HOW times change! These days, cell phones are a dime a dozen. Communication is no more a major issue for human beings. But there was a time — half a decade back, to be precise — when having a regular telephone connection used to be a big deal. On Feb 10, 1975 it was learnt that 51000 applications for phone connection were pending in Karachi. Against the (then) installation capacity of 87,900 lines, 60,155 connections had been granted until Dec 1, 1974, leaving a balance of 27,745 lines.

Inadequacy wasn’t limited to the field of communication. The same day, Feb 10, the students of Riyaz Girls Inter College Liaquatabad boycotted classes to press for the acceptance of their demands for adequate furniture, availability of drinking water and introduction of sections to overcome the problem of overcrowding at the institution. The principal of the college in a statement said the students abstained from classes despite the fact that they had been given the assurance that their demands would be met in seven days.

Education was the focus of the media’s attention on Feb 15 as well when Sindh’s Education Minister Pyarali Allana, presiding over the first meeting of the Karachi University Senate, assured that the government would try to resolve all the financial problems faced by the University of Karachi (KU) in light of an inquiry report expected to be released a week later. Mr Allana, who was also the pro chancellor of KU, said a committee had been set up to remedy various financial ills and to streamline the working of the university. He added the government was spending 33 per cent of its total budget on education and reaffirmed its intention to provide more funds for the advancement of literacy in the province. The minister paid tribute to the University of Karachi for its good all-round performance and hoped that the teachers would devote more attention to the students.

While promises were being made on the one hand, on the other, on Feb 11 the Directorate of Education, Karachi expressed its inability to carry out annual inspection of schools undertaken for the purpose of ensuring implementation of various government directives. The reason was that, the directorate claimed, it did not have funds to provide transport to the district school inspectors nor did it have enough stationary or the facility to dispatch circulars and directives issued from time to time to the 2,282 schools in the city.

All was not doom and gloom, though. On Feb 12, it was reported that two teenage girls, including one from Quetta, had regained eyesight thanks to the generous donation of cornea by a 115-year-old lady from Sri Lanka, Mrs V Emalishamy. According to the Karachi Lions Eye Bank, the cornea was grafted on to the girls’ eyes within 24 hours of the arrival — at Spencer’s Eye Hospital run by the Karachi Municipal Corporation (KMC) — of the precious donation from Colombo. Both girls were orphan and doing well after the operation. One report suggested that it was ‘probably’ for the first time in the world that eyes from as old a person as 115 years of age had been used to treat the corneal blind.

Published in Dawn, February 10th, 2025