Good story books at affordable prices

Parents want good books at affordable prices for children
Islamabad, Oct 13: To teach your children a good moral lesson before they go off to sleep, it is advisable to read out a story to them.

Experts believe that reading a story with one's child not only stimulates development of the child's brain, but also fuels a close emotional relationship between you and your child.

Unfortunately, not many parents these days have time for this useful tried and tested exercise. However, those who can spare time and are interested in reading a good story to their child say that buying new storybooks is fast becoming a difficult and expensive proposition.

They also claim that not many choices of brand-new storybooks are available in the market. "At book stores and book fairs, one can only find the same substandard fairytale stories, puzzles and colouring books," said Naeema Shafaq, a mother of two.

"I fail to find anything except for the same imaginary heroes in every book that has no connection with the real life," she pointed out. Sharing some other observations, she said that even in good book stores, all that is available other than fairytales are activity books or stories of Disney movies.

While complaining that choice for informative books in such stores was very limited, she regretted that those available were unaffordable for majority of the people. Same is the case with Urdu books with not many good ones being available. Whatever stuff there is, either lacks in presentation or is written in difficult language.

"If I buy some Urdu magazines for kids, my child does not find it interesting enough to read," said another worried mother, Anila Saleem. Manager of a book fair Shahid Nadeem said that they prefer to sell the stuff that was in demand in the market. "Children are only interested in books that have Superman or Spiderman printed on them no matter if it is a colouring book or a drawing book," he said, adding that good storybooks were usually very expensive and parents had the tendency to spend less on such things.

"Super heroes and colouring books are sold like hot cakes only because these are cheap and kids are attracted towards them," he said. Pointing out a good spot to find interesting, informative and colourful storybooks for kids, behaviourist Noreen Seher said that old bookshops could be a good choice for parents who genuinely want to buy enjoyable stuff for their children. The problem with old bookshops, she said, was that books were not displayed in an organized manner and parents need to spend some time to find a good buy.

"The best way is to take out ample time and visit these shops on weekends along with your children," she said, adding that it would also develop interest of book reading in the child. The old bookshops across town are frequented by people because of the comparatively lower prices of books on offer and the chance of finding a rare title or two. "Who knows when you might strike gold," says Noreen. The news

Post your comments

Gujrat varsity students face transport problems
Gujrat: Excessive admissions to different departments of the University of Gujrat have created transport problems for the students as they have to wait for hours for university buses to arrive at the campus and then leave for homes.

The university admitted two weeks ago around 2,500 students to graduate and degree programmes of the School of Art and Design, faculties of basic sciences, CSIT, engineering and technology, languages and humanities and social sciences, School of Law, Department of Mass Com and Media and the School of Business and Management Sciences. The university, however, failed to arrange adequate transport to cope with such a huge influx of students, sources say. Prior to new admissions, the number of university students was 3,500.

The campus of the Gujrat University is situated in the Hafiz Hayat locality, 20 kilometers from the Gujrat city. The university busses ply different routes across Jhelum, Gujranwala and Gujrat districts to pick and drop the students. A number of students said they had to wait for hours to be picked up by the university busses and then again had to wait for two to three hours at the campus to get on vehicles to reach home. The university has two hostels, one for women and another for men, which could hardly accommodate around 500 students.

Students say the university charges them Rs3,150 per head per semester for the transport facility. But they pass through the agony of waiting for hours to reach or leave the campus. They said the university had better arranged a good fleet of buses before admitting them.

A student said the traveling agony had taken its toll on his studies as it had become very difficult for him to concentrate on the syllabus after a hectic day at the university and then arriving at home after a troublesome journey. Seeing the delayed arrival of buses, many students use public buses. Sources said the university administration admitted such a big number of students due to political pressure.

Akram Bhatti, the university registrar, said the administration was aware of the problems being faced by the students, adding that the situation would be improved in next two months when five new busses would be added to the 22-bus fleet of the university.

He said there were even complaints of the shortage of classrooms but the administration had managed it quite well. He said with the completion of the construction of new academic blocks, the shortage of classrooms would also be overcome.

He said admissions had been carried out after the approval of the university syndicate. Dawn

Post your comments

Entry tests for professional colleges
Islamabad: An honest and upright student burns midnight oil for two years and gets 950 plus and even around 1,000 marks out of 1,100 in the HSSC examination, but somehow fails to qualify the so-called entry test conducted by provincial governments, his entire labour goes to the dogs and his future ruined. He may become so frustrated that he may quit studies altogether.

If the so-called entry tests are so sanctimonious that they can reduce the board examination results to zero, it is better that boards of education should be sent packing and let the entry test be a safe backdoor for the blue eyed.

Post your comments

SSC examination position-holders to visit Murree
Rawalpindi: The top three position holders of Class 10 will pay a visit to Murree today (Tuesday) on the special invitation of Punjab Chief Minister Mian Shahbaz Sharif. According to details, the students would go on their visit under the supervision of the Rawalpindi Board. During their visit, the students would be awarded with the guard of honour. They would be served as official guests and presented high protocol.

Post your comments

Wiping out dentist phobia now in our hands
Islamabad: Through the latest laser technology, dentistry here in Pakistan will reach new heights, as it will allow patients to undergo treatment with 70 per cent less pain and lesser side effects after surgical treatments.

This was revealed by Prof Dr Norbert Gutknecht, an expert in laser dentistry, who was invited by Riphah International University to create awareness about Laser Dentistry in Pakistan as well as to inform about the RAK College of Dental Sciences (RAKCODS) in UAE (sponsored by Riphah University) that is currently offering courses in BDS and would shortly offer MS in Laser Dentistry.

Prof Dr Norbert Gutknecht - President World Federation of Laser Dentistry (WFLD) from the Clinic of Restorative Dentistry, Periodontology & Preventive Dentistry, Aachen, Germany - is here in Pakistan to conduct awareness about the field of Laser Dentistry as an option for postgraduate education at RAKCODS along with catering to all queries regarding advanced technology for dentists at Riphah University.

Dr Norbert said they are happy to inform dentists here about Laser Dentistry, which is quite new here, adding that Pakistan could become a huge market for Laser Dentistry, as this is the first time that any South Asian University has shown interest in this field.

Though expensive, this technology is more reliable, less painful and patient friendly, he said adding, "It is basically a combination of conventional and latest treatments, under which the procedures are done through regular treatments while laser techniques are used to eradicate any infection and bacteria." He said the technology could be used to identify carries, tooth decay, infectious gums, etc, and would become a future tool of conventional dentistry, taking the field a step further.

"We are trying to create a new image here in dentistry, as the fear of dentists prevails among patients of every age bracket - from children to adults. Now, with the introduction of the laser treatment, the whole perception of dentistry will change, making people feel more comfortable to visit dentists, while a new generation of patients can be created, who can motivate and guide others to try this method for their dental procedures. Eradicating the dentist phobia is our objective and patients can visit us as comfortably as they visit their physicians," Dr Norbert said.

He further said that the nature of tooth carries and quantity of decay could also be evaluated through laser diagnostics, which is quite common in

Europe. "The decays can now be evaluated without sitting on a dental chair or conducting an X-Ray. The best part is that surgical treatments can be done by laser without any incision made by a scalpel," he said.

"Discoloration and pigmentation of gums can be treated by laser, as it can destroy micro-organisms and avoid infection. It also causes a significant reduction in bleeding, and can also be used for the whitening and bleaching of teeth," he said.

Dr Asma Ahmed, Faculty Member RAKCODS, who is currently pursuing her PhD in Laser Dentistry in Germany and accompanying Dr Norbert, claims to be the first laser dentist of Pakistan.

She was of the view that as a Pakistani, she feels the responsibility of implementing these techniques here in the country, adding that they are open to invitations from any Pakistani university to introduce Laser Dentistry to make dentists aware of the technology and implement it accordingly. The news

Post your comments