Re: Some good news on the eductation front!
Kai akiya... Wait and see Fraudia jee... WOn my part I will do what I can.
Re: Some good news on the eductation front!
More good news on the Education front.
The Higher Education Commission (HEC), in a recent meeting, approved a mega project for Sindh Agriculture University (SAU) Tandojam at a cost of Rs 461 million. According to a university spokesman, the project will help improve the infrastructure and supra-structure, culminating in advance teaching and research.
Re: Some good news on the education front!
**Pakistan to build 4 new engineering universities
**
Pakistan plans to establish four engineering universities in collaboration with France, Italy and South Korea in south province of Sindh with a cost of 140 billion rupees (about 2.33 billion U.S. dollars), according to a website report of Geo Television on Wednesday. Three universities will be established in Pakistan’s biggest city and business center Karachi while the fourth one will be set up at Jamshoro, said the report, quoting Atta-ur-Rehman, chairman of Pakistan’s Higher Education Commission (HEC). Pakistan has already signed cooperation pacts with France and Italy while the pact with South Korea will be signed soon, according to Atta-ur-Rehman. Accordingly, the Sindh provincial government will provide the land while the cost of the infrastructure will be borne by the HEC. The rector and faculty will come from the partner universities in the initial stages and then 25 per cent of faculty will be inducted from the alumni of the universities. The estimated cost of each university will be around 35 to 40 billion rupees (about 583 to 666 million dollars) and would cover an area of about 500 to 600 acres each. The universities will be fully functional within seven to eight years.
http://english.people.com.cn/200702/07/eng20070207_348244.html
Re: Some good news on the education front!
excellent
Re: Some good news on the education front!
Interesting ideas by mr. Hoodbhoy, but the satlelites to monitor ghost schools etc seems a little far fetched, but then again anything is possible with the right drive and motivation…
Education: signs of hope
By Pervez Hoodbhoy
THERE is good news: the “White Paper” to “debate and finalise national education policy”, distributed in December 2006 by the ministry of education, though incomplete and flawed, is an enormous step forward. So is the new school curriculum — which somewhat mysteriously and improperly preceded the White Paper. These may persuade even a few hardened cynics that the country’s school education system still has a future.
One is pleasantly surprised that this comes from a government ministry that has been in shambles for decades and is now headed, rather inauspiciously, by a former ISI general. Of course, there are problems aplenty. The White Paper, among other things, is manifestly unfair to Pakistan’s minorities because it pretends that they do not exist; it contradicts itself in places; its multiple authors appear not to have communicated well with each other; and the treatment of the problems of higher education — as well as madressah education — is unsatisfactory. But it is an accomplishment in spite of these failings.
First, a government document that aims to have a debate about policy in consultation with ordinary citizens is a welcome concept. Pakistanis have occasionally had political leaders who were elected, but never a bureaucracy soliciting people’s views on crucial public matters. The invitation given to intellectuals and civil society organisations is novel, as is the apparent willingness to incorporate suggestions which these debates may generate. A revised White Paper in March 2007 will hopefully contain important changes.
Second, the White Paper draws upon new statistical data recently collected in a national education census on enrolments, dropout rates, geographical distributions, private schools, etc. This provides a framework for conducting an informed and reasoned debate, rather than vacuous theorising.
Third, the White Paper team, headed by a respected retired civil servant, Javed Hasan Aly, starts with the premise that Pakistan seeks progress and prosperity: “Recognising education as a right of the citizen, it is the aim of the state of Pakistan to provide equal and ample opportunity to all its citizens to realise their full potential as individuals….preparing them for life, livelihood, and nation-building.”
This is in stark contrast to earlier education policies which saw Pakistani education as a tool to forcibly remake children’s minds. An official document, issued 11 years ago by the same ministry, had required that school children be taught to “make speeches on jihad and shahadat”; be aware of “India’s evil designs against Pakistan”; that they must “demonstrate by actions a belief in the fear of Allah”; go on field trips to “visit police stations”; and must “collect pictures of policemen, soldiers and National Guards”. (These are direct quotes.)
This grim — if not terrifying — set of goals, has now been replaced with a relatively moderate vision of a Muslim Pakistan in which, “We have to unburden ourselves of the weight of centuries of nostalgia, suffocating our capacities to find our way out from the darkness of ignorance.”
Fine words, but surely real change will need more than vague hopes typed on white sheets of papers. The federal ministry of education and the four provincial education ministries are in a disastrous state. Their inefficiency, disorganisation, and corrupt practices are legendary. Are there actually 12,737 non-functional “ghost” schools (as officially stated) or more like 30,000? Does the latest count of madressahs actually stand at 12,979 or is it closer to 22,000?
The management of educational institutions could not be poorer. The collapse of public schools comes from the inability of the state to deliver even half-decent education or to effectively monitor what is happening around it. This is what caused an explosion of private schools which, starting from near zero, now cover about 33 per cent of Pakistan and as much as 70 per cent of its cities.
This is bad news. Mere moralising or proposing reforms and new curricula to the nation — but not knowing how to implement them — will make us despondent once again. Without reviving the public school system, education will become even more inaccessible to the poor and make it impossible to ever create a just society. Unfortunately, on this matter, the White Paper has no action plan that actually shows the way forward. We really should be told who will do the job. But even more importantly, what exactly needs to be done? It is therefore time to construct workable plans and address real needs, albeit in ways not considered earlier. As one example, consider the issue of monitoring the country’s schools, without which successful management of a large system is simply impossible.
Imagine a situation where a real (not fictitious) data profile exists on every one of the 245,682 Pakistani schools. These would be public and private, rich and poor, located in the cities or in remote mountainous or desert areas. The more details one has the better, but anything is better than nothing. Individual school profiles could be used to rationally apportion the correct quantum of government and private resources, check wastages, improve school administration and teaching quality, etc.
Such a huge project is impossible by traditional means. But space-age technology is changing the world, and Pakistan can use it to clean up its educational mess. Effective school monitoring, a vital but unfulfilled task, has suddenly become possible.How? One satellite in geosynchronous orbit over Pakistan can locate every single school and also determine certain crude parameters. Information sent down by its cameras can easily reveal when a certain school opened and closed on a particular day, roughly how many students entered and left, etc. School buildings used as warehouses or cattle sheds could be instantly identified; there would be fewer ghost schools. All information would be stored in that school’s dossier located in a computer system, accessible to the federal and provincial education ministries.
In most cases, school inspectors on the ground could supplement the satellite pictures. There is, of course, nothing new about school inspections. But what if an inspector is required to take pictures of the school he or she periodically visits, as well as to fill in required student and teacher attendance numbers, various assessment forms, the textbook and supplies situation, and then upload the information directly to the satellite above?
GPS technology allows the satellite to know exactly where the inspector is located. It is easy to make a report uploadable only from the school actually being inspected. Fictitious reports, which are the bane of the present system of school inspections, would become much harder. A report would instantly become part of that school’s dossier, accessible in a centralised location. Even for urban schools in posh areas, this form of direct inspection would provide a source of valuable information.With this kind of technological assistance, the five education ministries could turn into effective watchdogs servicing the needs of schools. The legions of their listless employees, presently occupying vast amounts of building space but doing nothing, could be turned into professionals sitting in front of computers. They would have various data at their fingertips, and be constantly communicating electronically with colleagues, supervisors, and suppliers of books and materials. Surely, the time for new ideas has come.
For the reader who thinks this is utopian, please get yourself a computer, internet connection, and download “Google Earth” for free. A satellite in the sky above you will allow you to see your house, the car standing in front of it, and the general environs. One can, of course, have far clearer pictures by paying appropriate fees.
To be sure, technology must never be considered as a panacea. Structural changes in the system of Pakistan’s educational management are essential. Massive teacher training and examination reform are obviously crucial, as is the need to decentralise the school administration and turn it over to the town and zila level. These problems are also amenable to technological improvements, albeit to different degrees. Clarity of purpose, political will, adequate financial resources for education, and willingness to appreciate and use modern technology — arranged in this order — can transform Pakistan’s school system. Should we dare to hope?
The writer teaches physics at Quaid-e-Azam University, Islamabad.
Email: [email protected]
http://www.dawn.com/2007/02/09/op.htm
Re: Some good news on the education front!
The Higher Education Commission of Pakistan (HEC) set up in 2002, one of the greatest strides this government has made in the field of Education.
http://www.hec.gov.pk/new/main/abouthec.htm
It is headed by one of Musharraf (and Pakistan’s) best ever ministers - Professor. Atta-ur-Rahman, a Ph.D. graduate from England’s Cambridge University
Re: Some good news on the education front!
Pakistan has not failed educationally. The target is 100% literacy. Pakistan started out with 7% literacy in 1950. Now it is around 50%. There has been consistent decadal increase in literacy always. It might be slow progress, but it is progress, consistent and soon 100% literacy will be achieved. Musharraf's government in particular has sped up the number of schools and universities built.
Re: Some good news on the education front!
^^ Our literacy rate would be 80-90% by now but the problem is these Vadaras and these Land Owners who employ thousands of people and keep them deliberately uneducated so that they can control them.
To me this reminds of the American South before 1863 where these White Land Lords employed African slaves and kept them uneducated. this is the same thing.
Once our economy gets going, Musharraf or whoever is in charge needs to hit these people very very hard and completely destroy this system
Re: Some good news on the education front!
good!....they started off with 4% mayb and Inshallah they will start increasing the percentage and we will have soo many more kids in school....and educated to make pakistan a MEDC
Re: Some good news on the education front!
Typical nonsense from the dictator's boot lickers.
TCF alone has built more schools than Musharraf in the 8 yrs he has been in power.
Re: Some good news on the education front!
I dont know why people always suspect a good news from Pakistan. OK results have not been good in the past.
but now I can see actuall things hapenning in Pakistan. we have unviersities grown from 18 to more than 100 (if I am not wrong). this is acheivment and should be seen as one.
and its not planned, all of these universities exist on ground. HEC doing very good job when compared to previous UGC useless work.
the best thing in increasing literacy is http://www.nchd.org.pk/ that has won award from UNESCO in 2006. this has very good idea to improve life and education in rural areas.
facts, in punjab, edcuation became free under present government.
I am not advocating present regime. but changes are happening. not just hum yeh karain gey, wo karein gey.
it should be welcomed that our ignored sector came to light, i hope to see that in health sector too.
Re: Some good news on the education front!
He’s not a dictator since the electoral college granted him the presidency (not mention the 2002 election victory).
We’re not talking about schools where students sit on the floor and they use chalk and a blackboard dummy. We’re talking about proper schools, that can deliver good quality education.
http://www.sdpi.org/tdu/November-22-30-06/education.htm
Similarly, higher education has benefited from being opened to the private sector, as well as from a huge increase in state funding. After finishing her MA in journalism at Goldsmiths three years ago, my sister found herself with multiple teaching offers from universities back in Lahore. Our father, an economics professor for much of his professional life, says he cannot remember a time since the heady years of the 1960s when there was so much excitement in academia.
My sister’s experience bears this out. Her salary, at around £50 a week, might not seem much by London standards. But it goes a long way in Lahore. A few years ago, top MBA graduates in Pakistan would have been lucky to earn that amount. And if my sister becomes a full professor or a department head, she can expect to earn far more. The sudden attractiveness of her profession is fuelling a surge of interest in pursuing research degrees. In the sciences and engineering alone, the government is expecting to graduate 1,500 doctoral students annually by 2010, **a hundred-fold increase on the 1990s figure. **
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/asia/article2253887.ece
Pakistan, he said, has embarked upon a programme to enhance the quality of its human resource in Pakistan. “For this purpose, we have planned to establish six engineering universities in Pakistan with the help of Sweden, France, Germany, Netherlands and Austria”, he added.
http://www.presidentofpakistan.gov.pk/PRPressReleaseDetail.aspx?nPRPressReleaseId=1860&nYear=2006&nMonth=7
Re: Some good news on the education front!
‘electoral college’ 
I rest my case!
Dictator from the beginninng through to the rigged referendum and elections
TCF school’s are amongst the most modern in Pakistan, u just don’t know what your talking about 
Re: Some good news on the education front!
- Give me a link to show TCF schools have been established more than state schools in the last 8 years In the first 9 years of TCF, 180 schools had been established which is a lot less than what the government would have established on its quota.
- TCF does not have the same funds as the state, so their schools are either less in number or not as good quality.
- The elections in 2002 were not rigged according to the international observers from the Commonwealth, the first time such observers were allowed to see a Pakistani election.
- Musharraf is legally the President of Pakistan now, not a dictator. if you cant accept these facts then you need to attend one of your TCF schools..
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Jan. 1 — Gen. Pervez Musharraf won a vote of confidence on Thursday from Pakistan’s electoral college, allowing him legally to remain president into 2007. The vote completes General Musharraf’s transformation from a military dictator who took power in a bloodless coup in 1999 **to a constitutionally legitimate president. **
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/02/international/asia/02STAN.html?ex=1388379600&en=a5ffeee2a4e1367a&ei=5007&partner=USERLAND
Re: Some good news on the education front!
Do you even know what TCF is Amreeka kee bacha?
relying on your Amreekan papers has not helped you.
The fact that TCF does not have anywhere near the funds as the govt, yet have built more quality schools show’s the state of education in Pakistan, and under this govt.
You can pretend otherwise, but nobody in Pakistan, and nobody outside Pakistan with a objective brain believes Mush is anything but a dictator ruling by dictate.
Enjoy your dream world lilttle boy, your not fooling anyone, except yourself:cb:
Re: Some good news on the education front!
I rest my case Mr Baboon. You have failed to answer any of the 4 points mentioned above, and resorted to your usual linkless unevidentiary grunts.
PS Everybody in Pakistan (and out who've researched enough), know Musharraf won the last election in 2002, and is the favoured leader by Pakistanis in every opinion poll recently.
Re: Some good news on the education front!
Most Pakistanis support Musharraf
The others who oppose him don't know what kind of help he has given them
This is typical of most Pakistanis, they dont know when they have something good