Over the last 60 odd years, thanks to modern printing techniques and the advent of the internet, there has been an explosion of information around the world. As a result, for the last few decades, a surplus of information has remained a click away, accessible through our smart phones, tablets and laptops.
However, most of that information comes from and is about the cultural capitals of the world. As a result, we remain aware about the outside world at the expense of becoming unaware of our own surroundings. In this entire process, our minds have developed advanced cognitive and intellectual abilities to process such information, extract details, derive conclusions, identify patterns, extrapolate claims and positions, learn and transform what we learn into knowledge.
In response to this great shift of global proportions, Zaanvun Lokchaar arrives as an initiative that aims to bridge that gap by developing content that we can interact with on a daily basis. To a great extent, most of us have been ignorant about the culture, wisdom, environmental awareness, mythology and moral and ethical lessons emanating from our own societies. However, the same should not be the fate of our younger generations.
At Zaanvun Lokchaar, our objective is to develop life skills and inculcate knowledge in such younger generations. They should be able to raise incisive and inquisitive questions and find a variety of solutions through problem solving and informed decision-making by their own volition and in an independent manner. Unlike us, they should be equipped with the knowledge, skills and tools to improve and maintain their surroundings. They should also successfully notice the positive and negative changes in the world we live in while detecting any shifts, trends, and cyclical patterns. At the same time, however, we can’t afford to only confine them to their own locality. They should be equally well-acquainted with global systems of knowledge.
In this issue of our magazine, we have engaged with various fields of knowledge including history, environment, culture, travel, sports, moral education, theology, poetry, short fiction, mathematics, general knowledge, among several others.
We wish to create an interactive space here at Zaanvun Lokchaar more than being only the suppliers of knowledge. That is why we prefer submissions from the younger generations. In addition, we have a drawing competition for kids, and writing and photography competitions for teenagers every month, the results of which will be published in our magazine as well.
Above all, from this starting point, we want you to critique us, write to us, analytically evaluate what we produce and help us turn this initiative into one that becomes better with each issue and remains truly significant in empowering our younger generations and bringing together a community of students, parents, teachers, educators and people from all walks of live invested in the betterment of our society.
Editor: Khalid Fayaz
E-mail me at: editor@lokchaar.com
