Academia is a ‘no-go area’ for all sorts of genies.
To wish that Pakistani professors turn into an ethical community is unattainable as all these professors are a product of the same corrupt system where academic achievements are subsidiary to other considerations of pleasing the professors, cheating and intellectual dishonesty.
Secondly, the wish of keeping abreast of the latest knowledge involves reading habits and thirst for knowledge which they never acquired during their studentship. The last wish of ‘thinking for themselves’ can only come true if they create an environment of freedom ‘as learning does not take place under coercion’. And we all know it is a big ‘if’.
Do you expect graduates of staff colleges and war colleges to create an environment of creative thinking and academic research?
So the genie is dead; long live the new universities with impressive buildings, beautiful lawns and zero achievements.
KHAYYAM DURRANI
KARACHI