By Emily Temple As the year draws to a close, some of us like to look forward, and some of us backward—and some way backward. Last month, while working on the not-at-all-controversial Books That Defined the Decades series, I was often surprised by the dissonance between the books that sold well in any given year and the books that we now consider relevant, important, …

Praise, like criticism, can make us forget what art is for By  Helen Betya Rubinstein I open the creative writing courses I teach with this vow: “I’ve seen far too many workshops become an indoctrination into an instructor’s taste—a semester-long exhortation to love what the instructor loves and to hate what he does too—and I am going to do my best …

By Karimullah  He visited Chitral in 1989 and established Sayurge Public School later renamed after Langlands Public School and College.  He got retirement in 2012, after serving the institute for 25 years as its founding Principal. Chitral Geoffrey Douglas Langlands, a noted educator, and a former British officer has died in Lahore aged 101. He was admitted to a Lahore …

Arundhati Roy on the complex, shifting politics of language and translation in India By  Arundhati Roy The following is Arundhati Roy’s W. G. Sebald Lecture on Literary Translation, commissioned by the British Centre for Literary Translation and the National Centre for Writing. It was delivered at the British Library on June 5, 2018. At a book reading in Kolkata, about a week …

 HAH Report   Islamabad: Education activists Thursday joined forces to call for the urgent convening of a national Girls’ Education Task Force. In a statement issued here after launching a series of fact sheets to draw attention to the state of girls’ education, the organisations, including Pakistan Coalition for Education (PCE), Pakistan Youth Change Advocates (PYCA), Social Youth Council of …

ON Monday, the KP government announced a ban on any male parliamentarian or officer entering, or being invited as chief guest to attend any event in, government schools for girls. The circular, issued by the KP education department, also ordered a blackout of coverage, whether on social or mainstream media, of any such functions. Public opinion on this move has …

  News Desk In what a historic milestone, President Emomali Rahmon Friday (Sept 14) inaugurated the campus of University of Central Asia (UCA), the first regional university, in Tajikistan. Khorog campus is the second to become operational since its Naryn campus was inaugurated in Kyrgyzstan in 2016. The UCA was founded in 2000 as “a private, not for profit, secular …

Ali Ahmed Jan The much-awaited Gilgit-Baltistan Champions League (GBCL) kicked off with a greater participation of the enthusiastic and talented teams from over two dozen universities and colleges of twin cities of Islamabad-Rawalpindi and Lahore. The opening ceremony of the third season of the mega event was held at the Open Air Theatre of the Pakistan National Council of the …

HAH Special Report ISLAMABAD: Suppression of critical thinking and scientific enquiry have given rise to the current social and political malaise in Pakistan, says Prof Pervez Amirali Hoodbhoy, a famed physicist and social activist. He held the establishment-centred feudal dominated political system for the intellectual decay and suffocation in the country. “Pakistani society is afflicted by a culture of rote-learning …

In a letter, over 60 noted professors, researchers urge Punjab university admin, provincial authorities to ensure the protection of life to Dr Ammar Ali Jan, Islam Wazir HAH Report Islamabad: Prominent professors, researchers, and students of leading universities of the world and Pakistan have expressed concern at the “malicious” campaign launched against two faculty members of the Punjab University by the …

By Waseem Altaf Writing textbooks for students who are in a formative stage is serious business. Errors and omissions on part of the writers due to lethargy, ignorance or self-complacency are pardonable and can be corrected. However, when textbooks are written with the express aim of misguiding the pupils and indoctrinating adherence to status quo, support for the regime in …

Anayat Baig KARACHI: Academics, student activists, and journalists emphasized the importance of freedom of expression and role of student unions in the promotion and strengthening of democratic culture and values on campuses and in society. They held academics responsible for self-censorship, espousing anti-politics narrative, reinforcing the legacy of dictatorship and reducing the chances of the 60 percent youth bulge to …