EDUCATION: 40% Higher Secondary students thrown into dustbin

About 40% of the Higher Secondary students of the Punjab have been thrown into the dustbin for a very poor reason. According to the results announced last week by the Boards of Secondary Education of the Punjab, the students did not pass the examination. Why? Mostly because they failed in English.
Heavens would not have fallen if they had been allowed to pass. They would not have sought admission in degree courses or competed for jobs because they would have been at the bottom of the heap. They were certainly not keen for education abroad or any type of international dealings because of their poor English. They would have simply taken up whatever came their way and started their life.
They could certainly retain their self-respect if they could get a pass certificate. When asked about their education, they could say that they had passed the Higher Secondary education. They would not have felt ashamed when their children asked them about it. They could live with third division but not failure.
No doubt, English is the language of science and technology, foreign education and of international relations. But everybody in the country does not need it, certainly not those who just want to live their life like millions of other ordinary citizens. Teach English by all means but why make it compulsory for all to pass in it? Why not just add up the marks obtained by the students in all papers and declare them successful if the total reached the minimum required percentage? It will not cause any harm to anybody but avoid the stigma that they would have to carry for the rest of their life. Is it too much to give?
Passing in English should be compulsory for those who need it in later life but not for every single student. He needs only the education that he gets from studying other subjects.

TERRORISM: Why Pakistan is not called its victim?

Why is it that the foreign media never describes Pakistan as a victim of terrorism, even though it had more attacks than the rest of the world put together and even its President and Prime Minister narrowly escaped concerted assassination attempts? This is not without reason.
Pakistan has been suffering from terrorism since 1980s, when Russia, in collusion with India and its puppet regime in Kabul, sponsored terrorist attacks that were the largest in the world at that time, according to America’s CIA. It was in retaliation for Pakistan’s support to the mujahideen, who were fighting against the Russian occupation of Afghanistan.
Simultaneously, Pakistan had sectarian terrorism that arose as a result of the proxy war being fought on its soil by some countries of West Asia. In late 1980s, India sponsored terrorist attacks all over the country in a reaction to the freedom struggle that had started in the Occupied Kashmir.
Then came a spate of terrorist attacks after the American occupation of Afghanistan in 2001. These attacks continue and their number is more than the total terrorist attacks by al-Qaeda and its remnants all over the world.
Whenever the foreign media mentions the victims of terrorism, it starts with the U.S., Spain and England and then stops after adding Turkey, Egypt and a few others. However, it never includes Pakistan among them. Even the Western leaders, who otherwise praise it profusely for its help in “the war against terror,” don’t mention the obvious fact.
Why is it so? The reason is logical. If they describe Pakistan as a victim of terrorism, they cannot call it a source of terrorism at the same time. They must have it as a scapegoat and that is possible only by ignoring the fact that Pakistan itself is the victim of terrorist attacks.