Daily Times

Sir: I just want to draw the attention of people, especially youngsters and those people who are in the prime of their youth, to a certain reality of life. What is the basic aim of getting education? Is it only for the reason to be called educated or to impress others? Do we get education just for the sake of getting education and no other higher aims are behind that? Basically, the aim of education is to bring awareness among people, so that they decide what is right and wrong and what would be the consequences of taking a turn towards a certain path. If education does not enlighten us then it is of no use, but enlightenment does not mean to go beyond a prescribed limit.

The incident that is constantly troubling me is the suspicious death of a woman a few days ago, who died of no illness or disease; in fact, nobody knows the reason for her death. Even her in-laws are ignorant of the cause of her death. Here the question arises: who is responsible for her death because it is clear that she did not die a natural death, which means that there were some hidden facts behind her demise. Problems arise between a married couple and it is a natural phenomenon, but mostly people are able to resolve them without causing physical harm to one another. It is also not possible that an educated girl commits suicide knowing that she has two small children who really need her. The reality should come into the forefront about the culprits behind her death, which could not be done, because the parents of the girl put their case in the court of Allah or on the Day of Judgment. An innocent person does not come up with an alibi like the one the deceased woman’s husband has as in this case. What kind of education imparted values to a highly educated family who allegedly committed such heinous acts on that poor woman? If there are any problems between a husband and wife, they should resolve them by themselves in a calm manner rather than retaliating or practising a cruel act. If an educated man does the same thing as an uneducated one then what is the difference between a knowledgeable and an ignorant one? The Holy Quran states: Are those who know equal to those who do not know? (az Zamar, 9).

The right kind of knowledge does not lead towards a wrong act because knowledge inculcates in people tolerance, awareness, ability to differentiate things and elucidate them, courage and determination. It is our intolerance due to which we suffer in our lives and after acquiring education, we remain ignorant of the realities of life. We do not have courage to raise our voices against any wrongdoing. As ‘ill-luck’ would have it, we do not obtain education to gain knowledge; rather we acquire it to be called educated, which is far from the basic aim of education. I t is still hard to believe that such a death occurred in an educated family. All the young people should realise the real aim of education so that no one becomes a victim of any cruel act by an educated person under the disguise of being educated again.

AATIKA JAMIL

Lahore