| High Achievers and your Proud Parents |
| I am deeply honoured to be here with you this afternoon. I recall vividly the presentation last year when I accompanied Sir Nicholas Barrington (the former British High Commissioner and a great friend of Pakistan) who came straight from Lahore airport to act as the Chief Guest. This year, we have all been upgraded. The present function is in the PC, not in the British Council garden; I have been promoted to being the Chief Guest, and this time oddly enough it is my turn to go straight from here to the airport to catch a flight to Karachi. |
| I have promised that I will keep my speech short. I wish it could have been as short as the one made by someone who was once asked to speak on the topic of Body Massages. His speech was simply: `Ladies and Gentlemen, it gives me great pleasure…’, and then he sat down. |
| The reason I cannot be that brief is the reason why we have all congregated here today, and that is to honour 44 High Achievers. Time is not a constraint because honour knows no bounds. Whatever we say in praise of your accomplishments, or however long we take to say it, will be less than what you merit or deserve. |
| Others will be talking to you in more detail about the Edexcel and the Cambridge International examinations. I will leave those topics to them. What I would like to talk about is the significance your achievements hold out to me personally, as a representative citizen of Pakistan, and to all those concerned with the cause of education in our country. |
| Sometimes, sitting in the rarefied insularity of venues such as this one at the Pearl Continental, we tend to forget that we belong to a country of 140 million plus, semi-literate persons. I say 140 million + and use the word semi-literate quite deliberately, because when one does not know for sure how many of our fellow citizens we have to feed, to clothe, to house and equally importantly to teach, is that not a sign of willful ignorance bordering on illiteracy. Without a national Census, we are in danger of living in a national ghetto, ignorant of how many neighbours we have crowded within. |
| Perhaps the solution for a National Census could be that if the Government does not wish to conduct it itself, it could consider privatising that responsibility. It would certainly be faster, more accurate and perhaps even cheaper. |
| I say this with all seriousness because in a very real way, the Government has already privatised the most critical of all its social responsibilities – the formation of the impressionable minds of our future citizens. The void in government-sponsored education is being met, as you have demonstrated, by the private sector. The results are in front of you. Last year we had 15 High Achievers from if I remember correctly 8 institutions. Today we have 20 Edexcel High Achievers from 9 institutions, and 24 Cambridge High Achievers from 7 institutions. |
| Last year, Ammara Aziz from the Salamat School System was the Top Candidate throughout the world in Chemistry. This year we have two – Saba Yahya Sheikh for Business Studies and Nazafreen Saigol for English Literature. They deserve our special applause. |
| They both come from the Lahore Grammar School. By honouring them, let us also pay tribute to their teachers. |
| You will notice that most of the High Achievers are from Lahore itself. Last year I remember how proud a parent was to disclose that his child had succeeded from Rabwah. This year it is Bahawalpur’s turn, and it is a special pleasure to see the student from Sadiq Public School stand adjacent in honours to the boys from Aitchison College. I am not sure how many of you know that Sadiq Public School was established in the 1950s by the then Nawab of Bahawalpur, who was himself an Old Boy of Aitchison. In a sense today, the parent and its off-shoot stand at a par. |
| I mention Bahawalpur specifically as an example, to demonstrate that Lahore – despite our unconscious arrogance - does not have a monopoly on education. The Dr Salams of this world did not begin their lives or their careers in Lahore. The late Dr Abdul Salam, our under-recognised and only Nobel Laureate, received his early education at the viilage school of Maghiana near Jhang. When I had written an appreciation of him, I commented that while genius can found anywhere in the world, it takes true genius to be born in Maghiana Jhang. That particular remark amused Dr Salam and annoyed everyone in Maghiana Jhang. Dr Salam never forgot his roots. Years later he recalled how he had learned of his success when he had topped the Matric exam in his youth ( and I quote from his biography): |
| `I started for home in the afternoon on my bicycle from Maghiana to Jhang city. The news of my standing first in the examination in the Province had already reached Jhang. I had to pass through the Police Gate district of Jhang city to reach my home in Buland-Darwaza. I distinctly recall those merchants who normally would have closed their shops due to the afternoon heat, standing outside their shops to pay homage to me.’ |
| Today, young High achievers, we similarly pay homage to you, with the prayer that one, or more, or all of you, may in time also become Laureates and bring equivalent honour to our nation. |
