Reducing pill burden of patients

 Adopting minimalist approaches in prescribing and use of medicines is not just a choice but a necessity in the wake of ever increasing pill burden and their adverse effects upon patients particularly among the elderly 

Over the past century modern medicines have proved to be the magic bullets for alleviating the sufferings of the ailing lot. Whenever human race was desperate to obtain some remedies for crippling diseases and disorders, modern medicine has come to its rescue and brought a sigh of great relief from their pain and discomfort. Discovery of medicaments has served as a life elixir and improved the quality of life of the human kind. Modern medicine that is being practiced today by our erudite allopathic physicians is based on scientific evidence that has evolved and emerged out of decades of painstaking research and clinical trials on human subjects in addition to pre-clinical testing making it the most reliable and credible source of relief in times of disease and distress. As long as evidence-based medicine is practiced there is no reason for anyone to unduly criticize or pick holes in it. However it needs to be borne in mind that all drugs have side effects even if they are rationally and reasonably prescribed to the patients making it necessary to monitor them persistently and restrict their use to the utmost extent possible besides avoiding all kinds of overuse of drugs. Moreover a high pill burden i.e., the total number of pills including tablets or capsules, that a person has to take on a regular basis, also increases hassles and efforts associated with that number like storing, organizing, consuming and understanding the various medications in one's regimen besides paying for them out of one’s pocket. 

Though with the addition of a multitude of drugs to the physician’s armamentarium over the past hundred years, treatment of many hitherto untreatable diseases has become possible, every progress has a price to pay as new drugs have led to a new group of diseases known as the iatrogenic diseases. Ironically these can also be called as the 'diseases of medical progress'. "Primum non nocere " - first of all be sure you do no harm - has long been a fundamental principle of the practice of medicine, devised by Hippocrates, who is considered as the father of modern medicine, way back in 460 BC. One of the greatest hazards in the use of modern medicines is their inherent toxicity and the dangers of drugs appear to be greater than ever before as a result of the immense growth in their availability and consumption worldwide. Whilst most consumers derive far more benefits than harm, a large proportion of patients experiences adverse drug reactions too from the use of medicines even at recommended doses and frequencies. For some patients, such undesirable effects are sufficiently severe to require hospitalization whereas a few of them even die. In view of unwanted effects of drugs, an American physician, poet, and polymath Oliver Wendell Homes has said that “If the whole materia medica (classical compendium of medicinally useful substances) could be sunk to the bottom of the sea, it would be all the better for mankind, and all the worse for the fishes”. Ancient Indian healer known for his pioneering contributions to Ayurveda besides compilation of the medical treatise entitled ‘Charaka Samhita’ has also stated that “even a strong poison can become an excellent medicine if used properly. On the other hand even the most useful drug can act like a poison if handled carelessly”. Therefore minimalizing the use of medicines is not just an option but a necessity since increasing pill burden particularly upon elderly patients is not only decreasing their adherence to their prescriptions but also telling adversely upon their trust and confidence in medicines. 

Polypharmacy, defined as the use of multiple drugs or more than that are medically necessary, is a growing health concern particularly for older patients. International research has shown that nearly 50% of elderly patients take one or more medications that are not medically necessary though multiple therapies are often needed among elderly patients owing to their several co-morbidities and only a small percentage of physicians may actually be resorting to polypharmacy that too during their private practice. Within tertiary level govt. health facilities a standard protocol of treatment is usually followed leaving little scope for needless prescribing of medicines. Nevertheless scientific research has clearly established a strong relationship between polypharmacy and negative clinical consequences. A retrospective cohort study found that polypharmacy was associated with an increased risk of taking a potentially inappropriate medication and an increased risk of outpatient visits besides hospitalization with an approximate 30% increase in medical costs. This necessitates the need for persistent deprescribing alongside prescribing of medicines. Both of them should go hand in hand, complement and supplement each other on regular basis so that the patient’s therapeutic regimen turns out to be well-tailored, customized and need-based in tune with his personalized requirements. Polypharmacy can significantly contribute towards what sociologists like Irving Zola, Peter Conrad and Thomas Szasz have in the 1970s described as “Medicalisation of the Society” that carries the dangers of unnecessary labeling, poor treatment decisions, iatrogenic illness, economic waste as well as opportunistic costs. 

Deprescribing on the other hand has been defined as the planned and supervised process of dose reduction or stopping of medication that might be causing harm, or no longer be beneficial to the patient. It is the process of tapering, stopping, discontinuing, or withdrawing drugs, with the goal of managing polypharmacy and improving clinical, economic and humanistic outcomes of the treatment on the basis of minimalist approaches that are purely guided by scientific evidence in addition to the clinical experience and judgment of the prescriber. Just like standard treatment guidelines are required to guide the medical community in choosing the most appropriate therapeutic regimen for a particular patient depending upon his needs, there is need for robust guides and algorithms for deprescribing too that are equally focused on when, why and how a medication needs to be stopped. Necessary guidelines for both prescribing and deprescribing  need to be devised, incorporated in the medical curriculum and made abundantly clear to the medical practitioners with a view to promote good decision-making and avoid inappropriate and unnecessary use of medicines. 

Though there is no denying the fact that modern medicine has turned out to be a panacea in liberating the suffering humanity from the torment of disease and affliction, it is a fact that at the end of the day most of the modern medicinal agents are pure chemicals bound to interfere with the natural biochemical and physiological process of the human body as a result of which minor or major undesirable events are bound to occur sooner or later. There is hardly any drug that doesn’t come with one or more such unwanted effects of varied nature and intensity. Some adverse effects are mild, some moderate, some severe and few even lethal. Their incidence or frequency also varies from very common to common (frequent), from uncommon (infrequent) to rare. Their time of occurrence can range from rapid to early (intermediate) to late and delayed. Therefore adverse drug events can range from mild to life threatening reactions resulting in inconvenience or serious morbidity and mortality besides being a significant financial burden on the society. However a silver lining in the dark clouds is that studies have found 95% of adverse drug reactions as definitely or possibly avoidable, whereas 63% have been reported to be possibly avoidable and only 28% as unavoidable. Need of the hour is to take concrete measures to avoid adverse drug reactions to the maximum extent possible. 

One way to reduce pill burden and related complexities is by giving fixed-dose combinations (FDC) of drugs. FDC is a drug that is a combination of two or more drugs in fixed proportions. A meta-analysis of research on this issue has found that non-compliance to medications decreased by 26% when people took fixed-dose combinations for conditions such as hypertension, HIV and tuberculosis. However fact of the matter is that a fixed-ratio combination is acceptable only when it meets the requirements of a defined population and when the combination has a proven advantage over a single compound administered separately in terms of therapeutic efficacy, synergistic effect, safety or compliance. In the year 2016, Govt. of India banned 344 fixed dose combination drugs, including several antibiotics and analgesics, saying that a panel of experts has found that these combinations lacked "therapeutic justification". FDCs do however have their own advantages as well as disadvantages that can be discussed separately. 

“In an era of many drug choices and the ability to individualize patient care as never before, the fixed combinations limit clinicians’ ability to customize dosing regimens,” medical experts opined in another published paper further adding that, “unless prescribed with caution, combination drugs may result in over treatment for patients who may be controlled with a single drug or fewer doses of combined medications if dosed concomitantly.” Therefore a viable option of reducing pill burden of patients is by deprescribing of medicines as and when needed. Other possible methods include lifestyle modification, dietary restrictions, physiotherapy and exercise. All these measures form a part of what is popularly known as Naturopathy i.e., treatment of illness by using diet, herbs, exercises etc without using standard drugs or surgery though naturopathy might not be a feasible option in all cases of severe as well as several cases of moderate disease conditions. However, in case of a majority of mild disease states like mild hypertension, indigestion etc naturopathy could possibly prove to be a good alternative for treating these conditions without any intrusive or invasive medical interventions if undertaken under exert guidance and supervision, avoiding making visits to fake as well as faith healers and roadside quacks. Even in case of moderate and severe disease conditions deprescribing needs to be seriously considered on regular basis by the prescribers wherever needed for the overall benefit of the patients. 

(Author teaches at the Dept. of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Kashmir)

World Pharmacists’ Day 2020: Role of pharmacy professionals in transforming global health

World Pharmacist Day is celebrated every year on September 25^th worldwide under the aegis of International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) which is an international body representing over four million pharmacists, educators and pharmaceutical scientists. FIP is a non-governmental organization that was established on this day in 1912 and has been collaborating with the World Health Organization since 1948. This year’s theme for the day has been chosen to be “Transforming global health”. While describing the main aim behind these celebrations, President of FIP, Dominique Jordan has stated that “We aim to show how pharmacists contribute to a world where everyone benefits from access to safe, effective, quality and affordable medicines and health technologies, as well as from pharmaceutical care services”. The purpose of World Pharmacists Day, which was brought to life at the FIP Council 2009 in Istanbul, was to encourage activities that promote and advocate the role of the pharmacist in improving health in every corner of the world. Main objective of the World Pharmacist Day campaign is to raise awareness about the professional activities of a qualified pharmacist and to educate the public on their significant role and crucial responsibilities in healthcare system and also to inculcate a sense of pride, solidarity and awareness among the pharmacy professionals on a global level. Pharmacists represent the third largest healthcare professional group in the world and India too is home to more than ten lakh registered pharmacists. After bringing out Pharmaceutical Workforce Development Goals in 2016, FIP has unveiled its “FIP Development Goals” this year on September 21 outlining measures needed to develop this profession in consonance with Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations. 

International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) has selected the theme of “transforming global health” primarily with a view to lay a roadmap on how to make progress on its twenty one FIP Development Goals in the coming years so that substantial headway could be made in improving global health in sync with UN Sustainable Development Goals. Though this might seem to be an attainable goal in the global context owing to their considerable progress already made in their respective healthcare sectors, it is being perceived by many as a far-fetched dream back home in the national backdrop. Looking at the situation vis-à-vis pharmacy workforce, education and science within India it appears that the country is lagging far behind than developed nations whose FIP members have coined this theme for this year’s world pharmacist day in light of their own regional contexts. In a country where almost 65% population is believed to lack access to medicines as per World Medicines Situation report of WHO, standards of healthcare continue to be quite low that was duly accepted by the government at the onset of this year’s pandemic, quality and effectiveness of medicines is doubtful and their safety is not monitored systematically in all the healthcare facilities. Further prescribing and dispensing practices are flawed and drug use patterns among patients are not up to the mark. Pharmacy workforce though qualified is not empowered and integrated with the healthcare team mainly comprising of doctors and nurses. Clinical pharmacy departments and services within government hospitals are almost non-existent and other good practices with respect to drug selection, procurement, tendering, quantification, storage, distribution and use are rarely followed. As such primary responsibility and challenge before the pharmacists within India continues to be the service delivery to the utmost satisfaction of the system as well as the patients. Continuation and upgradation of their services amid severe financial, logistic and systemic constraints are their immediate concerns before they could think about transformation of the national health scenario let alone global health. Nevertheless pharmacists can contribute in their own modest and feasible way in improving the healthcare system and maximizing the therapeutic, clinical, economic and humanistic outcomes of patients through their concerted education, scientific research and practice-based initiatives. A sizeable number of qualified pharmacists have already been contributing substantially in these spheres all across the country in spite of all their limitations and there is no doubt that well-qualified and professionally trained pharmacists can contribute significantly towards improving as well as transforming national health that in turn will automatically contribute to the global health owing to the fact that India is home to more than 138 crore human beings. 

Need of the hour is to re-orient our pharmacy education and profession in India towards hospital and clinical pharmacy, enhance competencies, clinical skills, motivation and efficiency levels of pharmacy graduates and work towards their capacity building for making them an integral part of the health care system where they can assist the medical practitioners in providing optimal evidence-based care to the patients. Our pharmacists should be well-equipped, professionally trained and legally empowered to participate in medical ward rounds and give assistance to doctors in selection of an ideal drug therapies and their dosage. They should master the art and skill of drug therapy and disease-state monitoring for rational therapeutics as well as rational diagnostics. Our pharmacists need to be professionally fit to render adverse drug reaction and therapeutic drug monitoring services, detection of medication errors and other drug-related problems, patient counseling, drug and poison information services, pharmaco-economic and pharmaceutical care services, detection of drug interactions besides other hospital and community pharmacy services. Additionally they should be in a position to contribute towards formulation of hospital formularies, drugs and therapeutics committees, standard treatment guidelines and medicines management in hospitals. Pharmacists must be capable of evaluating the effectiveness and rationality of medication therapy, in improving patient safety, in stimulating improvements and standardization in medication-use processes, in minimizing costs of medication therapy and in meeting or exceeding internal and external quality standards. They should also be competent to suggest policy measures and interventions for the improved use of medicines both within and outside the hospitals. 

Once our pharmacists become well-equipped, professionally trained and technically competent to render all these kinds of services there ought to be adequate administrative structures and legal statutory framework in place to empower them to deliver those services. Pharmacy Practice Regulations of 2015 that have already been notified by the Pharmacy Council of India in concurrence with the Govt. of India on January 15^th, 2016. These regulations need to be adopted by all the state and UT governments and implemented in all district and divisional level secondary and tertiary care hospitals. Every such hospital should have a full-fledged clinical pharmacy department with adequate workforce, infrastructure, budget and statutory powers for making necessary interventions as and when required. Roles and responsibilities of clinical pharmacists within the hospital settings should be very well defined and there should be necessary supervision and monitoring to ensure compliance with the duties assigned to them. Coronavirus pandemic has exposed the chinks in some of the best healthcare systems of the world besides leaving healthcare systems of developing nations grappling with their inadequate workforce, infrastructure and other facilities in the face of an unprecedented outbreak of the disease. Simultaneously it has underscored the need to revisit, review and revive healthcare policies, settings, facilities and the procedures with a view to carve adequate space for the professionally qualified and well-trained people like pharmacists to contribute towards confronting such challenges and unforeseen circumstances. During this pandemic we have seen even nursing orderlies and multi-purpose health workers being employed to combat the consequences of the outbreak at the spur of the moment whereas there should have been proper disaster management rules in places to allow only qualified and well-trained personnel to step in at such occasions. Now the whole world must strive to develop human resource for any such eventuality in future and pharmacists are a force to reckon with in this direction.

NDMA impurity in medicines: A source of bewilderment for the patients

 A potentially carcinogenic impurity detected in medicines used for hypertension and diabetes is shaking the faith and confidence of patients and making them apprehensive about their safety

A potentially carcinogenic impurity namely NDMA (N-nitrosodimethylamine) has been found in a few medicines that are being widely used worldwide for the treatment of common ailments like hypertension, diabetes and acid-peptic disease. First time this contamination was detected by the US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) as well as European Medicines Agency (EMA) in July, 2018 in an anti-hypertensive drug called valsartan. Subsequently it was also found in other anti-hypertensive medicines like amlodipine, losartan, irbesartan, hydrochlorthiazide, gastric ulcer prevention drugs like ranitidine, nizatidine and very recently even in anti-diabetic drug metformin. This has caused considerable anxiety and bewilderment among patients taking these medicines owing to the serious consequences of the dreaded disease cancer that this impurity is likely to cause. Since July 2018, USFDA has issued as many as 53 drug recall notices, 16 of them this year alone as a result of the detection of this possibly carcinogenic impurity and drug companies have recalled thousands of batches of such drugs after testing revealed presence of small amounts of cancer-causing chemicals in them. 

Probability of causing cancer 

The International Agency for Research on Cancer has classified NDMA as a “probable carcinogen”, with animal studies revealing tumor formation predominantly in the gastrointestinal tract and liver but also in lungs and kidneys. It has also been shown to cause liver damage and fibrosis in animal models. This has considerably shaken the faith and confidence of patients consuming these drugs and made them apprehensive about their safety. However it is believed that the trace amounts of carcinogens found in these drugs can increase the risk of cancer if people are exposed to them at above acceptable levels over long periods of time whereas short-term exposure at levels above the acceptable intake limit has not been established as yet to lead to an increase in the risk of cancer in humans. The EMA update on 2 August, 2018 revealed that the average level of NDMA detected was 60 parts per million which could result in one extra case of cancer for every 5000 patients taking the affected medicines at their highest dose every day for 7 years (Farrukh MJ et al, 2019). 

Drugs involved 

A recall is a voluntary action taken by a pharmaceutical company on its own or on the advice of the regulatory agency at any time to remove a defective drug product from the market. A drug recall is the most effective way to protect the public from a defective or potentially harmful product (USFDA). Valsartan was the first drug to be recalled from the shelves in July 2018, followed by its analogues irbesartan in October and losartan in November, 2018. Till September 23rd, 2019, a total of 1159 batches of valsartan, losartan and irbesartan had been recalled from US markets (White CM, 2019). In September 2019, USFDA alerted the world about the presence of NDMA in some batches of ranitidine, available as Zantac and manufacturers pulled it out from the shelves during the next few months. The USFDA alert came on a day when a US-based online pharmacy, Valisure petitioned the USFDA requesting a recall of all products containing ranitidine, saying its own laboratory tests had revealed high levels of NDMA, above USFDA’s daily limit. Subsequently USFDA recommended that manufacturers of ranitidine must recall all lots and types of these medications. Another heartburn medication, Nizatidine was recalled by its manufacturer Mylan Labs in January 2020. 

Companies involved 

Many manufacturers including Apotex Corporation, Sandoz, Sanofi, Aurobindo and Dr Reddy Labs had to recall products containing ranitidine because of the high levels of the contaminant. This year NDMA has also been found in Metformin, a diabetes drug taken by over 15.8 million people worldwide. In July this year several leading Indian drug manufacturing companies including Lupin, Marksans Pharma, Aurobindo Pharma and Alembic Pharmaceuticals recalled their pharmaceutical products from the US markets. As per the latest USFDA report, Lupin and Granules India recalled around 9.71 lakh bottles of diabetes drug from the US market whereas Marksans Pharma recalled 11,279 bottles of Metformin tablets. On May 22, 2020 GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals announced that the company made a decision to discontinue the manufacture and supply of ranitidine tablets manufactured in India after it was contacted by regulatory authorities regarding the detection of NDMA in its products. Dr Reddy’s Laboratories Ltd also initiated a voluntary nationwide recall in October, 2019 of all its ranitidine medications sold in US due to confirmed contamination with NDMA above levels established by the USFDA (Expresspharma, July 5, 2020). All these voluntary recalls have been classified as class II recalls. As per the USFDA, a class II recall is initiated in a situation in which use of, or exposure to, a medicinal product may cause temporary or medically reversible adverse health consequences. 

Origin of NDMA 

Apart from NDMA, two other nitrosamines namely N-Nitroso-N-methyl-4-aminobutyric acid (NMBA) and N-nitrosodiethylamine (NDEA) have also been detected in at least six more drugs that are consumed by tens of millions of people each year. NDMA and NDEA are "probable human carcinogens" whereas NMBA is a "possible human carcinogen," according to the USFDA. Origin of NDMA contaminated bulk drugs has been traced back to a Chinese drug manufacturing firm Zhejian Huahai Pharmaceuticals by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and began recalling medicines containing valsartan manufactured by this company. According to European regulators, the problem likely dates back to 2012 when changes in manufacturing processes were made at this unit, further suggesting that many patients could potentially have been exposed to the cancer risk (Pharmabiz May 30, 2020). Subsequently Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) ordered its drug inspectors at port offices to closely monitor the import of valsartan bulk drug manufactured by this Chinese firm and draw the samples from every batch of imported consignment of the drug for laboratory testing including test for NDMA impurity. However it is not clear from DCGI’s official website as to how many drugs have been recalled or withdrawn from the Indian markets on account of this contamination over the past two years. 

Source of contamination 

Interestingly NDMA is also believed to be present in many processed foods and alcoholic beverages including smoked fish, broiled meat, bacon, cereals, dairy products, some fruits and vegetables. Levels of NDMA in these foods are typically much higher than levels of NDMA found in treated drinking water. This NDMA contamination could arise from the water the plants and animals utilize, soil contamination of the food or the food that animals eat, or during processing before sale. Pertinently a study from Kashmir, published in 1988 had found 1,010 nanograms (ng) of NDMA in every kilogram of smoked fish sold in the local markets. There are two main sources of NDMA contamination in medicines. The first source is the use of material like solvents or catalysts contaminated with NDMA in the manufacturing process. The second source of contamination occurs when NDMA is created from an intermediate or from the active ingredient itself. The FDA has set an interim acceptable level of NDMA in a medication tablet or capsule at 96 nanograms/day. Although this is below the 190 ng dose of NDMA that the WHO would find acceptable, it is estimated that senior citizens (above 65 years of age) who take a median number of 4 medications daily, so there could be a multiple risk of NDMA exposure over time in these patients (White CM, 2019). 

Advice for patients 

Worldwide in 2017, about 10 million people took losartan, over 2.3 million took irbesartan and around 1.8 million people took valsartan, according to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Many medical professionals have warned against unnecessary panic regarding these medicines. They have urged that the patients should not abruptly stop taking their blood pressure medications because that can lead to a rebound increase in blood pressure, which could put such patients at risk of experiencing a cardiovascular event. USFDA has also advised that the patients taking recalled metformin should continue taking it until a doctor prescribes them a replacement or a different treatment option since it could be dangerous for patients with Type-2 diabetes to abruptly stop taking their metformin without first talking to their health care professionals (Boerner LK, 2020). Then there are many other medications in the market that can be used alternatively by blood pressure and diabetes patients on their doctor’s advice. It is pertinent to mention that other metformin products have not been recalled from the markets.  

Measures to be taken 

Vigorous testing of all the bulk drugs as well as finished drug formulations for these impurities is the need of the hour since their implications could be devastating to a patient taking these medicines on long-term basis. It is quite possible that these contaminants may have been present in our drugs for several years, but nobody was so far aware of it. Before it is too late Govt. of India must issue necessary guidelines on testing of all such medicines for NDMA contamination, both for drugs presently circulating in the markets as well as those yet to be released. Active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) as well as any inactive ingredients prone to NDMA formation should be tested under different environmental conditions to determine how product storage, especially heating, light exposure and time since manufacture, can affect NDMA incorporation. Data regarding drug recalls within Indian markets on this account should also be made public because there is every possibility that drugs withdrawn from American and European markets by the Indian companies could have been resold and circulated in the domestic markets by certain unscrupulous elements as a result of lax quality assurance and drug regulatory system that could lead to a surge in cancer cases in future. Government needs to wake up to this alarming situation well in time and take adequate measures not to allow it to spiral out of control. Further the sources of these impurities need to be plugged and suitable changes need to be made in the manufacturing processes of these drugs. 

(Author is a pharmacologist teaching at the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Kashmir)

Transforming student-teacher relationship amid COVID times

Let students be the masters of their own choices and destiny; let teachers be the torch-bearers and path-finders of their bright future

For long there has been a sustained advocacy campaign going on around the world to transform student-teacher engagement into a mentor-mentee relationship. Coronavirus pandemic has made these voices and demands even shriller.  A teacher just teaches and delivers content whereas a mentor's role is to guide and to inspire; to give advice and to support the mentee. A mentor can help his student improve his or her abilities and skills through observation, continuous assessment, monitoring and counseling. Online teaching amid lockdown has thrown enormous challenges before teachers in terms of retaining interest and attention span of students and getting them fully involved in the teaching-learning process in absence of a real classroom situation that allows physical interaction and live one-to-one exchanges between teachers and their students. It has also posed several challenges to the online examination system in terms of bridging the trust deficit and ensuring a credible student evaluation sans any copying or mutual consultation. It has turned out to be truly a herculean task to ensure full presence as well as involvement of all the students in almost six hour long online sessions on daily basis. While initially out of sheer excitement and enthusiasm for the new system students were quite curious to attend their classes online, with the passage of time exhaustion and fatigue appears to have gradually set in forcing the teachers to look for novel, innovative and creative means to sustain this exercise and retain student interest and involvement in their classes.

David Shulman, President of the Carnige Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching defines good teaching as the one during which “students are visible, engaged, attentive, involved and participating”. He further adds that “good teaching is passionate and it induces an emotional response among the students”. Good mentorship evokes and engages practical and analytical thinking, critical evaluation, constructive mindset and problem‐solving skills that can be applied in a variety of settings and perspectives. It leaves a positive impact upon students’ values, commitments, ideals and mindsets. In times of coronavirus pandemic when most of the conventional practices have been disrupted and age-old stereotypes have been shaken up we need to introspect whether we have assimilated these basic principles of good teaching and mentorship and accordingly improvised our teaching methods or we have continued with our redundant and obsolete methods even in our online teaching. As per Morgan and Reinhart, “empathy is critical to good teaching, especially to teaching emotionally disturbed/stressed/conflict-affected/behaviorally disordered students. Empathy provides the ability to know the students’ world in the way that they live it, to interpret that understanding back to the pupil, and then provide boundaries of reality so that they may function more competently”. Question is do we harness and exhibit empathy in our day-to-day teaching or does it fail to inspire awe or for that matter even touch the hearts and minds of our students in a manner that is essential to foster a positive change.

In the present day context, teachers have to play an enabling role in the holistic development of the students. This involves not only imparting knowledge and skills, but also developing critical and innovative thinking, engaging them in research and extension activities, furnishing instructional material with the aid of information technology tools and above all counseling them for their personalized educational needs. Modern day teacher has to be a friend, a philosopher, a guide, a counselor, a mentor and sometimes a caregiver too. Last one might in all likelihood surprise you a bit. Teachers as caregivers can serve as rich and powerful resources for those students who feel frustrated, helpless, rebellious and agitated amid stressful times. As suggested by Deiro (1996), “Students value adults who value them”. Thus, students who are living in seemingly intolerable situations but have a pro-social adult outside their home environs who cares about them will adjust their behavior to carefully safeguard that relationship. Noddings (1984) articulates that student–teacher relationships provide a rich arena in which students are transformed by an ethic of care. Care translates into interventions that are in the best educational, emotional and psychological interests of the students (Morgan, 1987). When students fail to receive care within their classroom, they are often reduced to a ‘case’ or a mere ‘Roll Number.’

Martin Heidegger says, “What is most thought-provoking in these thought-provoking times is that we are still not thinking”. It is high time when we should think how best we can reach out to our students during these stressful times of lockdown and social distancing and provide the best possible learning solutions to them in a very comfortable and acceptable manner. Merely completing the formality of holding an online class and covering some portion of the prescribed syllabus might not suffice anymore. We may have to go an extra mile in making our online teaching experience more refreshing, motivating, inspiring and interesting. This can be made possible by making our content as applied as possible, by citing more and more examples from real life situations, by involving students in an open discourse with full freedom to express their viewpoints, by using case studies embedded with cartoons, animations, illustrations and similar stuff to draw our point home, by keeping the atmosphere light with a bit of decent and dignified humour, by engaging students in lucrative and healthy mutual competitions, by bringing the best out of non-responsive and reclusive students, by helping the students explore their potential and by acting more like one of them than the one on top of them. By innovative and creative thinking teachers can turn their online classes into the most sought after hangouts for their students.

‘Thinking’ includes a set of cognitive activities that we use to process information, make connections, solve problems, take decisions and create new ideas. It will be prudent to take a pledge on the teachers’ day today to transform our students into thinkers - creative and analytical thinkers. Only when they become good thinkers, they can be creative innovators and credible nation builders. Creative thinking refers to the ability to conceive new and innovative ideas by breaking from established thoughts, theories, norms and procedures. It involves putting things together in new and imaginative ways. It is often referred to as “thinking out-of-the-box.” Analytical thinking on the other hand refers to the ability to separate a whole into its basic parts in order to examine the parts and their mutual relationships. It involves thinking in a logical, step-wise manner to break down a larger system of information into its contiguous parts. By way of analytical and creative thinking we actually need to promote critical thinking among our students that refers to the ability to exercise careful evaluation or judgment in order to determine the authenticity, accuracy, worth, validity or value of something. In addition to precise, objective analysis, critical thinking involves synthesis, evaluation, reflection, and reconstruction. Rather than strictly breaking down the information, critical thinking explores other elements that could have an influence on the conclusions. Once we succeed in our mission of evoking creative, analytical and critical thinking among our students goals of our education will be met in their real sense. Positive, constructive, sequential, convergent as well as divergent thinking will automatically fall into the place. At present we are not allowing thinking of any kind, we are only spoon feeding and storing information in their brains without allowing them to process it.

Teachers’ Day celebration should mark the beginning of an irrevocable transformation of student-teacher relationship into the one that encourages questioning and critical analysis, that fosters creative thinking and helps build constructive insights; one that dwells into different perspectives on every topic of discussion, that explores new possibilities and evokes innovative solutions to our intriguing problems; one that is based on empathy and compassion, care and companionship rather than being a whip-wielding master. Let students be the masters of their own choices and destiny. Let teachers be the torch-bearers and path-finders of their bright and magnificent future. Let us transform students’ yearning for marks and grades into their quest for knowledge and learning. On this day let us think about ways and means how to break the shackles of marks and certificates and make our students effective contributors of the knowledge society who can contribute significantly towards nation building. A minor shake-up will be of no avail, a massive restructuring is needed for the same.

Reweaving our fraying social fabric

Sharing and caring, mutual respect, longing and love, coherence and compassion are the hallmarks of human relations that seem to be fast disappearing into thin air from the realms of our social relationships

Social relationships appear to be undergoing a rapid transition from a close-knit, coherent and intertwined social fabric to an isolated, fragmented and self-centric style of living. Mutual relations are perpetually getting overwhelmed by the rampant use of social media and electronic gadgets leaving little scope for frequent physical interactions, sharing, caring and complementary exchanges. Nowadays people prefer to call or text on phone using short-messaging or social media services to communicate and seek updates about the welfare of their near and dear ones rather than making a personal visit for a one-to-one interaction. Paucity of time, prevailing circumstances, current social distancing norms as well as widening physical distances play a major role in restraining a personal interaction and taking recourse in virtual exchanges. However, of late it appears that the intensity, intimacy and depth of bonding among relations is gradually dwindling due to a whole lot of inherent and overarching factors.

With constantly rising population people who were earlier inhabiting selected pockets of villages, towns and cities have over a period of time migrated towards outskirts and suburbs, building new houses and settling away from the hustle and bustle of urban localities. This in turn resulted into widening gaps making it difficult to visit relations too frequently. Ever-increasing traffic woes resulting into painstaking long jams have made it more even cumbersome to travel across city centres too often. Information technology revolution that enables free video calling and seamless online meetings has considerably minimized the yearning for personal meetings. In spite of having revolutionized digital connectivity, technology can be partly blamed for expanding physical distances and divides. Fiercely competitive times have also made people somewhat self-obsessed spending most of their time either in their own work or other daily domestic chores concerning their families. All this has resulted into a crumbling social fabric and waning inter-personal relations. 

In general it has been observed that lack of care and concern for each other, diminishing love and affection in relations is fast turning into a stark reality of our contemporary world. It is a sad thing that unhealthy competition, one-upmanship and ego-clashes are now ruling the roost. There used to be frequent family get-togethers earlier during festivals, weddings and other auspicious occasions, sometimes merely to consult each other while bracing up for any big decisions or changes in their lives but now, people have become more independent and prefer to take all their decisions themselves without consulting others. This might have its own merits as well as demerits. While it ensures self-sufficiency sans any interference, at the same time it broadens the divide between relations and could sometimes lead to bad decisions too. As they say, man is a social animal who ought to have social circles, emotional bonds and community linkages. Sharing and caring, mutual respect, longing and love, coherence and compassion are the hallmarks of human relations that seem to be fast disappearing now into thin air from the realms of our social framework.

One of the major reasons for fractured relationships could also be attributed to unreasonable expectations and unduly judgemental behaviour. While it is quite natural to expect help, empathy and concern from relatives in times of need and distress, it may not be fair to expect an intense involvement of the kin in each and every matter owing to their over-occupation with their livelihood worries and domestic chores. Nevertheless it is quite reasonable to expect a word of appreciation and adoration from your near and dear ones in joyful times of noteworthy achievements and also a word of solidarity and sympathy in times of distress and grief. This is what friends and relations are meant for. It does hurt deep within when relations turn indifferent, apathetic and unconcerned in such significant moments of one’s life. Mutual relations should be absolutely free from all sorts of bias, ill-will, hatred, jealousy, strife and discord. They should be governed by the principles of love, affection and harmony. We need to give due respect to the elders and shower unconditional and selfless love and affection to the youngsters. Nurturing egos should not gain precedence over valuing the kinship. As the proverb goes, “Nurturing his ego, he felt six feet tall, little did he know, pride cometh before the fall.”

In Kashmir there is a saying that “Panenyev china manaemet  paygambar” meaning that even prophets are not valued by their acquaintances. Probably this proverb aptly reflects the main cause of discontent among relations in the society. Somehow we tend to ignore, undermine and belittle at times, the achievements, capabilities and calibre of our kith and kin. “Ghar ki murgi” appears “daal barabar” to us and this sows the seeds of disillusionment and distancing among relations. We often ignore and fail to acknowledge and applaud the feats and accolades won by our friends and relatives, thus purposely or unintentionally sending a wrong signal of our apathy and indifference to them. This gets subsequently paid back to us in the same coin at our own turn and the vicious cycle continues. With the passage of time grouse and regrets keep piling and the relations continue to progressively get strained. We fail to realize that after all it costs nothing to expend a few words of admiration with a simple intent to enhance the spirit of camaraderie and companionship. Instead we choose to hold on to our big fat ego and thereby antagonize our relations.

Sir Walter Scott has written in his hugely popular novel Guy Mannering that “blood is thicker than water” implying that the family relationships and loyalties lay the strongest foundations of one’s life. In Kashmir we also believe that “rishte gov naar draav soan”; relations like molten gold come out purer after passing through fire. Relations may temporarily become sour but they do not perish. At the end of the day they flourish and stand every test of time. We need to understand the simple fact that life is too short to nurture hatred, jealousy and malice in our hearts. Life could be a lot more enjoyable in the loving company of our well-wishers, friends and relatives. We need not reciprocate indifference and apathy with the like since an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind. No matter how low someone stoops we can still maintain our own dignity, decency and ethos in life. Instead of resorting to vengeance if we reciprocate rudeness with courtesy and kindness, apathy with care and graciousness, selfishness with generosity, insensitivity with thoughtfulness and so on, our life would be lot more better.

We can embed ourselves into a strong and rich social fabric by following the basic principle of solidarity through mutual acceptance. In this regard, Moulana Rumi has often been quoted as saying, “non-acceptance of uncertainty leads to fear, its acceptance leads to adventure; non-acceptance of good in others leads to envy, its acceptance leads to inspiration; non-acceptance of things beyond one’s control leads to anger, its acceptance leads to tolerance and non-acceptance of a person with all his infirmities and undesirable traits leads to hatred whereas unconditional acceptance leads to love and affection”. Brooks also argues that “separability amid situatedness requires a covenant rather than a contract among people”. He goes on to differentiate the two as, “People in a contract provide one another services, but people in a covenant delight in offering gifts.” Therefore it is advisable to sustain relations without expecting undue favours from them.

Bottom-line is that people need to embrace tolerance and acceptance and shun fault-finding and rejection for a lasting, amicable relationship and thereby leave a rich legacy behind for our posterity. We need to give people their freedom to think, plan and decide for themselves within the supportive framework of a loving and caring community. Being judgemental about others sows the seeds of discord and hostility in relations. One should neither look down upon others nor think too high or expect too much from them. Accepting people as they are with all their flaws, shortcomings, limitations as well as powers and strengths is the key to a sustainable relationship. Robert Nisbet wrote in “The quest for community” that “the family, religious association and local community are the indispensable supports of one’s belief and conduct.” These associations are what make us autonomous individuals in our relationship with the community we live in alongwith a sense of social solidarity and a passion for the community care. “Without community care, you get not freedom and rights but intolerable loneliness and subjection to demonic fears and passions,” he adds in his treatise.

Toxic work culture is a disgrace

Wisdom lies in burying the hatchet and living in peace with one’s own inner self as well as in peace with others in the world since peace and contentment are the real measures of success in life

In my previous column I wrote about mediocrity and sycophancy that have been pervasively infiltrating into every segment of our society of late and not only deteriorating our performance and progress but also transgressing upon the well deserved due of the meritorious lot. In this column I would be dwelling upon yet another ill that has been plaguing our society for long and that is the toxic and strained work culture at our offices. Most of our offices are unfortunately plagued by infighting, leg-pulling, rivalry, unhealthy competition, back-biting, lobbyism, jealousy, hatred and intolerance. Again sycophancy and mediocrity play a major role in encouraging this kind of an ambience in our offices and leading to a toxic work culture because mediocre and worthless people resort to sycophancy and flattery to rise in their career and try to pull the meritorious people down through dubious means and debauchery. These are the people who vitiate an amiable atmosphere for their own personal selfish ends and disrupt the peace and amity at a work place simply because they want to be themselves close to the corridors of power and to the people at the helm of affairs so that they can exercise their writ and push the deserving people down through their cheap, mean and deceitful tactics.

Toxic work culture is a disease that makes the entire system sick, stagnant and unproductive. It puts the entire work machinery to recline and rest with very little activity plausible. In order to cure this disease and eradicate it from its roots we need to understand its causative factors, modes, means and mechanisms of sustenance, its ill consequences, preventive strategies besides policies and procedures to overcome the same. Toxic work culture stems from the fact that in work environs where there is disillusionment, distress and dissatisfaction among employees as a result of total disregard for merit and hardwork, such systems turn into breeding grounds for a toxic atmosphere. This distress and dissatisfaction in turn emanates from the frequent episodes of discrimination and disrespect that the employees experience for not resorting to sycophancy or for occasionally or frequently expressing dissent on genuine issues of concern. A system that rewards sycophants and yes-men irrespective of their calibre, contribution and output towards the growth of the institution and reprimands the sincere and hard-working lot for raising objections and questioning actions and decisions in the interest of the institution ultimately turns into a hotbed of toxic culture and rivalry.

We must always remember that anything that costs us the peace of our mind is too expensive and worthless to be retained and nourished. We need to let go and live happily in order to stay sane in toxic workplaces because such cultures have a strong potential to drive you crazy and leave you depressed or deprived of your inner peace. Poor communication, unsupportive leadership, lack of clarity about organizational goals, no reward or appreciation for good work, negative outlooks and lack of balance between personal and work relationships are the hallmarks of a toxic work culture. When gossiping, incivility, rumour-mongering, misleading information, character assassination and false propaganda is allowed, encouraged or tolerated in an institution, one can easily presume that it is heading towards a toxic work culture. Discrimination and injustice on various grounds, taboos and vilification against expressing your opinion freely, unhealthy or dysfunctional competition, shoulder patting and promotion of sycophancy and chicanery, giving space to social cliques and office politics, aggressive or bullying behavior are other prominent signs of a toxic work culture.

Causes of toxic work culture also include authoritarian management style, inconsistent or unpredictable supervision, acceptance of disrespectful behavior, lack of conflict resolution process, individual staff members with personal insecurity, fear of transfer or change in position, no single yardstick for promotions and incentives or even for dealing with day-to-day administrative case files. Toxic work cultures promote people over performance, mediocrity over meritocracy, personal relationships over work ethics, punishment over persuasion and proper guidance, castigation over encouragement, weaknesses over strengths, negatives over positives, secrecy over transparency, irresponsibility over accountability, lobbyism over equity, coteries over collegial environment, absenteeism over punctuality, groupism over team-work, closets over freedom, silence over expression and lot more. Constructive criticism is a far-fetched dream in a toxic work culture as the bosses of such cultures are used to hear only a “yes” from their subordinates and there is absolute no space for a “no” or an “if” or a “but”. Word “why” does not even exist in the dictionary of such institutions as well as their administrators. No matter where the institution is heading towards, one is not allowed to open his mouth in such cultures.

Employees of a toxic work culture do not live a healthy, happy and peaceful life themselves and do not let others live peacefully too. They spend all their time pulling each other’s legs and pushing each other towards darkness and downfall through cheap and mean tactics, politicking, character assassination and false propaganda. They neither progress themselves nor allow others to progress as a result of which entire work, career as well as institution gets paralyzed and suffers from sickness. In spite of the fact that a toxic culture does not benefit anybody, employees of such a culture continue with their negative traits of expressing anger, harbouring intense jealousy deep within, nurturing grouse and hatred against each other, feeling insecure and inferior upon seeing others achieve and move ahead in life, contributing nothing for their individual or institutional development, losing all their precious time brooding and throwing insults over those who progress by the sheer dint of their hardwork, dedication and commitment towards their work. Such employees themselves become toxic and full of negativity to the extent that their thoughts, behavior, actions and decisions clearly reflect their negativity and vicious nature. As a result of continuous infighting and squabbling among employees such departments or institutions fail to make a mark for themselves, earn a bad reputation, fail to achieve anything substantial and remarkable, get relegated to the backburner and ultimately turn sick and unproductive, even resulting into closure of such departments or offices at times.

When there is a relationship of mutual respect, love, trust and friendship among employees of an institution and the people don’t feel insecure or threatened by each other, then only it becomes possible to concentrate on work and progress of that individual as well as that of the institution. In absence of these positive social elements it is hard to meet the targets and achieve milestones because all of the time, energies, thinking and activities of the employees get concentrated on damaging each other’s reputation, creating hurdles in their work and progress, spreading lies and misinformation, taking revenge, seeking derogation and defamation of their rivals, bypassing their merit and seniority in promotions, pleasing higher authorities and spilling venom against each other. Nobody gains anything out of all such sadistic maneuvers and medieval mindset even though temporarily some of the yes-men and mediocre people might gain promotions and positions in their career but in the long run they fail to carve a niche for themselves and leave a remarkable legacy back in the society. At the time of retirement when they look behind there is only devastation and destruction in the hindsight and nobody in the foresight to wholeheartedly welcome them and appreciate their work. They do repent but it is too late by then. Therefore wisdom lies in introspection and taking corrective measures at an appropriate time while one is in active service.

Having policies and procedures in place that ensure equitable growth and progress of employees purely on the basis of their merit and performance and leaving absolutely no scope for shortcuts and personal considerations in gaining promotions and positions can retrieve a department or an institution from the clutches of toxic work culture to a very large extent. Disruptive behavior and toxic culture emanates from the feeling that you can bypass your seniors and more meritorious colleagues and achieve success by resorting to cheap tactics of defamation and derogation and by keeping your bosses happy through sycophancy, back-biting, chicanery and gratification. “United we stand and divided we fall” is too old a maxim yet so relevant and valid even today. Unity, amity, brotherhood, mutual acceptance and tolerance are the key to success of any institution and the opposite of these leads the individual as well as the institution towards a certain doom, not only affecting his own life and career but the peace and happiness of his family members too as well as the peace and progress of his rivals. Wisdom lies in burying the hatchet and living in peace with one’s own inner self as well as in peace with others in the world. Peace and contentment are the real measures of success in life.

Mediocrity is a menace

Valley of Kashmir has produced eminent doctors, engineers, professors, technocrats, scientists, poets, saints, businessmen and artists over decades who have brought laurels to us as well as earned a name for themselves throughout the world. However three decades of persistent turmoil have taken a heavy toll on the quality of our work culture and consequently on the quality of our human resource too. Our work culture and work ethics have been drastically affected as a result of our misplaced priorities and misdirected goals. Sycophancy, flattery and short-cuts seem to be taking precedence over merit, hard-work, perseverance and dedication in our society at present. No doubt we have exhibited unparalleled resilience and invincible fortitude in times of severe distress and devastation over the past three decades, bouncing back every time we were at the brink of getting drowned and decimated by death, disturbance, destruction, earthquakes, floods, strikes and shutdowns. Our hardwired, time-tested survival instincts and insurmountable spirits of recuperation and rejuvenation amid some of the most testing, miserable and desperate times have been very well acknowledged as well as applauded worldwide. However our work culture continues to remain a grim and grey area that needs urgent attention and prompt action by all sections and stakeholders of our society.

One of the ills that appear to have been plaguing our society for long is laziness and lethargy. Late nineteenth century travelers to Kashmir including Tyndale Biscoe and Walter Lawrence have written a lot about this trait of ours. Lawrence describes a Kashmiri in his 1895 travelogue entitled, “Valley of Kashmir” as, “he is effeminate, lazy and helpless. He will not work or try to improve his condition, for experience tells him that this is superfluous. It is in his opinion the duty of his employer to feed him but he himself is unfettered by any duties. He objects to innovations, and when reforms are suggested he howls with indignation. He ridicules drainage and streets as wild ideas of another world”. Sadly we seem to have retained this undesirable feature even till today in our character. We perhaps are the hard-core status-quoists who are conventionally averse and reluctant to any substantial progressive change obviously because that involves some amount of hard work and labour. We feel utterly dismayed by any idea that seeks to bring us out of our cozy little comfort zones. We are not generally inclined to work hard because we do not value merit, competence and capability. Most of us want quick money that can lift us from rags to riches overnight. We cherish sycophancy, deviousness and chicanery as our ladders to success and hate accountability and transparency from the core of our hearts. Much to our furtive delight, red tape and babudom is perceived by common masses as being too rampant in our offices, as a fall-out of which we consider ourselves as demigods the moment we occupy some chair of authority and start wielding as well as misusing power brazenly.

Our inherent sufarishi culture in particular has achieved its zenith and penetrated deep inside each and every sphere of our life. Whether we have to secure admission of our child in a school, college or a university, or seek an employment or even an appointment with a doctor, or get hospitalized and receive treatment, procure a ration card or some documents from any government office, or to get our telephone line repaired, to receive tuition from a tutor, or to get one’s by-lane macadamized, we inevitably seek a sturdy (dae’r) sufarish or recommendation to get things done to the best of our satisfaction or may be without that things don’t work the way they should. Sufarish is all pervading in our culture. Our students usually reckon that only a sufarish is going to fetch them a govt. job making merit an all too meaningless entity. All they need is a degree certificate to fulfill the basic criteria, sufarish and exhortation will in all probability take care of the rest. Hence they feel no need to burn their midnight oil and study hard for obtaining good grades and high merit in their examinations. They even leave no stone unturned to escape from the assessment and evaluation process itself by seeking mass promotions on the drop of a hat. They might have witnessed people treading ahead on the ladder of success by kissing the feet of the one above and hitting the head of the one below, on the rungs of this ladder. Amid all this melancholy and desolation, corruption, nepotism and favouritism appears to be flourishing day-by-day in our society while merit and competence is unfortunately taking a backseat.

Consequently when merit gets relinquished and relegated to the background, it is the mediocrity that rules the roost. Mediocre people who have nothing much to boast and offer to the world keep scouting for short-cuts while resorting to sycophancy to achieve their mean goals. They keep themselves busy coaxing and cajoling their bosses all the time in order to fulfill their selfish motives. Richard Yates writes in ‘Revolutionary Road’, “Mediocrity is a disease. Nobody thinks or feels or cares anymore; nobody gets excited or believes in anything except their own comfortable little God damn mediocrity.” Mediocrity is the main culprit responsible for sleazy and lax work culture prevailing in our society. We need to get rid of mediocrity in order to restore any semblance of sanctity and credibility in our work culture and work ethics. Nigerian playwright and poet Michael Bassey Johnson has said that “to be of good quality, you have to excuse yourself from the presence of shallow and callow minded individuals.” Meritocracy and talent alone must prevail in all our appointments, promotions, assignments, assessment, evaluation, dealings and decisions. That alone can bring us out of the morass of mediocrity and laziness, failing which we will keep losing our meritorious, capable and competent manpower that can contribute significantly towards nation building, to the western world. No wonder that in civilized, polished and learned societies that value talent and aptitude, our gifted youth religiously follow all norms and statutes in vogue, make a mark for themselves and shine like stars. It is time that we nurture them and hone their talent towards building our indigenous institutions as world class centres of excellence, otherwise there will be no enticement and opportunity left for the merit-holders to work hard with sincerity and diligence for the upliftment of their nation and society.

The culture of grandiosity, extravagance and show-off in our society prompts some of our youth to attain wealth, positions and success quickly via short-cuts by emulating the policy of appeasement and gratification of their peers and predecessors. Tendency to live a luxurious life beyond one’s own means of sustenance has led some of our youth towards amassing wealth, seeking jobs and grabbing positions by fraudulent and illegitimate means by-passing the deserving meritorious aspirants who in spite of toiling hard with utmost zeal and dedication reach nowhere and find it utterly frustrating and discouraging for themselves to offer their services or continue working under such deplorable conditions. In a fit of despair and disillusionment either they get sucked and consumed by the shoddy system and follow the same path or else they move abroad in search of greener pastures, in turn depriving us of a precious pool of talented human resource and sinking us deeper into the abyss of darkness and oblivion. Practice of yes-manship is an outcome of such an atmosphere that in turn squeezes any space for free debate, discussion, disagreement, logic, reason and objectivity. Such a legacy is then inherited by many more future generations and the vicious cycle relentlessly continues to bug all our systems. Unless we overcome and break this vicious cycle, it is hard to make any tangible and sustainable progress and development. Hope we institute necessary reforms well in time and improve our work culture and ethics before we arrive at a point of no return.

Hazards of mass promotions

Teaching and learning is a two-way bridge. While teachers impart necessary training, disseminate knowledge and develop prescribed skills and expertise among their students, latter must reciprocate with added innovative inputs, creative insights and analytical perspectives. While learning is a never ending quest, assessment and evaluation are significant milestones of this journey albeit not the destination. However assessment and evaluation is the logical conclusion and fitting culmination of an effective teaching-learning process without which this transaction remains incomplete and consequently effectiveness of this process remains inconclusive. Learning outcomes of teaching cannot be sufficiently accomplished and ascertained unless students are adequately assessed and evaluated for the same no matter what kind of means and methods are adopted for that purpose. Assessment and evaluation ethically, academically and statutorily binds a student in an uncompromising commitment to learn, fulfill the set criteria and acquire necessary knowledge outlined in the curriculum. Once this binding is scrapped, teaching-learning process becomes rudderless and student’s commitment towards learning is rendered entirely personal rather than obligatory and universal in nature.

It is no hidden secret that in our scheme of things, only a small percentage of our students remains personally committed and sufficiently self-motivated towards learning while unfortunately a vast majority of them, practically speaking, enter educational institutions merely to earn their degrees and subsequently seek jobs to earn their livelihood. More than the students themselves, our  flawed education system needs to be blamed for this debacle. Worldwide, focus of education is rapidly shifting from imposed teaching to self-learning, from obtruded knowledge to self-exploration, from stringently packaged-learning to free and creative thinking but it will take some time in our settings to inculcate that kind of mental attitude, creative ideals and constructive mindset among our students owing to our meager exposure to the best practices followed in the developed world and therefore at this juncture we cannot completely give away our conventional methods of evaluation  overnight. Our transition towards this kind of enlightened thinking has to be gradual and well-calibrated; nevertheless sooner or later this kind of transition has to happen. We have to liberate our education from the shackles of monologous and monotonous  teacher-centered pedagogy to student-centric learning.

Recengly an amalgam of 30 trade bodies in the valley including Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industry revealed that Kashmir has witnessed 3000 days of lockdown in the last three decades implying that Kashmir valley has remained shut on account of strikes, curfews and other disturbances for nearly nine years in the last three decades due to which our education sector inter-alia has suffered immensely. As a result of frequent disruptions in the classwork and schooling during this period, many times mass promotions have been accorded to the students in schools, colleges as well as universities of J&K which has resulted into many batches of the students passing out of their schools and graduating from their colleges and universities without facing any examinations. Of late this practice appears to have lead to a sweet tooth, for such promotions or large scale deductions in the syllabi, among our students. However it is a dangerous trend fraught with disastrous consequences upon our budding generations. Students can now be seen going on strikes, boycotting their classes demanding mass promotions or syllabus deductions particularly as an aftermath of the lockdown enforced by the government. They have started claiming mass promotions as their fundamental right that cannot be denied to them. This way we are aiding and abetting churning out of graduated illiterates or uneducated graduates from our colleges and universities. In absence of any robust evaluation and examination system, most of our students do not deem it necessary to study and learn deeply what has been prescribed in their syllabi. If the degrees keep coming to them on a silver platter most of them won’t bother to study except those few students who are always committed to learn by dint of their inherent zeal and zest.

Instead of developing novel and innovative ways to assess and evaluate the students in tune  with fast changing global trends wherein adapting a virtual lifestyle has become a new norm, we sometimes find it easier to dole out mass promotions to the students at large and absolve ourselves of all responsibilities of evaluating the basic pre-requisites of graduation among our students. This way we are paving way for a long-term deterioration of our society since this act amounts to slow poisoning of our roots because mass promotions will lead to graduates sans any knowledge, skills and competencies. We will be producing doctors without any knowledge of how to treat, engineers without any skills of how to build, teachers and professors without any competencies of how to teach, lawyers sans any knowledge about the laws of the land, scientists without any insight about the real ethos of science, artists without any clue about the concept of art, economists without any inkling of the principles of economy, so on and so forth. People will be holding degrees in their hands without any aptitude and know-how about their area of expertise making those degrees merely worth a piece of paper. Such graduates can hardly be expected to contribute significantly towards nation building and knowledge society. They will be graduates sans any knowledge capital and devoid of any proficiency and expertise in their area of graduation or specialization.

There is no denying the fact that frequent shutdowns in the valley have taken a toll on the education sector making regular classwork in our educational institutions a long-cherished dream and affecting students drastically, both academically as well as psychologically. Students are finding it hard to receive knowledge from their teachers seamlessly building more pressure upon them to study on their own and explore educational resources for themselves. Though some online teaching has been initiated post-covid lockdown in April this year, due to low internet speed and poor connectivity students have been finding it hard to attend online lectures without any disruptions. Teachers have also been finding it hard to upload audio/video files and even powerpoint presentations over various online platforms like Google Classroom etc. It is high time for the government to restore high speed internet in the interest of our academics. Less than 50% of students have been able to attend online classes and even this percentage is facing lot of difficulties in downloading course material and attending lectures without any upsetting disturbances. Overall it has been a very discouraging and unpleasant experience for the teachers whose work including their teaching, research output, extension and outreach activities have been drastically affected by these frequent lockdowns. They have not been able to attend any scientific conferences nor have they been able to present or publish any research papers which are direly needed for their academic growth and career progression. Past one year has been the most unproductive year in their career. However mass promotion is no solution to this problem faced by the students. All students must strive to appear in online internal assessment by hook or by crook as our school-going children have managed to do. 

Biggest lesson learnt over the last two decades of turmoil has been that all educational institutions must create and strengthen their online teaching platforms and virtual classrooms where they can maintain attendance of students, interact with them and answer their queries in real-time, monitor all online classes from one place, assess and evaluate them online, where audio and video files can be shared and uploaded freely and where students can complete and submit their assignments too. Education must not be allowed to suffer under any circumstances for education is the only hope. Students must continue to attend online classes in spite of the flaws and short-comings of online teaching using networks running at a snail’s pace and they must be assessed internally using online platforms at the end of the session. Assessment may include MCQ-based questions, oral viva, brief presentations on specific topics or sub-topics randomly selected by the teacher on-the-spot, problem-based learning using case studies allowing open-book examination wherever required, group discussions, continuous assessment and other activities based on teamwork and outcome-based learning. Any online mode of assessment that evaluates and ensures that the students have acquired sufficient knowledge and gained sufficient skills and competency in their respective subjects will suffice the need, no matter which platform or method is used to test the same. Teachers who teach their students throughout the semester must be given full autonomy to internally assess and evaluate them online by all possible means. That will be perfectly in consonance with the concept of living with the coronavirus.

Main focus of our students whether at school, college or university level should always be on learning in its real essence rather than on passing examinations and gaining degrees. They need to introspect what and how much they have learnt at the end of the academic session rather than how many marks and certificates they have obtained because they need to understand that degrees and certificates sans sufficient knowledge, aptitude and skills will be of no avail in today’s competitive world. If we try to appropriate the system to our advantage by unscrupulous  and unwarranted means we will be fooling ourselves not the system. Gimmickry and politicking for the sake of passing examinations and gaining degrees will not stand anyone in a good stead since such activities will prove to be self-defeating and detrimental in the long run in terms of evolving ourselves as empowered citizens and significant contributors towards nation building. While vociferously pushing for mass promotions we need to make a hard choice whether we want to develop ourselves as knowledgeable graduates or graduated illiterates. It is time that we strengthen our resolve and commitment towards gaining knowledge and emerging as learnt and proficient citizens so that we can live upto the challenges thrown by the twenty first century and bring our society out of the morass of skill-deprivation and dependency.

Fond memories that haunt: An ode to a dear friend

youn lagay dost tera mujh say khafa ho jana

jis tarah phool say khushboo ka juda ho jana

ahl-e-dil say yeh tera tark-e-talluq yaani

waqt say pehlay aseeroun ka riha ho jana

(Qateel Shifaie)

It was the premier Rising Kashmir Conclave organized at SKICC, Srinagar in the year 2009 where I met Dr. Syed Shujaat Bukhari sahib for the very first time while receiving an award for writing a paper on the “Measures to revamp higher education sector of Jammu and Kashmir state” that had been adjudged among top three by the peer reviewers. It was a brief and pleasant interaction with him when for the very first time I got to hear him as an eloquent, graceful, articulate and elegant young man. His impressive personality was glowing on the dais and adding glamour to the magnificent milieu of the SKICC auditorium. After that I happened to meet him again at a meeting of a group of prominent civil society members in the winter of 2011 who had gathered to discuss the growing menace of drug addiction in the valley and to find ways and means by which it could be curbed and controlled. After a threadbare discussion they had arrived at the conclusion that lack of a comprehensive drug policy in the state was primarily responsible for the menace and wanted someone to assist them in framing a draft drug policy for the state. A couple of my articles published on January 9^th, 2005 and February 27^th, 2008 in another leading English Daily on the need to frame a drug policy in J&K had perhaps prompted Prof. Mehraj-ud-Din, former Director of SKIMS, Srinagar to propose my name for the intended job.

I was immediately called to join the meeting that was being chaired by Late Shujaat sahab though he had kept his happy-go-lucky attitude and pleasant sense of humour in tact. I always found him cool, relaxed and cheerful in such meetings but would never lose track of the main agenda and never indulge in any loose talk. He greeted me with a warm welcome in presence of all the renowned civil society members and asked me to share my views about the topic of discussion. At the end of the meeting I was asked to frame on a comprehensive and robust draft drug policy for the state of J&K that could be presented to the government. I did the needful well in time and published the main highlights of my draft in Daily Rising Kashmir on January 15^th, 2012. Our delegation led by Shujaat Bukhari met then Chief Minister of J&K and presented the draft drug policy framed by us, after a lot of brainstorming, for its adoption and implementation. Subsequently a meeting was arranged with then Commissioner-Secretary Health and his entire team of officers where a four hour long marathon discussion ensued on each and every facet of the draft drug policy. Most of our suggestions were accepted by them whereas some were set aside. Premier drug policy of the state was finally approved by the state cabinet of ministers as well as the state legislative assembly on February 12^th, 2012. Thereafter it took us dozens of meetings with various ministers and government officials besides three Chief Ministers of the state to get the policy substantially adopted and implemented. Main credit for the same goes to Late Shujaat sahib since each and every such meeting was arranged and led by him. He had additionally written a series of editorials and columns in his newspaper on the need for implementing a drug policy in the state.

Shujaat sahib would always arrive in time in all such meetings in spite of his very hectic schedule back at his newsdesk. He would warmly greet and affably interact with all members of the delegation before every such meeting. He was very kind and affectionate towards me too. His poise and persona would add value and vigour to our visiting delegation. He was invariably the one to make the opening remarks in our meetings with the government officials. Subsequently he would neatly pass the baton to other members for further elaboration. His commitment towards the social cause was unflinching and indomitable. Even though some of us would occasionally get emotional about issues and raise our pitch in support of our demands, he was always calm, composed and cordial. Many times when we were utterly disappointed due to inaction of the government functionaries he would boost our morale and encourage us to exhibit perseverance till the desired goals are attained. During none of our meetings would he ever digress from the main agenda or indulge in any needless discussion with the authorities. It was an unwritten and undeclared law among our circles not to push for any kind of personal agenda during such meetings and every member of the delegation would religiously follow this rule. Shujaat sahib deserved all accolades and salutations for making the social agenda so personal and using all his personal relations and contacts to salvage maximum benefits for the common masses from the government quarters.

Just a couple of days before his assassination, we met at his office to devise our plan of action for resolving several pending issues related to healthcare system of the state. During our casual discussion he informed us that for some days he was being intimidated by some unknown people over social media sites. We requested him to exercise caution and tighten his security but he did not seem to be scared or bothered much by the rant. He was as cool as ever and didn’t pay much heed to the threats. News of his death just a couple of days later shook the hell out of us as nobody would have ever imagined even in his wildest dreams that a completely harmless and docile person like Shujaat Bukhari would be killed so mercilessly. Shujaat sahib was the formidable voice of our nation. He would often highlight the socio-political issues of the valley on national print and electronic media in a very cogent, argumentative and articulate manner. He would never indulge in mud-slinging and blame-game but would put across his points with sound reasoning and logical inferences leaving his opponents speechless. He was a man of substance who would always rely on facts, figures and genuine oratory. He believed in making logical interventions through consistent lobbying, persistent advocacy and persuasive pressure. He never indulged in baseless rhetoric, hollow sloganeering and meaningless jeering. His viewpoints and arguments were grounded in well-established historical facts, well-accepted norms and conventions. He represented Kashmir in many international conferences and aptly highlighted the plight of the people of this beleaguered nation whenever he got an opportunity to do so. Apart from reading, writing and speaking, he loved travelling and socializing. He visited Human Resource Development Centre of the University of Kashmir several times as a Resource Person and delivered very informative and insightful lectures on issues related to mass media and Kashmir.

On his second death anniversary I pay my homage to his noble and pious soul and pray to the Almighty to grant him an abode in the highest echelons of Jannat-ul-Firdous. May his departed soul find eternal peace and solace in the gardens of paradise. His sudden death has indeed been a tremendous, irreparable loss to the Kashmiri nation.  His death has left a big void that can never ever be filled. My best wishes to his bereaved family members who might not have come to terms and reconciled with his sudden departure even after a lapse of two years. May Almighty bless them with the zeal, strength and fortitude to carry forward the vision and mission of his life. Shujaat sahib will continue to remain immortal forever and will continue to live in our hearts for all times to come. 

ae jahan ham ko adaawat say nahein hay fursat

phir kabhi dushman-e-arbaab-e-wafa ho jana

yeh bhi tere qad-o-qaamat say chupaya na gaya

ek sitaray say tera mah-e-laqa ho jana

 (Qateel Shifaie)