BOOK: Ameena Saiyid - Pakistan’s Warrior Princess in the Book Business, By Adil Ahmad
To
be a woman of substance in Pakistan
Author's Note
I'd like to explain in brief the rationale for the title 'warrior
princess'. Although the stand-alone pull-quote above does put it in
perspective, I'd like to dwell a bit more upon it.
For a woman to prevail in an open field in this day and age, as indeed
Ameena Saiyid has done, requires for her to possess the attributes of a
warrior.
In a predominantly man's world women are expected to know their place and
stick to it. While physical prowess is inherent in the ranks of the warrior
class, it is no longer a prerequisite.
The real determinant is the mindset. The ability to dream the impossible in
making this world a better place, and then to work incessantly, often against
daunting odds, to make that dream a reality. This requires courage beyond that
of the ordinary mortal. Ameena Saiyid has done that, and much more.
In the Subcontinent the female has generally taken a backseat to her
male, and more often than not reconciled herself to her lot that is often
dismal, and does not reflect well at all on the so-called chivalrous male.
Every now and then there has been born a woman thrust into circumstances,
a few beyond her control that have brought to the fore within her qualities of
leadership that have left the world breathless and spellbound. I do believe
that Ameena Saiyid is one such woman. The other, in my estimation, was the Rani
of Jhansi.
I am partial to the Rani of Jhansi because I spent some part of my
formative youth in Jhansi
Given the generally embattled state of the female today in Pakistan
Having researched the Rani of Jhansi, I have only just begun to
appreciate how formidable a figure she actually was. The parallel is perhaps inconsistent because
those times were different, and she was arrayed against the British, like quite
a few in India
It was the Rani's true grit, determination, fortitude, statesmanship, and
martial ability, as well as her role of housewife and mother that I'd like to
bring into focus.
The difference lies in that in Ameena's case the sword has been exchanged
with the pen, many pens for that matter, which incidentally are considered
mightier than the sword.
Also, Ameena has forged an alliance with the British, as opposed to arraying
her forces against them, in the greater crusade for the development of the
human mind in the quest for human dignity and independence, and the consequent
harmonious coexistence of the human race.
This is without any doubt a far higher and nobler objective than the one which
the Rani of Jhansi worked with, and I say this without meaning any offence to,
or reducing in any way the vision and mission that the Rani set herself, and which
fired the imaginations of many generations to come.
Through the publication of this book the 21st Century Business &
Economics Club pays tribute to our very own warrior princess, Ameena Saiyid.
I would like to acknowledge the very valuable efforts of my research
associate Shazia Khan, especially her in-depth investigations into the life and
times of the Rani of Jhansi, as well as the library scene in Pakistan
Finally, a word about how this book has been written. For the most part
it has taken the form of an extended interview, with the objective of
stimulating Ameena's considerable eloquence In articulating a number of
priority issues that we are faced with today. Brief questions and comments
intersperse the outpouring of Ameena's thoughts that are carried within
inverted commas.
I hope you enjoy Ameena's narrative as much as I have enjoyed putting it
together. More importantly, I hope that having read it, you are sufficiently
motivated to become a proactive participant
in the great movement for enlightenment and moderation.
Adil Ahmad (Karachi
Job Satisfaction in
Large Doses
Since 1988 Ameena Saiyid has headed the Pakistani branch of the Oxford
University Press (oup), and has the distinction of being Pakistan Lahore
promoting book sales in the Punjab and North-West Frontier
Province . In 1986 she left oup to set up her own successful
business importing books from the uk
“I love my work. It’s challenging and demanding and gives me enormous job
satisfaction,” says Ameena, who has moved oup Pakistan’s head office into new,
spacious, and artistically impressive premises in Karachi’s Korangi Industrial
Area. Designed by architect Kamil Khan Mumtaz, the building comprises 40,000
square feet of office space and 20,000 square feet of warehousing. A
state-of-the-art integrated software solution (sap) links the Pakistani
operations with oup worldwide. “The new office building is a celebration of
Pakistani art, craft, and culture in which the works of Pakistani artisans and
craftsmen are proudly showcased.”
Ameena believes that the new building, and the strong team working within
it, will enable oup to progress towards pursuing its aims of publishing as many
quality books as possible, developing a local dictionary list, setting
standards for school textbooks and children’s books, employing the best people
possible, managing the business in an ethical manner, promoting readership,
projecting Pakistani authors, and building a corpus of research literature on
Pakistan.
Ameena hopes that people will change their spending habits so that they
budget for books and spend more on them. “People should avoid buying pirated
books. Every time you buy one the author loses money. Earnings in the form of
royalties encourage writers, and it is their legitimate due.”
Most Excellent
Order of the British Empire (obe)
In 2005 Ameena was honoured by the British Queen with the award of the
Most Excellent Order of the British Empire
(obe). This Award was instituted by King George V in 1917 and has the Duke of
Edinburgh as its Grand Master. The obe was given to Ameena in Islamabad Buckingham Palace
According to the Citation, Ameena’s award is in recognition for her
services towards the promotion of Anglo-Pakistan relations, democracy, women’s
rights, education, and intellectual property rights.
Kudos
The Director of the prestigious Institute of Business Administration
Sohail Wajahat Siddiqui (Managing Director, Siemens, and former President
of the Overseas Investors Chamber of Commerce and Industry) quoted a Canadian
writer who has said that ‘…whatever women do they must do twice as well to be
thought half as good as men…’ Now that sounds patently male chauvinistic, which
one supposes is the case with society in general, as borne out by Mr Siddiqui’s
subsequent words that quoted a un Report, according to which women constitute
half the world’s population, perform two-thirds of its work hours, receive
one-tenth of its income, and own less than one-hundredth of its property. Said Mr
Siddiqui “For Ameena to receive such acknowledgement in such an environment
needs to be lauded and honoured”.
Ameena trained in Advanced Management at Templeton
College , Oxford University
The Move to Korangi
Before moving to Korangi, the oup office was located in a large
residential house on Shahrae Faisal. At the Shahrae Faisal office, oup was
literally bursting at the seams.
“Very soon after I became the head of
oup in 1988, I realized that we were making and changing our policies because
of the building we were in. That alarmed me. We didn’t have space for the
storage of books and so we would go to our dealers and ask them to store our
books. They would agree and then ask for 6 months credit! So our credit went
completely out of control. Our stocks were in their hands. We would leave our
books with printers for the same reason. This dependence resulted in our
vendors becoming arrogant since they sensed our weakness. I realized that we
must develop our own infrastructure and not remain dependent on others.
Initially we built a temporary warehouse at the Sharea Faisal location to ease
the problem. Then I embarked on obtaining permission from the head office to
make a purchase. This was a formal process and the proposal and its approval
took a while.
I was helped in identifying the piece of land by the architect, Aqeel
Bilgrami. People talked of cheap land being available in Port Qasim. I found
that, by the time I arrived there to assess the area, I was tired. It was an
hour long commute either way. I looked all over Karachi
oup India
has its own building in Daryaganj in New
Delhi Connaught
Place
Was this a long suppressed urge to splurge? All the tiles in the building
are hand made and no two tiles are alike. “It took three years, but it was a
very organized process. I had weekly meetings with all the contractors and
every second week the architect was present. This went on for three years. The
meetings were minuted and the minutes circulated. It was all done in a very
professional and structured manner. Somehow we managed to keep this whole team
together inspired by what was beginning to emerge, an infrastructure for the
furtherance of education. A house for our books!”
Busy Times Ahead
And the benchmark to be achieved in the next three to five years?
“We have a vast range of publishing and
I want all sectors to grow. Dictionaries for example. We have published an
English to Urdu dictionary that took 13 years in the making. That was the first
project that I embarked upon in 1989 when I commissioned Dr Shanul Haq Haqqi.
We have got a number of spin-offs from it. We have published a ‘Little’
version, and now we are working on a ‘Mini’. These contain meanings, their
equivalents, and sample sentences. The main Oxford English–Urdu Dictionary is for tertiary level students and
journalists. It is a 2000 pages dictionary, and we have already sold 30,000
copies at 795 rupees each. It has become a standard reference work.”
Why did it take 13 years?
“Well, Dr Shanul Haq Haqqi was a perfectionist, and translated the entire
dictionary himself, and he did the work by hand. It was a painstaking process
and such a time frame is not unusual for quality dictionaries. The English to
Urdu dictionaries that were available before then were many decades old and
were published in India
oup has also published an English to Sindhi dictionary for children. Five
years ago it commissioned a major English to Sindhi dictionary based on the Concise Oxford Dictionary. This project is expected to take
another three years to mature.
“We have a Sindhi editor on board and he is managing a group of freelance
editors, compositors, and proofreaders. It is a slow and painstaking process
but we are making progress. The translations have been completed, and we are
now working on its composing, editing, proofreading.
School textbooks too support us but it takes at least two years for us to
recover our investment. They require heavy investment in illustration and
design which is something that we originate for every book. Every picture is
drawn and every page is designed. Most books don’t have a long shelf life and
have to be put out of print when they stop selling. Some, of course, become
classics and go on selling. Mr Sherbaz Mazari’s book is a good example of a
book that continues generating interest and sales. Over 6000 copies of it have
sold so far. The book on the red light area of Lahore Pakistan
but smaller numbers are exported to the uk ,
usa , India , and Bangladesh
The Need for
Innovative Marketing
“No they haven’t but I wish they could be. Then again, I suppose we
should be chasing them.”
That would depend upon who is more vigorously charged with the promotion
of Pakistan
“Yes, and we are projecting Pakistan Pakistan
Except for the book Danger in Kashmir by Joseph Korbel, Madelene Albright’s
father, which the Foreign Office ordered, there have been no initiatives by the
Government to add to the known store of knowledge on Pakistan so the outside
world can gain a better understanding of this great land of the Indus and the
Karakorum.
“Actually, we are very fortunate in
that there is a lot of research being conducted on Pakistan
Reinforcing the
connect between print and celluloid
Has there been any interest expressed by Hollywood
“There was a book by Zarah Nasir called the Gun Tree. She is a Scottish woman who moved
to Pakistan and married a
Pakistani, and she went to pre-Taliban Afghanistan Hollywood
Over the years oup Pakistan
has developed a priceless treasure trove of source material on Pakistan Pakistan Karakorum and Himalayas has generally been left unreported and
unnoticed in this day and age of mass media. Pakistanis at the cutting edge are
not without their connections deep within the heartland of filmdom, that bastion
of picture story telling, Hollywood Pakistan in presenting a vibrant, colourful, and
entirely positive face of Pakistan Pakistan
The present emphasis, right from the top to the bottom of the
decision-making hierarchy, be it corporate or government, whether in Pakistan
or elsewhere in the world, we hear the same words being articulated - the need
for quantum moves and out-of-the-box mindsets, lateral thinking and
persistence.
The Bane of
Textbook Boards—Analyzing the Disconnect
“In Pakistan
How divisive of society is this
multi-tiered system of education that makes a distinction between the ‘haves’
and the ‘have-nots’?
“The government school system has
produced a number of luminaries in the past like Dr Ishrat Husain who studied
in a government school in Hyderabad
Why was the government of the day not sensitized to this detrimental
impact upon education? Common sense would dictate that kids be empowered to
empower the nation, wouldn’t it?
“When this system was brought in I think the government meant well. They
thought they could do a better job than the private sector by producing books
themselves. The intentions were probably good but the system that got
established became a Frankenstein that went out of control. Even now when I
meet people from the education department and ministries they are very
conscious of this.”
Was it perhaps a perpetuation of the
feudal mindset within the bureaucracy whereby they really did not want to see
an empowered population that could ask questions so they decided to sabotage
the education system? It does not add up! To create an enlightened syllabus is
not something that Pakistan Pakistan deal a
devastating blow to the fundamental belief that Pakistan
“In and around the Textbook Boards
there are hundreds of middlemen and contractors attached to them. They do not
do the work themselves but instead farm it out to these people who live off
this enormous state patronage. It’s a powerful group. There is no competition
or yardstick to measure performance and no transparency or accountability; so
nobody knows who is getting how much work, or what criteria is being used for
allocations. The Punjab Textbook Board has an annual turnover of about 1
billion rupees. The beneficiaries are a very powerful political lobby. Elected
politicians managing this system as well as the bureaucrats are well aware of
this power game but sometimes feel helpless to do anything about it.
“The creation of the textbook boards by Ayub Khan in the 1960s sounded
the death knell of the publishing industry in Pakistan because the
establishment of the textbook boards created a monopoly of publishing and put
an end to competition, innovation, marketing and promotional activities, which
increase interest in books and reading, and the projection of writers. Lahore was the publishing centre of undivided India at the time of Partition but private
publishers’ growth and development in Lahore
Free Books
What happened to the Sindh and Punjab
governments’ initiative to distribute free books?
“I didn’t think it was a good idea at all because it destroyed the retail
book trade sector. There was no way of knowing which pupils got the free books
and which ones did not. The distribution was flawed and many of these books
turned up in the market. The Punjab government
started it, and has done it twice. The money came from the annual budget of the
provinces.”
Has Ameena’s very vocal criticism of this non-performing, lopsided system
been taken note of?
“Actually it has. Substantive change has yet to come about but things are
happening. For example, the books being supplied by the Textbook Boards had to
be approved by the Curriculum Wing. So when oup tried to sell its books we were
told that our books were not approved by the Curriculum Wing. Then the Curriculum
Wing began approving our books. That was a big change, the review and approval
of private publishers’ books by the Curriculum Wing. The reviews are very
thorough and sometimes changes relating to teaching methodology, or the
portrayal of a conservative society, are required by the Curriculum Wing. For
instance, in a chapter on conversation, a boy and a girl are speaking to each
other, and this was not acceptable. We take such sensitivities into account.”
Freedom of
Expression—A Book a Week
Critical thinking and the spirit of inquiry are two issues central to
education. In your experience in the line of work how receptive have you found
our society to these two considerations in education?
“No obstacles have been created for me by the government. We have published
books freely including those that discussed sensitive issues, like East Pakistan for example. We generated a heated debate
on that issue by publishing a book by Hasan Zaheer entitled The Separation of East Pakistan in 1990. Many issues that had hitherto
been brushed under the carpet came out in the open and the subject became
active again. The book sold freely. No restrictions were placed and no
questions were asked. Those who felt embarrassed by what the book said
responded by writing their own versions and we published those as well because
we wanted to project all angles of the story. We do not take any position or
stand nor do we have a political agenda. We published several books on the same
subject but from different perspectives, giving readers a chance to look at the
whole picture and discover for themselves where the truth lay.”
oup publishes about 250 books a year that include educational books,
children’s books, and academic and general books. “We publish a book a week.
When we publish a book on a certain subject, it ends up as a series because
other players are inspired to tell their version. We do not present these books
as definitive but as perspectives. I am very conscious of the fact that my
mandate is to publish books on Pakistan ;
so they also cover cinema, music, literature, and sports in addition to the
politics, history or the economics of Pakistan
“In 1997 we celebrated 50 years of Pakistan ’s
independence by publishing 37 books in the Jubilee Series covering every
subject of relevance to Pakistan Pakistan
from Dr Ralph Braibanti of Duke
University , North Carolina Pakistan Pakistan
Books as Fast
Moving Consumer Goods
Why is readership in Pakistan
“The official literacy rate in Pakistan Pakistan
Do you view this as a huge problem or a huge opportunity?
“For us it has been a huge opportunity.
We have published books and they are selling, and we are actually surviving!
oup does not get any financial support at all and has to survive by selling
books. We have eight bookshops in Pakistan
that belong to oup, and we also sell books through over 700 third party
bookshops throughout Pakistan
What strikes one is the rather drab manifestation of the majority of our
bookstores. There are books lined in shelves as they should be, but there is no
activity going on, like authors signing copies, or a vibrant atmosphere that
would attract and engage more people. The proliferation of libraries and
readers clubs is also sadly amiss.
“This aspect is very important, and we occasionally organize author
signings and storytelling sessions for children. The pressure on us to reduce
the prices of our books is so strong that our margins get completely squeezed
out. Booksellers do not have enough margins in their sales to allow them to
invest in marketing that aims at encouraging and developing a love of books and
of reading and developing teachers. oup has a marketing wing that manages our
promotional activities and events. On an average we have an event a month at
least. Book release events draw a lot of publicity and crowds, and gets our
books into the limelight. We also have low profile events like courses for
teachers on how to teach English or manage a classroom. We want teachers to
develop critical thinking and derive the most benefit from our books. We
organize mini-book fairs in schools. We have a Book Bus that goes all over Karachi
“However, what is really needed is a nationwide network of public
libraries so that students and other readers are not obliged to buy every book
they read and publishers get a good library market for their books.
“oup is exporting through its affiliates in Oxford ,
Delhi and New
York Pakistan Afghanistan Pakistan
‘Soft Image’
through Books
Looking at it from the point of view of the ‘soft’ image offensive that
the government is so keen on, the publishing industry has a major role to play
considering that our film industry is almost non-existent in the international
market. One would imagine that a publishing house like oup would be at the
cutting edge of the soft image offensive. “I think it should be but somehow
this role has not been recognized by the government. In fact, I am disappointed
that book publishing is not even regarded as part of the media in Pakistan Kashmir .
Also The Jinnah Papers.”
Personal Journey to
oup
Was the oup your first job? “No, I
taught at the Lahore
American School Karachi
Ameena did her elementary school in the USA, her ‘O’ and ‘A’ Levels from
the Karachi Grammar School, her Bachelors from St. Joseph’s College Karachi,
and married soon after a person of her choosing with parental approval, more or
less!
Match Up with a
‘Brief-less Lawyer’
“It was entirely my own decision. I
went for a holiday to Murree which is where I met Aamer.” Love in the hills has
been a favourite theme of Pakistani movies! “We used to walk around all over
the place, but did not sing any songs to each other!” The courtship lasted four
years. Aamer was living in Lahore Lahore
and Karachi Karachi
Was the courtship expensive for Aamer? “No it wasn’t, since it was
conducted in my parents’ house!” There was no demand for a tangible expression
of affection? “Occasionally, on my birthdays, he would beg, borrow or steal and
bring a gift. Somehow at that age these things do not matter, at least to me they
didn’t. He would talk about the writings of Simone Weil and Jean-Paul Sartre
and recite poetry by T S Elliot, Ezra Pound, and Edna St Vincent Millay and I
was most impressed.” Going through college did you have any political views?
You were not too enamoured with Che Guevera, were you? “No I wasn’t. In those
days I had no political views. I sort of acquired those from Aamer because he
had very strong views that both shocked and excited me initially. For me Pakistan
Large, Cohesive
Family
How was your relationship with your father? “It was a bit distant. He was
completely involved with his own career in the Pakistan Foreign Office. With
seven children he couldn’t give us much attention. He would be gone three
months every year attending the un General Assembly session but would return
laden with gifts for us but, more importantly, he would tell us about his
experiences in the un punctuated by fascinating anecdotes. When he was around
it was good. He would ask me what books I was reading and how things were at school
or college. It was really my mother who was there all the time for us. I am
number six amongst my siblings, with a younger brother, Syed Naved Husain, who
lives in Bangladesh usa and took courses and propagated the culture
of Pakistan
Travelling together given your father’s international postings must have
provided a fair bit of cohesion for a family so large? “Oh yes. My elder
brother Mujahid, who was closest to me in age, used to be my leader and hero,
and I was his obedient follower as a kid, and, because of that, I became a
total tomboy! I was interested in whatever he was interested in. I used to be
outdoors all the time. I wanted to play games, swim, and climb trees. I used to
go bicycling all over the pechs. We didn’t have our own bikes and had to rent
them. He and I are still very close. Whenever we are together we start giggling
like children! We enjoy the same jokes and have the same sense of humour.”
Looking at PECHS today, does it sadden you? “In those days everybody we
knew lived in the PECHS; so all our friends were there. People were mostly
within walking distance. Tariq
Road Karachi Shaheed-e-Millat Road
Living in the usa
Ameena spent three and a half years in the USA
during her father’s posting there, first in New York New York Karachi New York
Omelette and
Paratha!
Going through school Ameena had no career fixations, and no parental
pressures either. She has a fond remembrance of growing up in New
York and San Francisco where her
father served as Pakistan
“Interaction with the other American kids in school had its problems
especially when they made faces and poked fun at my parathas and omelette
during lunch break. That made me cry initially and I would go home and beg my
mother not to send parathas but to pack sandwiches of white bread for my school
lunch. The school kids were quite cruel about that and it upset me. They were
never curious about tasting my food. I still remember one of the girls who was
watching me take out my parathas actually held her nose. However, I made
friends eventually and, if you have even one friend, life becomes bearable. I
must confess that I had the same attitude. One of the girls from the school
lived near our house in New York
Every morning during assembly at our school in New
York , we had to pledge allegiance to the ‘flag of the United States of America United States of America but Pakistan
After spending a year in New York ,
Ameena’s family moved to San Francisco San Francisco
“Since my father was the Consul-General, and there were a lot of Pakistanis
in San Francisco Sacramento , the capital of California
Readjusting to Pakistan
On returning to Pakistan Ameena joined the Karachi Grammar School American School San Francisco New York and then again back home in Karachi Karachi
Grammar School
Ameena is married to lawyer Aamer Aziz Saiyid, whom she describes as
extremely supportive and encouraging of her work. They have three kids: a
daughter, Shayma, a son, Omayr, and then another daughter, Shehrbano.
Keeping Own Family
Small
“My husband gave me a lot of space. He never pushed me to work nor did he
prevent me from working. I had a lot of personal freedom in my marriage and
even before that from my parents. That has really worked for me. When my
children were little that freedom was of, course, curtailed because I was fully
involved in looking after them. The youngest, Shehrbano, has graduated from
lums with a BSc Honours in Social Sciences and has a job with the Aga Khan
Rural Support Programme (akrsp) and is living as a paying guest with a Balti
family in Skardu. She has spent the winter there with temperatures at 12
degrees below freezing! They have no central heating, with just the Bukhara
Stoves with logs to keep them warm. You can’t use them at night because of the
danger from fumes, and also the expense. Shehrbano is monitoring and evaluating
community development projects, and that entails a lot of fieldwork in remote
places like Kargil and Khaplu. Now Shehrbano has a project where she has to
conduct a survey of 22 villages, so she will be really traveling. She is
interested in filmmaking, particularly documentary filmmaking, and carries her
video camera along with her. Aamer and I gave her a video camera as a
graduation present.
The eldest, Shayma, is living in Canada Grinnell College in Iowa for
her Bachelors and then pursued a Masters in International Relations at Columbia University Lahore Pakistan
until she left for the US
Of our three children, Omayr has been
the most interested in my work. We get the Bookseller Magazine
that is the organ of the British book trade, and he would read it from cover to
cover and give me bits of news of the British publishing scene. He used to say
that when he grew up he would publish a 20 volume Urdu dictionary! That
interest still continues.” Omayr now works for Nestle in Lahore
Spirit of Enterprise
In 1986 Ameena started her own business after seven years with oup. “I
felt cramped at oup and thought that I wasn’t getting the opportunities or
challenges that I needed, or the recognition I felt I deserved. Zia Hussain had
become the head of oup in 1981 and the policies did not align with my own
ambitions. One of those ambitions was to publish more but in those days oup was
more of a trading agency involved mainly in importing and selling.”
“I decided to quit oup and go into
business on my own. Here the support of my husband came in. He was working for
Level Brothers by then, having left his practice in Lahore nic Building uk Pakistan
“After visiting the big publishers, I
went to the next lot of publishers who were more receptive, and I returned to Karachi Pakistan uk uk
“I would do the calculations and type the invoices, pack the books in
cartons, load them into the car, drive to the truck stands in Kharadar, book
the consignments to different parts of the country, get the truck receipts, and
dispatch them to customers. This is how my business was born. I was very
fortunate because all my customers came through with payments. Of course I had
chosen them carefully and had done the usual credit checks.
“I turned up at the law firm of Surridge and Beecheno with a bunch of law
catalogues and they became one of my best customers. They would place orders
and mark books freely in the catalogues for me to supply. I built up their
reference library. Then one of their partners wanted books from India India
“Surridge and Beecheno were delighted each time their order was delivered
and would pay me without delay. Then I noticed that, although I was making all
my payments to my principals and other creditors on time, my bank balance was
rising! I was getting children’s, text, academic, and law books and supplying
them widely to a range of customers. I managed to develop a secure clientele
through good service and the provision of a wide range of books of their
choice. My staff grew to five people within two years between 1986 to 1988. I
began generating a good income from running a small business from my parents’
house. A stage came when some key British publishers got in touch with me and
started talking about shifting their business to me.”
From Small Fry to
Head Honcho
“About this time Zia Hussain, who was heading oup, left and a team from
the uk Head Office arrived
in Pakistan to recruit a new
chief through a headhunter in Karachi Pakistan
“I responded to the oup with interest in their offer. They asked me to
travel to Oxford Pakistan Oxford I told them that my main ambition was to publish
locally in Pakistan
A week after I rejoined oup in
August 1988 Zia-ul-Haq died in the plane crash.”
Here we are, many years later, and Ameena has developed oup into a
vibrant big business, complete with a posh address that has set for the Korangi
Industrial Area an impossible benchmark for aesthetic design. More importantly,
oup’s presence has brought cutting edge knowledge workers into a predominantly
low-tech industrial area challenging the neighbourhood to move up the value
addition ladder.
Creating Balanced
Individuals
Ameena delivers a devastating broadside onto a non-performing education
system that she accused of churning out “…very casual and inefficient workers…”
who are playing havoc with the nation’s search for productivity and competitive
advantage in the global village. She chides the Madrassa system for giving
children a one-dimensional view of the world based on heightened emotions and
not calm thought. Taking the mainstream education system to task Ameena says,
“…our school curriculum has been dominated by ideological concerns. There is
still no attempt to create balanced individuals who can think for themselves
with clarity and objectivity. The high dose of ideology carries in it extreme
emotion and very little calm thought and has been detrimental.
“Facts should not be distorted in the name of ideology and myths should
not be perpetrated as they will choke out of the truth from the grasp of the
younger generation. They must be allowed intellectual freedom and motivated to
seek knowledge. We need to guide our young towards a search for the unadorned
and unadulterated truth and not allow them to be sidetracked by dogmas. We
should have more faith in their intelligence and provide them with an abundance
of information aimed at many different levels of education and understanding.
Books, articles, films, television programmes, seminars, talks, and the
internet expressing diverse points of view can provide this information. Research
should be encouraged and archival documents and books should be freely
available to all those who need or want them. Once we have equipped our young
in this way, we must leave them to come to their own conclusions, uninhibited
by pre-conceived notions. As long as we have developed the younger generation
to respect and look for the truth, we need not fear the outcome.”
Emphasizing
Research
“Intellectual capital is a most valuable asset whether in a business or
any other field. Without this advantage we cannot be productive or creative in
any endeavour. Industrialists and business people must take serious note of the
factors that are obstructing the formation of an intelligent, creative, and
skilled human resource able to compete successfully in a globalized world and
generate wealth for its country. We need to emphasize research and improved
teaching and assessment levels in our effort to raise education standards in
the country.”
Education Advances
Social Mobility
“oup is in Pakistan
“The link between education and business is very strong. While focusing
on developing the infrastructure of roads, bridges, and telecom we cannot afford
to ignore the development of our intellectual capital. We must simultaneously
work on both fronts. A skilled and productive labour force attracts foreign
investment and leads to the spread of ideas and technologies. Education also
leads to a better care of the environment, better nutrition, and healthier
habits. Amongst girls an additional year of schooling reduces child mortality
by ten percent, and fertility by 2.3 births. An increase by 1 percent of the
share of women in the population with secondary education is estimated to raise
per capita income by .3 percent. Education advances social mobility and an
additional year of school increases the individual’s earnings by 10 percent in
developing countries. Pakistan ’s
GDP Index still exceeds that of Bangladesh
and Nepal Pakistan
is the only country in the region ranked in the Low category of the Human
Development Index, while countries like Bangladesh ,
Bhutan , India , and Nepal
Bane of Casual and
Inefficient Workers
90 percent of the growth of the higher performing economies of Korea , Taiwan ,
Malaysia and Thailand Sri Lanka Pakistan
Developing Language
Skills: Not Leveraging English Enough
So what are we to do about it? Ameena makes a strong case for an
across-the-board acquiring of proficiency in the English Language. “First is
the need for schools to develop language skills in English, Urdu, and a
provincial or mother tongue. It is not difficult for children at that age to
learn more than one language. I am not advocating that we replace the national
language, Urdu, or the vernacular with English. What I want to emphasize is a
working knowledge of spoken and written English. In India English is regarded
as an Indian language and it is widely spoken. This fact is immediately
reflected in India China China Beijing Beijing Japan , Korea ,
South America, and all over Europe , English is
in demand and is spreading like wildfire. In Pakistan
Combating the
One-Dimensional View
“There is also the Madrassa system here that gives children a narrow view
of the world. It restricts the imagination and thought processes and even
listening and speaking abilities. Our universities also are not up to the
standard. For universities to progress and develop they need to be run by
independent and autonomous authorities, not just in theory but also in practice,
where academics are no longer subservient to bureaucrats. They will then become
more research oriented and their prestige will increase. In the us students are often asked to assess their college professors and the
professors are aware of that, and they take their students very seriously. It
makes a difference. Of course it is also their moral and professional duty to
teach well.”
Rote Learning—Destroying
Analytical Thought
“I want to say something about the system of rote learning in Pakistan
Pedagogy and
Curriculum—Giving the Kids a Break
“The best thing about the shrinking world or the global village is the
blitz of ideas that circulate with the speed of light. The genesis of this
blitz could have been the aftermath of the World Wars when the thinking West
realized that, to keep people on their side and promote unity, ideas must be
shared. Consequently there followed a barrage of ideas which is still
continuing. We have been exposed to many of these ideas from the West and have
tried to apply them to our milieu. We have, for example, read their books on
pedagogy and curriculum making and found them to be very good. However, when we
read about ideas that other people have developed, we realize that emphases
shift in the course of evolution. We are at a different stage of development
from the West and, as far as I can see, one emphasis is at lease missing from
pedagogy in our country.”
“This missing emphasis I refer to is that of the teacher’s perception of
the child. After centuries of being told how much pupils must respect their
teachers, the teachers treat this as gospel truth. It is this strong belief,
taken out of context, that generally determines or inspires our teachers’
attitude towards the children in their classes. The missing part of the writ
is, of course, that teachers must impart knowledge with devotion and
selflessness.
“To return to my point, we must survey the lacunae in our pedagogy
through our own eyes rather than only the West’s. If we do so, we will, for
example, realize immediately the background of the teacher’s self importance
and its effects on pedagogy. What I’m suggesting is that, in teacher
development courses, a lot of attention should be given to the attitude of teachers
towards their pupils. Everybody agrees that physical punishment should not be
allowed. However, besides physical punishment, there are also things like
ridicule, mockery, and snubbing that should be banished forever from our
classrooms. Take snubbing or a patronizing attitude, for example. People are
less likely to snub their equals than those much younger or, in their opinion,
less knowledgeable. I am suggesting that children must be treated as equals.
Therefore they should never be humiliated and their intelligence, which
potentially may be greater than our own, must never be insulted. These are
lessons that the West learned long ago the hard way. We need to ingrain them in
the minds of our teachers by constant reminders.”
“How do we insult the intelligence of our children? By hiding the truth
from them. By giving them our version of facts and cooking up unlikely stories
because they are, after all, children. The greatest disrespect we show children
is feeding them distorted facts. Every generation has the right to know the
truth and we must pass it on to them, intact.
“Where we give our opinions, we must make it clear to them that they are
only opinions. It is up to the next generation to draw their own conclusions
from their own perspective. It is not for us to hand down views.
“Yes, we are human, and views do creep
into the most objective of writings. The only way of addressing this is to make
sure that children read books from different sources, written by different
authors, so that, on balance, they have a chance to form their own opinions and
not be in danger of being brainwashed by one school of thought.
Another aspect of pedagogy, well understood and taken for granted in the
West, is the emphasis on supplementary reading. Pedagogy is not solely about
teaching the textbook in the classroom. Its aim should be to equip students
with a dynamic and independent means of searching for, finding, and profiting
from knowledge. Teacher development programmes should emphasize the importance
of making sure that students get into the habit of reading. In present day Pakistan
“Just as important as pedagogy is the
national curriculum developed by the federal ministry of education. However, a
curriculum, whether developed here or abroad, is limited by its very nature; at
best, it can only provide guidelines and objectives. The way that these
guidelines are implemented by schools, teachers, and individual students can
and should vary in order to promote healthy intellectual growth. Studies have
shown that while students develop the ability to memorize, they lack the
crucial skills necessary to apply that knowledge to real-life situations. What
is the use of knowledge without application? Most children are sent to school
in the hope that they will develop the practical skills necessary to provide
for themselves and their families when they grow up. This is an economic
necessity in our country and cannot be ignored. We need a curriculum, an
examination or assessment system, and a variety of textbooks and supplementary
readers that encourage students to analyze rather then memorize information.
Only then can our children build a better future for themselves.”
“This brings me to the crucial question
of for whom? It is clear that the country’s school-going population is divided
and these divisions are creating huge disparities in skills, incomes, and
opportunities. Why is it that children who have been to government schools or
madrassas are less likely to rise in society than those who have had a private
education? Certainly the curriculum in both government and private Matric
schools is the same. It is only when the implementation of the curriculum is
regularized and standardized that these unfair disparities can be reduced. The
medium of instruction is also crucial. If English is taught properly as a
second language in government schools, it might help balance things out. In
this respect, pedagogy and textbook development go hand in hand.
Teachers should be provided
opportunities to acquire new skills through workshops and courses. They should
be encouraged to make the classroom environment a relaxed and exciting place
where learning is a pleasure and not a chore. They should be taught the
psychology of the child so that they learn to see children as equals and even
respect them as forerunners of the future. This is only possible if the
government allocates more human and financial resources to the education
sector, ensures that they are managed and utilized properly, and draws ideas
from successful private sector initiatives and expertise.”
“A national curriculum is a must for any country that strives to improve
educational standards in a fair and systematic way. It gives educationists a
framework with which to work. However, I must emphasize that a curriculum is a
framework only and cannot, by itself, produce results no matter how well
meaning or well thought out it may be. Its function is to provide a set of
achievable goals and a yardstick to measure progress. The failure of our
education system is not because of a failed curriculum. It is due to the
inefficient implementation of that curriculum. We need to work towards
improving teaching standards, introducing a variety of textbooks, other reading
material, and learning aids in the classroom, and encouraging students to read
widely.”
Honouring Authors
“In Pakistani society, writers are not given the attention, recognition
and honour their counterparts get in other societies. The profile of Pakistani
writers is non-existent in the international arena. As a publisher, this
saddens me. Is Pakistan Pakistan India
“The problems for authors and bona fide publishers were compounded by the
growth of book piracy. For decades now, unauthorized editions on the works of
great Pakistani writers have been freely published and sold without the authors
receiving even a paisa as royalty. Today it is difficult business for authors
to get published in Pakistan
“Usually piles of books end up gathering dust at authors’ homes or they
give them away to friends and families, thus giving rise to a culture of free
books and devaluing books in the process and inculcating the wrong values.
Consequently, people will happily spend a fortune at restaurants, jewellery
stores, toy shops, and boutiques but will complain loudly about the high prices
of books.
“If we want to be respected by the world for our intellectual output, we
have to raise the profile of our writers and give them a place in the sun. To
give a semblance at least of economic benefit, the payment of royalties must be
ensured to authors. This can be achieved if book piracy is rooted out. To
further strengthen authors’ positions and indeed publishers’ books should sell
well. The media can play an important role in publicizing books and authors,
and raising their profiles. Author events should be widely reported in order to
generate interest in their works and, indeed, to honour and celebrate them. At
present, the coverage in our media of literary events and subjects is dismally
little. Celebrities should speak of their fondness for books and reading
whenever they have an audience.”
Proliferating
Libraries
The book industry and, indeed, the reading habit all over the world ,
survives and develops with the essential support network of a library system,
both municipal and in educational institutions. This is where most of the bulk
of purchasing is made and which takes care of the basic production costs of
books while providing an ongoing stream of books to readers at little or no
cost. We need a network of public libraries from Karachi
“You have only to read Faiz on how access to a quasi-library led to his
interest in poetry to realize what a critical role they play. To quote Faiz
“There was a shop next to our house where one could hire books to take home for
reading. It used to cost us two paise to borrow a book. The man who ran the
shop was, for some reason, addressed as ‘bara bhai’. His house was a treasure
house of Urdu literature. The books one was supposed to be reading in class six
or seven are now extinct. Books such as Talism-i-Hoshruba, Fasana-i-Azad and
the novels of Abdul Halim Sharar. I seem to have gone through all of them at
that age. Then I moved on to poetry. I read Dagh, Mir and Ghalib although I
must confess that Ghalib was a little beyond me, not that I comprehended the
others fully. However, their poetry left a profound impact on me. That was,
when, I think, I got interested in it.
“We have a library system dating back to the pre-independence era. This
once excellent and functioning system has fallen into disuse over the years and
urgently needs to be rebuilt and revitalized by the provincial and federal
ministries of education.”
“A successful and time-tested way of bestowing recognition on, and
expressing gratitude to authors is to give prestigious and credible awards to
outstanding literary and scholarly writings. Some honours are given annually to
books and authors in Pakistan Pakistan
“Independent writers and academics are the conscience of the nation. The
very fact that they can be critical of decaying institutions or ideological
posturing, which may be out of tune with changing times, is a sign of life,
growth, and hope for the society. It is not treachery or lack of patriotism as
has often been interpreted by the powers that be, the bureaucracy and the
self-serving elite of our country.
“The author, the academic, the poet, the essayist, and the dramatist have
a great contribution to make to the evolution of our society. It is a healthy
sign that, under the new dispensation in Pakistan
“It is most encouraging that books are being reviewed and discussed on
television and events such as book release functions, book signings, and
readings are now being covered on television. Several newspapers are now
publishing supplements or sections on books. I hope such coverage and support
continues to grow.
“A nation proud of its physical valour deserves an intelligentsia which
is not coerced to conform and can survive and flourish without compromising its
intellectual stand. The Muse in Pakistan
Intellectual
Property Rights
“It is important for Pakistan
“Trademark should be protected as it is a legal registered symbol
representing a product or an enterprise. Trademark promotes confidence in the
quality of a product. It speaks of the standard, credibility, consistency, and
safety of a product and gives comfort and confidence to customers. Anyone else
using that name without authorization is worse than a common thief since he or
she can endanger people’s lives. The health of people around the world is
affected by trademark. ipr protection is what good governance is all about. It
is about protecting the lives and health of citizens. It is about building the
economy. Foreign investment stays away from a country that is home to rampant
ipr infringement.
“Copyright must be respected because writers producing original and
creative works are expanding the frontiers of knowledge. Any economic benefit
from such creative work should be shared with the creator. Piracy is theft and
the property that is stolen is the property and sometimes the only property of
an author, inventor, musician, or artist, and these are not only western. Many
of them come from the developing world. Let us think of Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Allama
Iqbal, Dr Abdus Salaam, Nusrat Fateh Ali, Mushtaq Ahmed Yusufi, and Salman
Ahmed of Junoon. If piracy goes unchecked, a situation will arise where
creative men and women will have no reward for their intellectual labour. They
would then be forced to seek employment to support themselves which means that
they will have little or no time for creative work. Faiz had to seek one job or
another totally unrelated to his creative genius. A great poet had to work from
9 to 5 as a clerk in a bank. Imagine the creative output of these people that
we have lost because piracy compelled them to spend most of their working lives
in jobs rather than in the field in which they had talents.”
And so the world carries on, with the battle for betterment joined each
day by new and vigorous cadres of warrior princesses, ably and amply supported
by their knights in shining Armour, dedicated to the creation of level playing
fields and enabling environments that transform society into a just and
equitable place, in which the acquisition of knowledge is the prime mover in
the broadening of horizons, credibility and honour. More power to Ameena
Saiyid.
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