Once literature based subjects were in high demand, due to which known poets, scholars and critics came to limelight and played their vital role in improving various shades of the society to shape up. Now situation is other way round. Such subjects are fast losing their value in the eyes of students and educational institutions. Since, literature based subjects are less job-oriented, technical based subjects have surpassed the former.

Owing to the disinterest of the intelligent students towards literature, educational departments of these subjects also facing shortage of the quality faculty members. Recent merit lists of Punjab University indicate the dangerous disinterest of the students towards the literature in order to adopt market oriented subjects.

High demand of business and information technology professionals has raised the merit of the job oriented subjects dramatically. Flourishing private sector universities also not including the knowledge based subjects and their entire focus is towards the subjects offering material gains rather than the spiritual or moral.

Recently released merit lists of the Punjab University reveal that the Institute of Business Administration's BBA programme’s merit remained about 85 percent and same was the situation with College of Information and Technology. On the other hand Persian department's Masters merit list just hovered around 55 percent and situation was not different in MA Urdu. Higher merit shows the interest of talented students towards a subject whereas low merit shows their disinterest.

Diplomas, specialized subjects, afternoon and evening shifts are the additional programmes in the majority of techno-based subjects but the case is different as far as literature and some social sciences subjects are concerned.

Experts also rejected the impression that there are no jobs for the literature students, they said that there is a great chance for them in the media industry where they need quality content writers and editors. They urged on the need of awareness about the emerging job opportunities in the knowledge based subjects. Unfortunately the trend of literature and poetry was witnessing an extreme downfall whereas an outstanding balance could be observed in the west, they added.  They also think that the increasing gap between different classes of the society is also due to the lack of proper knowledge. We live under one roof but have extraordinary distances in terms of thinking about religion and society, they added.

Drought of modern literature, poets and writers undoubtedly depict the increasing distance of students from literature. As today very few youngsters know about Noon Meem Rashid, Charagh Hassan Hasrat, Maulana Muhmmad Hussain Azad and Maulvi Abdul Haq. Distance from Persian language is also keeping the people away from the major part of the Allama Iqbal’s poetry. Literature loving people say that Iran, Central Asia and now even the far east Asians were studying Iqbal’s literature but we were imprisoned by the economic necessities and ignoring the real knowledge.

As majority of the talented students opt for the medicine or engineering rest of them go for subjects related to information technology, business administration, Pharmacy and biotechnology in order to make their worth in the market. Students who are interested in the literature do not opt for it, fearing isolation from the job market.

Only those social sciences subjects getting attention from the students which can provide the instant jobs such as the social work and Mass Communication due to the emerging media and NGO market. Developing media industry has also forced the public and private universities to provide contemporary media education. Media experts say that media students prefer to study the technical side of the media in order to pursue jobs and their focus is minimum towards theory and research.

Dr. Syed Muhamad Farid of PU’s Persian department highlighted the shortage of quality faculty members in these subjects while talking to the writer. He said that all the Phd faculty members of his department were qualified from the Tehran University and now the trend was declining rapidly. He urged the state to develop job opportunities for the students of these subjects. There must be a balance between scientific education and knowledge based education in order to progress, he added. He said that varsities like Oxford and Harward offering post doctoral research but unfortunately situation was grim here in Pakistan.

Dr. Zia-ul-Hassan of PU’s Urdu Department was of the view that we are going towards immoral society and said that unfortunately we are a mob not a nation. Whole life style is changed which was responsible for materialism, he added. Another Urdu Department teacher Marghoob Hussain Tahir said that today the yard stick of respect is the money and media was also responsible for creating this hoax. He urged the people and government to change the priorities. “We are witnessing a massive downfall of morality and spirituality” he added. While suggesting for the future he asked the media to show the knowledgeable people rather than showing the rhetoric of politicians.

Shahid Mehmood of PU Institute of Business Administration also urged the balance between all the subjects. He suggested having a proper counseling system in our colleges and varsities. He accepted that today’s society was following the materialistic approach which should be shunned. He also said that after creating job opportunities the interest of students could be created.

Experts also think that literature’s impact is long term whereas techno-based subjects return soon after your studies; therefore students and parents prefer techno subjects. They also expressed their concern over the lack of patience of the young generation which is keeping them away from the jewels of knowledge.

An Urdu degree holder, Waseem said that he was not finding any reasonable job despite his grip on the subject. He said that only teaching job was available where most of the appointments were based on contacts and references. He also expressed his concerns over the ignorance of private varsities in this field. He said that if the private alma maters had initiated literature based programmes then the situation would have been different.

Students are of the view that they not only face isolation from market but also have to face odd gestures of friends and relatives while telling them that they are studying literature. A student Moazzam said that the yard stick of checking the student whether he is intelligent or not is his subjects and therefore the students who are interested in knowledge-based subjects have to switch their subjects in order to escape themselves from the segregation of the society. Acceptance level should be adopted to encourage the students, Moazzam added

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