Monday, April 12, 2010

Taliban Bombs 5 Schools In Pakistan

Pakistani Taliban rebels destroyed four schools in the northwestern Swat region on Monday hours after a cabinet minister vowed that the government would reopen schools in the violence-plagued valley.

The scenic Swat Valley was until recently one of Pakistan's prime tourist destinations but Islamist militants aiming to impose a severe form of Islamic law began battling security forces in 2007.

Residents say the militants are now virtually in complete control of the valley, which is 130 km (80 miles) northwest of Islamabad and not on the Afghan border, including its main town of Mingora, where the schools were blown up early on Monday.

"Militants blew up two girls schools and two boys schools," a top government official in the valley, Shaukat Yousafzai, said.



"Attacks on troops are understandable but why are they destroying schools?" Schools are closed for a winter break and no one was hurt in the attacks.

As with Afghanistan's Taliban, their Pakistani counterparts oppose education for girls and they recently banned female education in Swat altogether.

The militants also see schools as symbols of government authority and they say the army posts soldiers in them.

Yousafzai said the militants had destroyed 170 schools in the valley where about 55,000 girls and boys were enrolled in government-run institutions.




Pakistan is struggling to stem growing Islamist influence and violence in the northwest as it keeps a wary eye on its eastern border with India after militant attacks in the Indian city of Mumbai led to a spike in tension between the neighbours.

Information Minister Sherry Rehman told reporters on Sunday the government aimed to ensure that schools in Swat would reopen on March 1, when they are due to go back after the winter break.

But that would see seem like wishful thinking.

The militants have shot, blown up or beheaded their opponents while broadcasting edicts and threats over their FM radio.

Many families have fled to the nearby cities of Peshawar and Mardan, while many police officers have either deserted or simply refused to serve, residents say.

Yousafzai said teachers were also refusing to work.

"I try to convince them but they're scared. They doubt the government's ability to protect them," he said.

The president of a Swat teachers' association said his members would only go back to work if the government brought complete peace and shut down the militants' radio, or if the militants issued an order over their radio for a return to work.

"The ground reality is there's no safety," said association president Ziauddin Yousafzai.

"If they're destroying schools during a curfew, they can do anything. Even if the authorities announce schools are open, nobody will go and parents won't send their kids."

Many of the militants in Swat infiltrated from al Qaeda and Taliban enclaves in lawless ethnic Pashtun lands on the Afghan border.

The military launched a big offensive in late 2007 to clear them out. While the militants initially withdrew up remote side valleys to avoid government artillery and air attacks, they slipped back into the main valley when the offensive ended.


Adult Education in Pakistan

Adult Education in Pakistan

There is great difference between the education of children and the education of adults. The chief purpose of children is to go to school and learn. But the adults may also have been engaged in other professional activities too. So educating adults is a bit challenging task.

For the purpose of education, adults may be divided into two classes the illiterate and the partially literate. It is the aim to see that every person in the arithmetic. Such knowledge is absolutely necessary for every person living in a democratic country. Some adults only get Islamic education like Quran Recitation, Hadith, Qur’an Memorization, Fiqah etc. They are not really obsessed by modern education. The purpose of adult education should be to create awareness for both forms of education.

While some of the people have modern education but no religious education. This also makes their life difficult because being a Muslim one must have proper knowledge of Islam. Those people who aim to get Islamic education and are struck in professional life can benefit from online Islamic Schools.

It is the aim that such adults as are partially literate should be taken further on the road of knowledge. They would be taught their rights and responsibilities as citizens. It will be their duty to pass the knowledge on to those who have little knowledge.
In Pakistan too, an adult school was first started in Karachi in a spirit of social service. The work was done in night schools. With the increase in the number of pupils, the number of institutions has also increased.

Generally, almost all the work is done free. It is done out of a spirit of social service. The importance of the work has now fully recognized all over the country. The government has extended its patronage and encouragement to adult education. To derive out illiteracy from the country, the government is very keen. It is a matter of pride that more and more Adult Education Societies are coming into existence in the different parts of the country.

EDUCATION in Pakistan

Pakistan Table of Contents At independence, Pakistan had a poorly educated population and few schools or universities. Although the education system has expanded greatly since then, debate continues about the curriculum, and, except in a few elite institutions, quality remained a crucial concern of educators in the early 1990s.

Adult literacy is low, but improving. In 1992 more than 36 percent of adults over fifteen were literate, compared with 21 percent in 1970. The rate of improvement is highlighted by the 50 percent literacy achieved among those aged fifteen to nineteen in 1990. School enrollment also increased, from 19 percent of those aged six to twenty-three in 1980 to 24 percent in 1990. However, by 1992 the population over twenty-five had a mean of only 1.9 years of schooling. This fact explains the minimal criteria for being considered literate: having the ability to both read and write (with understanding) a short, simple statement on everyday life.

Relatively limited resources have been allocated to education, although there has been improvement in recent decades. In 1960 public expenditure on education was only 1.1 percent of the gross national product (GNP); by 1990 the figure had risen to 3.4 percent. This amount compared poorly with the 33.9 percent being spent on defense in 1993. In 1990 Pakistan was tied for fourth place in the world in its ratio of military expenditures to health and education expenditures. Although the government enlisted the assistance of various international donors in the education efforts outlined in its Seventh Five-Year Plan (1988-93), the results did not measure up to expectations.

Structure of the System
Education is organized into five levels: primary (grades one through five); middle (grades six through eight); high (grades nine and ten, culminating in matriculation); intermediate (grades eleven and twelve, leading to an F.A. diploma in arts or F.S. science; and university programs leading to undergraduate and advanced degrees. Preparatory classes (kachi, or nursery) were formally incorporated into the system in 1988 with the Seventh Five-Year Plan.

Academic and technical education institutions are the responsibility of the federal Ministry of Education, which coordinates instruction through the intermediate level. Above that level, a designated university in each province is responsible for coordination of instruction and examinations. In certain cases, a different ministry may oversee specialized programs. Universities enjoy limited autonomy; their finances are overseen by a University Grants Commission, as in Britain.

Teacher-training workshops are overseen by the respective provincial education ministries in order to improve teaching skills. However, incentives are severely lacking, and, perhaps because of the shortage of financial support to education, few teachers participate. Rates of absenteeism among teachers are high in general, inducing support for community-coordinated efforts promoted in the Eighth Five-Year Plan (1993-98).

In 1991 there were 87,545 primary schools, 189,200 primary school teachers, and 7,768,000 students enrolled at the primary level, with a student-to-teacher ratio of forty-one to one. Just over one-third of all children of primary school age were enrolled in a school in 1989. There were 11,978 secondary schools, 154,802 secondary school teachers, and 2,995,000 students enrolled at the secondary level, with a student-to- teacher ratio of nineteen to one.

Primary school dropout rates remained fairly consistent in the 1970s and 1980s, at just over 50 percent for boys and 60 percent for girls. The middle school dropout rates for boys and girls rose from 22 percent in 1976 to about 33 percent in 1983. However, a noticeable shift occurred in the beginning of the 1980s regarding the postprimary dropout rate: whereas boys and girls had relatively equal rates (14 percent) in 1975, by 1979-- just as Zia initiated his government's Islamization program--the dropout rate for boys was 25 percent while for girls it was only 16 percent. By 1993 this trend had dramatically reversed, and boys had a dropout rate of only 7 percent compared with the girls' rate of 15 percent.

The Seventh Five-Year Plan envisioned that every child five years and above would have access to either a primary school or a comparable, but less comprehensive, mosque school. However, because of financial constraints, this goal was not achieved.

In drafting the Eighth Five-Year Plan in 1992, the government therefore reiterated the need to mobilize a large share of national resources to finance education. To improve access to schools, especially at the primary level, the government sought to decentralize and democratize the design and implemention of its education strategy. To give parents a greater voice in running schools, it planned to transfer control of primary and secondary schools to NGOs. The government also intended to gradually make all high schools, colleges, and universities autonomous, although no schedule was specified for achieving this ambitious goal.

Female Education
Comparison of data for men and women reveals significant disparity in educational attainment. By 1992, among people older than fifteen years of age, 22 percent of women were literate, compared with 49 percent of men. The comparatively slow rate of improvement for women is reflected in the fact that between 1980 and 1989, among women aged fifteen to twenty-four, 25 percent were literate. United Nations sources say that in 1990 for every 100 girls of primary school age there were only thirty in school; among girls of secondary school age, only thirteen out of 100 were in school; and among girls of the third level, grades nine and ten, only 1.5 out of 100 were in school. Slightly higher estimates by the National Education Council for 1990 stated that 2.5 percent of students--3 percent of men and 2 percent of women- -between the ages of seventeen and twenty-one were enrolled at the degree level. Among all people over twenty-five in 1992, women averaged a mere 0.7 year of schooling compared with an average of 2.9 years for men.

The discrepancy between rural and urban areas is even more marked. In 1981 only 7 percent of women in rural areas were literate, compared with 35 percent in urban areas. Among men, these rates were 27 and 57 percent, respectively. Pakistan's low female literacy rates are particularly confounding because these rates are analogous to those of some of the poorest countries in the world.

Pakistan has never had a systematic, nationally coordinated effort to improve female primary education, despite its poor standing. It was once assumed that the reasons behind low female school enrollments were cultural, but research conducted by the Ministry for Women's Development and a number of international donor agencies in the 1980s revealed that danger to a woman's honor was parents' most crucial concern. Indeed, reluctance to accept schooling for women turned to enthusiasm when parents in rural Punjab and rural Balochistan could be guaranteed their daughters' safety and, hence, their honor.

Reform Efforts
Three initiatives characterized reform efforts in education in the late 1980s and early 1990s: privatization of schools that had been nationalized in the 1970s; a return to English as the medium of instruction in the more elite of these privatized schools, reversing the imposition of Urdu in the 1970s; and continuing emphasis on Pakistan studies and Islamic studies in the curriculum.

Until the late 1970s, a disproportionate amount of educational spending went to the middle and higher levels. Education in the colonial era had been geared to staffing the civil service and producing an educated elite that shared the values of and was loyal to the British. It was unabashedly elitist, and contemporary education--reforms and commissions on reform notwithstanding--has retained the same quality. This fact is evident in the glaring gap in educational attainment between the country's public schools and the private schools, which were nationalized in the late 1970s in a move intended to facilitate equal access. Whereas students from lower-class backgrounds did gain increased access to these private schools in the 1980s and 1990s, teachers and school principals alike bemoaned the decline in the quality of education. Meanwhile, it appears that a greater proportion of children of the elites are traveling abroad not only for university education but also for their high school diplomas.

The extension of literacy to greater numbers of people has spurred the working class to aspire to middle-class goals such as owning an automobile, taking summer vacations, and providing a daughter with a once-inconceivable dowry at the time of marriage. In the past, Pakistan was a country that the landlords owned, the army ruled, and the bureaucrats governed, and it drew most of its elite from these three groups. In the 1990s, however, the army and the civil service were drawing a greater proportion of educated members from poor backgrounds than ever before.

One of the education reforms of the 1980s was an increase in the number of technical schools throughout the country. Those schools that were designated for females included hostels nearby to provide secure housing for female students. Increasing the number of technical schools was a response to the high rate of underemployment that had been evident since the early 1970s. The Seventh Five-Year Plan aimed to increase the share of students going to technical and vocational institutions to over 33 percent by increasing the number of polytechnics, commercial colleges, and vocational training centers. Although the numbers of such institutions did increase, a compelling need to expand vocational training further persisted in early 1994.

Education Exhibition Pakistan

End Date : 04 Mar 2010
Venue : Pearl Continental Hotel Lahore

Start Date : 03 Mar 2010 End Date : 04 Mar 2010
Venue : Pearl Continental Hotel Lahore
City / Country : Lahore, Pakistan

Highlights : Dawn Education Expo Lahore has a proven track record of success. Participating countries include Australia, Canada, France, Hong Kong, Ireland, Malaysia, Poland, South Korea, the UAE, UK and USA, the event was a resounding success

Start Date : 11 Jul 2010 End Date : 12 Jul 2010
Venue : Karachi Expo Center
City / Country : Karachi, Pakistan

Highlights : International Education Exhibition Pakistan 2010 will be perfect guide show that will direct to me about the best selection of the colleges and universities. It is the dynamic education fair showcasing universities, colleges and other educational Institutions from all across the world.

Dawn Education Expo Islamabad
Start Date : 06 Mar 2010
End Date : 07 Mar 2010
Venue : Islamabad Convention Centre

Visitors Profiles: Includes:

We have a number of visitors at our events and seminars. Our visitors are:
» Graduates & Postgraduates
» Professionals from all walks of life
» Educational Consultants & Counselors
» Government Dignitaries
» Technical people looking for training
» Management & Administrative Officials / CEOs
» Faculties, Staff, Department Heads, Principals, Vice Chancellors from different institutes
» Entrepreneurs
» Training Specialists, Human Resource Managers

Public schools to offer vocational training

LAHORE: THE Punjab government has decided to introduce vocational training courses in selected schools of the province in a bid to train schoolchildren in employable skills.The plan envisages imparting vocational training to students of Class 6 and above by providing them with hands-on experience in electronics, woodwork and plumbing etc. In institutions for girls, courses in stitching and dress designing would be offered.At present, technical education and vocational training courses are being offered only at institutions running under the administrative control of the Technical Education & Vocational Training Authority (TEVTA) and the Punjab Vocational Training Council (PVTC).Senior officials of the Punjab Schools Education Department told The News that representatives of the department and the TEVTA were meeting to discuss the launch of vocational training in public sector schools. They said in the first phase, the programme would be launched in 100 schools in each district of the province and this programme would be extended with the passage of time.They said the TEVTA had agreed in principle that it would train schoolteachers. They said the initiative was being taken on special directions of Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif.They said funding issues were being discussed these days and according to estimates, Rs 100,000 would be allocated for each school to ensure availability of necessary equipment needed to launch the programme.A senior official of the department requesting anonymity said the basic idea behind the initiative was to impart vocational training to students in addition to general education so that in case if a student fails to continue general education, he/she might be able to have employable skills needed for technical jobs.Talking to The News, Schools Education Department Secretary Nadeem Ashraf said efforts would be made to introduce vocational training courses in maximum schools from new academic session starting from March 2009.He said special classes of vocational training would be organised in schools and students of Class 6 and above would be offered these courses. He said the department had set a target to introduce vocational courses in 3,500 schools across the province by 2010 academic session.

People question donation collection by private schools

LAHORE: AS more and more people have been opting to send their kids to private sector schools in the wake of low quality education and deteriorating standard of public schools, many are getting upset because of certain “unwanted” practices of these private institutions. Besides complaining about heavy amount charged at the time of admission, people have been expressing concern over heavy fee structure and collection of extra funds under various heads on regular basis.The compulsory purchase of books, uniform and other stationery items from prescribed stores by some of the elite schools are some of the other practices, which have been inviting stakeholders’ criticism over the years.However, there are different opinions over collection of donations on part of private schools by students for various noble causes such as helping flood or quake affectees.There are those who favour the move saying such practices motivate the young minds to help people caught in trouble. “It teaches students that how to contribute for rehabilitation and welfare of fellow human beings,” believes Aleem whose son goes to a leading private school.He further said the school management, where his child was studying, used to ask students to bring donations in case the country faced a catastrophe like recent earthquake in Balochistan and floods in various parts of the country. He added, “Though most of the students do not donate from their own pocket yet they learn how to help those caught in trouble.”Nevertheless, there are those who are against the collection of donations by students saying no one should be forced to contribute. “It is unfortunate that most of the schools make it mandatory for students to bring donations, which is totally wrong,” believes Ali whose children go to an elite school too.He said schools must not make it compulsory for students to bring donations, adding in case someone donates less than others he/she is faced with inferiority complex. “This may put students into an embarrassing situation if they cannot arrange money because of one reason or the other,” he added.“I don’t mean that one should not help those who are in trouble but the point is no one should be compelled rather one should be let to share as he/she likes to,” he further added.He said, “The elite schools generate huge funds then why their management do not donate themselves.” Academic circles are also critical of unbridled working of the private schools. Referring to the Punjab government’s ongoing efforts to amend the Punjab Private Educational Institutions (Promotion and Regulation) Ordinance 1984, they have urged the government to take into account all the factors in this connection.At the same time, they have also urged the government to uplift standard of government schools. They believe it is unfortunate that at present the competition is among private schools only as far as quality education is concerned, saying efforts should be made to ensure a comeback of government schools in this competition.

Kinnaird College students complain of mismanagement in examinations

LAHORE:Some students of the Kinnaird College for Women have pointed out insufficient arrangements in the ongoing internal examinations, alleging the mismanagement was creating problems for them.

Seeking anonymity for obvious reasons, they said the issue needed to be highlighted as they believed it was against the traditions of Kinnaird College (KC).

During a visit to the KC on Thursday, it was learnt that around 450 students in first shift and around 650 in the second were accommodated in five rooms for the exam, each room having the capacity of not more than 70 students.

Interestingly, only two teachers were performing the duties as invigilators, the students complained saying later three lower grade staffers of the principal office were also assigned the duty.

The students also complained that the shortage of photocopies of question papers remained a routine matter during the exams which added to their miseries. Such irresponsible attitude had exposed the credibility of the exams, they said.

Nevertheless, they said, Physics paper of FSc classes was delayed on last day of intermediate exams on Thursday for over 40 minutes, causing great anxiety among the students.

The Intermediate exams starting from December 8 concluded on December 17 (Thursday) while bachelors’ exams started from December 14 and would end on December 19 (Saturday).

They said the mismanagement during exams of senior students was quite unfortunate as unlike intermediate level students they were in fact attempting their semester wise annual exams.

It is pertinent to mention that KCites had been raising the issue regarding the lack of facilities in the college. The KC students also highlighted the issue of fee hike, lack of facilities during their protest in May, 2008, demanding the college administration provide maximum facilities to them.

A faculty member, seeking anonymity, said teachers of bachelors classes were appointed as invigilators at a time when classes of bachelor programmes were still going on, affecting the studies of students and causing delay in intermediate exams on daily basis.

This correspondent tried to contact KC Principal Dr Bernadette L Dean in her office on Thursday but was denied entry as she was busy in a meeting. Later, an effort on the principal’s cell phone also went futile as she did not attend the call.

However, talking to The News on cell phone on Wednesday, Dr Dean had denied any mismanagement in the exams. She said the exams were being held as per schedule as mentioned in the college prospectus.

KC shows door to seven teachers

LAHORE: The administration of Kinnaird College for Women on Wednesday terminated the services of three of its faculty members, repatriating four others to the Punjab government.

According to sources, the faculty members along with some others had pointed fingers at the alleged irregularities in recent admissions, besides showing strong resentment over the appointment of Naima Khursheed as the college’s registrar and head of examination department.

A faculty member, seeking anonymity, said the KC Board of Governors in its meeting held on December 5, had constituted a three-member inquiry committee to investigate different allegations leveled by some faculty members. The ‘action’ against teachers is being taken as a victimization act by the administration, the source said, adding that the teachers had reservation over the said committee as no representative from the education department was part of it.

The faculty members repatriated to the Higher Education Department include Saira Malik, Head of Political Science Department, Shibba Syed, Head of Urdu Department, Farrukh Sohail, Head of Islamic Studies Department and Helen Khokhar, Head of Physics Department

The faculty members whose contract services were terminated include Sadaf Munir and Asma Jamil from the Psychology Department and Zarina Rizvi from Urdu Department.

Talking to The News, Sadaf Munir said the teachers were victimized only because they had raised their voice against the administration’s unjust and unfair policies, including the appointment of Naima Khursheed as college’s registrar. She even claimed the said official was earlier removed by Queen Marry College over allegations of corruption. Sadaf Munir alleged the admissions were made even in October and November, despite the fact the process was completed in September. “They are replacing the best with the worst” she commented, saying those serving on contract were not issued any notices as required by the rules. She also alleged that the administration was asking the teachers to remain silent, issuing threats of consequences.

When contacted, KC Principal Dr Bernadette L Dean denied the allegations, saying no one was victimized. The college administration is free to keep or let someone go, the KC being a private institution, she added.

She said some faculty members were repatriated as the administration was planning to induct highly qualified teachers as faculty members. She said the position of registrar was advertised and the appointment was made purely on merit.

She refuted the allegation that contracts were yet not expired, saying Sadaf Munir had even applied for renewal of her contract.

Dr Dean said two of the faculty members were serving the college on contract after their retirement, adding one of them, Asma Jamil, had even asked her (Principal) to relieve her.

She said, during an interview with students sometime ago, she had held Jesus Christ, Nelson Mandela and Gandhi as her ideal, adding, unfortunately, some faculty members were busy in propaganda against her since then,

To a question, she said the fact-finding committee constituted by the KC BoG had yet to submit its report. Those leveling allegations had even taken a U-turn in the said meeting, claiming their signatures on complaints were forged, she said.

When contacted, Punjab Higher Education Department secretary Ahad Khan Cheema said the department had yet to receive the repatriation orders. However, he added, the KC principal was advised to hold-on until the inquiry committee submitted its report as the conduct of administration was under question.

“At this time, it simply looks like clash of interests”, he commented.

He said the KC was neither a government nor totally private institute, adding it was being run under a special arrangement with its representation from different government departments, including education, finance and law, on its BoG. Naima Khursheed was not available for comments.

KC barred from action until probe

LAHORE: The Punjab Higher Education Department on Thursday formally asked the Kinnaird College (KC) principal not to remove or surrender any faculty member until the committee formed by the college’s Board of Governors submits its report.The KC Board of Governors (BoG) had formed a three-member committee on December 5, to investigate the allegations levelled by the faculty members against appointment of the KC registrar. The faculty members, in a letter addressed to the BoG chairman, dated 28 October, 2009, had alleged that the appointment of Dr Naima Khurshid as Registrar of Kinnaird College was unjustified. A copy of the letter bearing signatures of 97 KC teachers was made available to The News on Thursday. In the letter, addressed to BoG’s Chairman Dr Alexander John Malik, the faculty members expressed strong resentment over the appointment of Dr Naima as registrar, making it clear that she was not acceptable in any of the administrative capacities at the college. They further maintained that her previous professional record and references in the Queen Mary College were overlooked by the principal at the time of her induction. The teachers had also alleged that the tenure of Dr Naima at KC had been full of questionable activities including an inquiry against her in 2008 when she was appointed as Resident Inspector in Intermediate Examinations. However, on December 23, KC Principal Dr Bernadette L Dean fired seven teachers, repatriating four heads of different departments, since they were government employees, to the Punjab government and terminating services of three others serving on contract basis. It is pertinent to mention that Dr Dean had denied allegations of unjustified appointment of the registrar, claiming that no teacher was victimized and the decision was taken in the best interest of the college. She also rejected the allegation levelled against her, reports say. According to the sources in the department, Higher Education secretary Ahad Khan Cheema took a serious notice of the removal of seven teachers, asking the principal to ‘abstain’ from any action against teachers as her own conduct was under question. The principal was asked not to take any action even against contract teachers since the BoG had ordered an inquiry into alleged irregularities on complaint of the teachers, the sources added. They said, after the constitution of the inquiry committee, the KC teachers had also submitted an application to the department, the inquiry committee and the BoG, alleging that they were being threatened of dire consequences ever since the initiation of the probe. A KC faculty member, seeking anonymity, said the principal had removed seven teachers on last working day ahead of winter and Christmas holidays fearing any resentment from the students. She added the news had created great anxiety among the students who had been sending SMSs through mobile phones to all the teachers expressing complete solidarity with them. When contacted, the Punjab Higher Education Department secretary, Ahad Khan Cheema, confirmed that the KC Principal had formally been asked not to take action against any teacher until the submission of inquiry report as it would be taken as ‘a conflict of interests’. “The principal had also been asked not to remove even teachers serving on contract basis,” he added. Talking to The News, Dr Bernadette L Dean said she did not know about the letter from the department since the college was closed, adding, “I’ll only know when the college reopens after the vacation”.