The history of literature can be traced to the earliest forms
of the arts. Man danced for joy round his primitive camp fire after the defeat
and slaughter of his enemy. He yelled and shouted as he danced and gradually
the yells and shouts became coherent and caught the measure of the dance and
thus the first war song was sung. As the idea of God developed, prayers were
framed. The songs and prayers became traditional and wee repeated from one
generation to another, each generation adding something of its own.
As man slowly grew more civilized, he was compelled to
invent some method of writing due to three urgent necessities. There were
certain things that it was dangerous to forget and which, therefore, had to be
recorded. It was often necessary to communicate with persons who were some
distance away and it was necessary to safeguard one’s property by making appropriate
tools and taking protective measure in a distinctive manner. So man taught
himself to write and having learned to write, purely for utilitarian reasons,
he used this new method for preserving his was songs and his prayers. Of
course, among these ancient peoples, there were only a very few individuals who
learned to write, and only few could read what was written.
Q: As for the war songs and prayers each generations
Educational planning should aim at meeting the educational needs of the entire population of all age groups. While the traditional structure of education as a three layer hierarchy from the primary stage to the university represents the core, we should not overlook the periphery which is equally important. Under modern conditions, workers need to rewind, or renew their professor. The retired and the aged have their needs as well. Educational planning, in their words, should take care of the needs of everyone.
Our structures of education have been built up on the assumption that there is a terminal point to education. This basic defect has become all the more harmful today. A UNESCO report, titled “Learning to be” prepared by Edgar Faure and others in 1973 asserts that the education of children must prepare the future adult for various forms of self-learning. A viable education system of the future should consist of modules with different kinds of functions serving a diversity of constituents. And performance, not the period of study, should be the basis for credentials. The writing is already on the wall.
In view of the fact that the significance of a commitment of lifelong learning and lifetime education is being discussed only in recent years even in educationally advanced countries, the possibility of the idea becoming an integral part of educational thinking seems to be a far cry. For, to move in that direction means much more than some simple rearrangement of the present organization of education. But a good beginning can be made by developing Open University programs for older learners of different categories and introducing extension services in the conventional colleges and schools. Also, these institutions should learn to cooperate with numerous community organizations such as libraries, museums, municipal recreational programs, health services etc.
Q: Integrating the concepts of lifelong learning with educational structure would imply
Anthropologists who study orangutans, distant cousins of the
human race, find in the animals behavior hints of how our earliest ancestors
may have lived. It has long been accepted that primates originally dwelt in the
treetops and only migrated to the ground as forests began to dwindle. While to
a certain extent, all primates except humans spend at least some time dwelling
in trees, the orangutans, can grow as heavy as 330 pounds and live for decades,
requiring copious amounts of fruits simply to stay alive. Thus, they become
very jealous of the territory where they find their food. Compounding his
territoriality are the breeding habits of orangulants, since females can only
breed every few years and, like humans, give birth not to litters but single
off-spring.
Democratic societies from the earliest times have expected
their government to protect the weak against the strong. No ‘era of good
feeling’ can justify discharging the police force or giving up the idea of
public control over concentrated private wealth. On the other hand, it is
obvious that a sprirt of self-denial and moderation on the part of those who
hold economic power will greatly soften the demand for absolute equality. Men
are more interested in freedom and security than in an equal distribution of
wealth. The extent to which Government must interfere with business, therefore,
is not exactly measured by the extent to which economic power is concentrated
into a few hands. The required degree of government inference depends mainly on
whether economic powers are oppressively used, and on the necessity of keeping
economic factors in a tolerable state of balance.
However, with necessity of meeting all these dangers and
threats to liberty, the powers of government are unavoidably increased,
regardless of the political party in power. The growth of government is a necessary
result of the growth of technology and of the problems that go with the use of
machines and science. Since the government must take on more powers to meet the
problems of the nations, there is no way to preserve freedom except by making
democracy more powerful.
Q: The advent of science and technology has increased the
The public distribution system, which provides food at low prices, is a subject of vital concern. There is a growing realization that though Pakistan has enough food to feed its masses three square meals a day, the monster of starvation and food insecurity continues to haunt the poor in our country.
Increasing the purchasing power of the poor through providing productive employment, leading to rising income, and thus good standard of living is the ultimate objective of public policy. However, till then, there is a need to provide assured supply of food through a restructured, more efficient and decentralized public distribution system (PDS).
Although the PDS is extensive – it is one of the largest such systems in the world – it has yet to reach the rural poor and the far off places. It remains an urban phenomenon, with the majority of the rural poor still out of its reach due to lack of economic and physical access. The poorest in the cities and the migrants are left out, for they generally don not possess ration cards. The allocation of PDS supplies in big cities is large than in rural areas. In view of such deficiencies in the system, the PDS urgently needs to be streamlined. In addition, considering the large food grains production combined with food subsidy on one hand and the continuing slow starvation and dismal poverty of the rural population on the other, there is a strong case for making PDS target group oriented.
The growing salaried class is provided job security, regular income, and percent insulation against inflation. These gains of development have not percolated down to the vast majority of our working population. If one compares only dearness allowance to the employees in public and private sector and looks at its growth in the past few years, the rising food subsidy is insignificant to the point of inequity. The food subsidy is a kind of D.A. to the poor, the self-employed and those in the unorganized sector of the economy. However, what is most unfortunate is that out of the large budget of the so-called food subsidy, the major part of it is administrative cost and wastages. A small portion of the above budget goes to real consumer and an even lesser portion to the poor who are in real need.
It is true that subsidies should not become a permanent feature, except for the destitute, disabled, widows and the old. It is also true that subsides often create a psychology of dependence and hence are habit-forming and killing the general initiative of the people. By making PDS target group oriented, not only the poorest and neediest would be reached without additional cost, but it will actually cut overall costs incurred on large cities and for better off localities. When the food and food subsidy are limited, the rural and urban poor should have the priority in the PDS supplies. The PDS should be closely linked with programs of employment generation and nutrition improvement.
Q: What, according to the passage, would be the outcome of making the PDS target group oriented?
