.


40% of the causes of smog are faulty and substandard diesel vehicles that emit toxic fumes that cause smog. Then there are the factories which are running without quality control and their smoke is causing smog. At the third place are the brick kilns which are working on ancient technology instead of modern technology and the smoke coming out of their chimneys causes air pollution. Burning of crop residues is the fourth cause of smog.


Our Lord of authority did not arrange for proper checking of vehicles, did not insist on quality control of factories, did not impose a ban on crop residue burning and even if the ban was imposed, it could not be implemented. There is no doubt that smog is a huge problem in Pakistan right now.


According to a report of the Air Quality Life Index of the University of Chicago, 135,000 people are dying every year due to air pollution in Pakistan. Most of these deaths are occurring in Punjab. Respiratory, dust allergy and heart diseases are increasing rapidly due to smog. In the current atmosphere of Lahore, if a healthy person breathes, it is as if he is releasing smoke equal to 300 cigarettes into his lungs, but our bureaucrats and rulers do not have any long-term plan to deal with this serious problem. In 2017, a comprehensive plan was prepared to deal with air pollution, which remained suppressed in the files of the Punjab government. And now all the efforts of the rulers are being spent on closing down educational institutions and businesses.


Factories are polluting the air, non-standard kilns are increasing the air pollution day by day, crop residues are being burnt, but the entire burden of bureaucracy is falling on the businessmen and schools. Drop the hostile attitude and take these steps if you want to overcome this problem. Importance of public transport should be highlighted instead of private transport, transportation of non-standard and smoke-emitting vehicles should be stopped, government should follow the policy of recycling and reuse, there should be a complete ban on plastic bags, ban on cutting and burning of forests and criminal action against those who cut down trees, discourage unnecessary use of air conditioners, the trend of plantation should be increased, and plantation should be done on the ground and not only in the files of the government. A multi-pronged policy is needed for this. Closing schools and shops may not have any effect on smog, but both education and business will be further destroyed.