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2nd candidate:
Gentlemen, with due apology to my learned friend who opened the debate, I cannot but form a very poor and hackneyed opinion of his views. It is absolutely vague and meaningless to say that co-education has polluted the sacred atmosphere which used to lend grace and chastity to our women in the past Age. Indeed, this is an extremely narrow view, which at least one cannot expect of a modern youth, like my worthy friend, the first speaker.
I would like to remind my friend of the facts of history that we have historical records to prove that in the past, boys and girls used to study together under one roof. The famous Greek traveler Megasthanese writes: “At the Universities of Nalanda and Taxila, boys and girls received every branch of knowledge under able Ulmas, who bestowed upon them sublimest laurels of learning”.
How can it be that simply by studying together a girl and a boy would begin to flirt with each other? How can it be logically possible that simply be reading and writing in one room for six hours a day a boy and a girl would contract themselves to love-marriage? This is a foolish, rather an idiotic concept. From psychological point of view this is absolutely absurd.
Gentlemen, in my opinion, co-education is indispensable for edification of our national character. Every sort of encouragement should be made foster the sentiment of co-education in Pakistan.
3rd candidate: Gentlemen, co-education is the back-bone of the progressive development of a modern society. It enables young men and young women to develop a dynamic personality and a cosmic outlook. With-out mixing with men, in dignified and graceful measure, women tend to sink into a static state of coyish limp. The haze of inferiority complex that corrodes the dynamic attitude of women towards society evaporates into a serene clarity of auto-edification. Co-education is, indeed, a boon to women, especially in Eastern countries, where they are treated as dumb-driven cattle.
Thus, if women remain merely decorative furniture in your house, Pakistan of tomorrow can never be a positive reality. Co-education should always be encouraged in Pakistan.
4th candidate:
Gentlemen, with apology to my learned friend, who spoke just now, I have to say something against his views on the merits and demerits of co-education. May I ask my friend whether, without having studied with boys, a girl cannot attain a dynamic outlook? What about Joan of Arc, Sultana Razia, Rani Abalya bai, Rani Lxmi bai of Jhansi and many others who are counted among the most illustrious heroines of the world? Where they educated in schools and colleges with boys?
It is a vague idea that, without mixing with men, women cannot develop their dynamism of personality. I would rather say that co-education makes girls somewhat coquettish and devoid of feminine grace and chastity, without which a woman according to our Pakistan conception, cannot call herself a perfect or ideal lady. We do not want ultra-modern girls with coquettish habits, devoid of feminine grace and chastity, who do not hesitate in flirting with boys in class-rooms. We want ideal ladies. Co-education ahs proved exceedingly harmful for society in Western countries, where “short trial-contract” marriages between girls and boys studying together in colleges have been encouraged. What a shame! What a disgrace.
5th candidate: Gentlemen, I too, am not in favor of co-education, to some extent, especially considering the mean mentality of our Pakistani youth……
3rd candidate: (Rising). Honorable Chairman and respected members, I request you not to allow my friend to speak any further, as he has offended and insulted the entire community of Pakistani youth by his remarks—“Considering the mean mentality of our Pakistani youth”. He is not only unsocial but also unpatriotic and thus an enemy of the Pakistan Nation……….
5th candidate was disallowed to proceed on with his speech by the Board.
6th candidate:
Gentlemen, we have to keep pace with the march of time. We should banish conservatism and hackneyed ideas and in their place evolve a new cosmos of broad-minded liberalism. Co-education is one of the indispensable elements of our modern age-an urge which must be satisfied by the nation. Gone are the days when women were treated as inferior to men and the be-all and end-all of their lives used to be to serve as an uppercased slave in the houses of their husbands. Today, men and women of Pakistan must march shoulder to shoulder with their brothers and offer ever kid of service to the nation. In Pakistan we are having woman-ministers, woman ambassadors, woman administrative officers. Then why should they be debarred form studying with their brother? Co-education makes the girls perfect and ideal and that it broadens their outlook and widens their social, political, intellectual and ethical horizon.
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