Off Days are Blessed Breaks

The universal fondness for days off is deeply rooted in Pakistan’s cultural and social fabric. While people everywhere cherish a break from work, several unique factors make this sentiment particularly pronounced in Pakistan. Besides cultural context, there are family connections, climatic conditions, and centuries old love for relaxation from work and assumption of power feeling of breaking the routine. Pakistanis generally have a positive and celebratory attitude towards holidays, but the approach varies depending on the type of holiday. There are religious Holidays like Eid-ul-Fitr,  Eid-ul-Adha, Ramadan and Muharram. Then there are National Holidays like 14th August and 23rd March. This is followed by cultural holidays such as Basant (Spring Festival). Christmas, Holi, Diwali, and other holidays are celebrated by Christian, Hindu, and other minority communities with cultural flair. This article is more about the casual holidays that prompts us to take an off from work or office. 

There several reasons of feeling tempted to an off. Pakistan experiences a diverse and often extreme climate, from scorching summers to freezing winters in certain regions. Days off offer a respite from harsh weather, allowing people to stay indoors, relax, and avoid the discomfort of the elements. This downtime becomes especially valuable during the more challenging seasons. As for example, Fridays hold spiritual significance in Islam, serving as a day for communal prayers and reflection. Many Pakistanis use this day to focus on their faith and spend time with family. Such days off not only accommodate religious practices but also provide a sense of peace and purpose. 

Furthermore, the harsh climate and the rising expenditure of life also tempts the men to reduce or to avoid commuting from and to the workplace and to save the fuel. These days traveling to the workplace by public transport has become really an issue because most of these vehicles are outdated and do not save the travelers from the harsh climatic conditions. Moreover, the condition of the roads, smoke, and pollution on the roads also makes one feel shirking from travelling to reach the office. The rising cost of living and the prices of the fuel also tempt human beings to save money and not to travel to the workplace. Besides the workplaces have also become congested, too much authoritative, the non-affordable working style, the problematic situation around associated with the harassment of men and women also makes it difficult to attend to the work or temps the workers to go on leave instead of being regular at work. 

At the individual level, psychologies also play huge role in it. This brings a great feeling as well when the system wants to keep the personnel engaged and one can deny it by offering some lame excuse of being ill disposed. This also lends an air of superiority to those who don’t dare defy the system. This brings a feeling of power one may claim to exercise one’s will instead of following the dictates of others. Besides socio-cultural rational behind work shirking, there are physical reasons also. In the hot climates areas of Pakistan bodies are lazy and not strongly built to compete the harshness of life. It is considered by many to avoid the drudgery of life and prefer the comfortable home environment.  This also lends freedom of gossip at longer intervals with friends and family which again provides a pleasure of lifestyle, sometimes to settle the scores and sometime to engage in the extended family dialogue.

Besides, there are technical issues also. In today’s work world in the 21st-century the rapid introduction of AI tools and the computerization and digitalization of working environment is creating hurdles for the traditional workers and so they have lost interest in their work and the workplace. Only the people who are interested in digital work and are ambitious enough to use AI tools to facilitate their work and to reduce the hard working and create interest in the work, are feeling interested in their work and happily the commute the difficult way to their workplaces and attend to their work. Not only this one more emerging factor has brought new situations and trends before us. This new situation is related to the private ventures where the working environment is good and also tempts one to take interest in the work alongside the regularity and punctuality. The public sector institutions could not develop this environment and so there are problems of casual leaves and of not getting interested in work. But in case of private ventures the same people do their work honestly regularly and with responsibility and enjoy the off days which are permitted by the system only.

The love for days off in Pakistan is a blend of cultural, religious, and personal values. Whether it’s cherishing time with loved ones, participating in vibrant celebrations, or simply finding solace in a break from daily routines, these moments are deeply treasured. In essence, days off symbolize more than just rest—they reflect a way of life that prioritizes connection, celebration, and well-being. In Pakistan, like elsewhere, achieving a healthy work-life balance is a priority for many. Days off serve as a vital chance to unwind, recharge, and engage in personal interests or hobbies. This balance not only enhances productivity but also promotes mental and physical well-being, making these breaks an essential part of life.

Teaching in 21st century

 

Education Next!

Now when Artificial intelligence has gained ground everywhere, the modes of education also need to be revised. Now the teacher no more needs to read books and make notes for the classes because all these notes are available all around and more can be had by the giving a suitable and good prompt to the chat GTP. Now, in 21^st century lectures, elaborate slides and a large variety of notes are not required because all this available prepared. learner can summaries, get significant information and the analysis of the same as well. So, what should the classroom do now. Now, the classroom should not be a place for lectures rather it should be a place of open discussion forum under the guidance of the teachers. However, classes based on practical skills are to be done in the laboratories. Similarly, the classes based on research are also to be completed in the research labs. It means that classes which are based on theory are mostly to suffer the burden of artificial intelligence. Although the benefit can be achieved at the level of practical as well as research-based classes by using AI yet most of the time this is the theoretical lecture-based classes which are to bear the burden of AI.

Now what should the authorities of the universities and colleges do? Should they shut down these institutions? No. There is no denying the fact that the teaching methodologies are to be changed as these have evolved throughout the ages. The same thing would be done with these teaching methodologies in the age of artificial intelligence. The classrooms are required to be turned into smart classrooms with a fast Internet connection and the availability of computer screens for each and every student or the tablets or laptops in the classroom so that they can navigate the Internet in order to find the answers to their questions and the solutions of their problems with the help of AI. On the other hand, the teachers need to be trained so that they are well versed in the art of computing as well as using artificial intelligence so that they can guide their students perfectly in order to achieve targeted education. The teachers must be able to provide knowledge about the prompt-giving skills of the student so that the right question can be put and the right answer can be obtained. Once the students have given prompts to AI to obtain the answers to their queries as well as to their problems, all these should be connected in order to discuss them one by one. The discussion would evolve into ultimately final opinion which may be broadly based on the topic and that can be discussed even more to achieve a consensus. Once the consensus is achieved the students would be required to undergo a kind of creative activity so that one may be able to generate a similar kind of situation which was under debate or under focus. Finally, the teacher should come forward to provide his own opinion about the knowledge shared and generated so that the students may also find it feasible to follow the same knowledge.

The goal of achieving the highest level of knowledge with the help of artificial intelligence cannot be realized unless we provide our students with the required tools or computers and a fast Internet connection which is most of the time not possible everywhere. For example, we have seen that in certain areas the Internet connection or connectivity is very poor, and buying internet related tools becomes difficult. In such a situation the digital divide happens to exist between the countries who have such facilities and the countries who do not have such facilities. Pakistan is one such country where although a lot of progress has been made in the field of computer science and information technology but still much more must be done in the far-flung areas of Pakistan. That digital divide won't enable all Pakistan students to achieve the level of efficiency and proficiency in the uses of artificial intelligence. So, a hybrid type of education system can be made available or can be used in order to access the knowledge created and generated by the internet through artificial intelligence. This can be done by holding the class in person for 3 days a week and the remaining half of the time may be used by all the required people for learning with the help of artificial intelligence. This however should be taken as a temporary arrangement because ultimately the countries like Pakistan have also to shift to such type of coaching, teaching and management of classroom where artificial intelligence should be playing its role because we must go with the world. We cannot deny going with the world and that is why it would be always up to some extent necessary that we also employ artificial intelligence in our classrooms without fail.