Usman Ali Minhas

Education

2009-07-22T10:29:00.001-07:00

Education in its broadest sense is any act or experience that has a formative effect on the mind, character, or physical ability of an individual (e.g., the consciousness of an infant is educated by its environment through its interaction with its environment); and in its technical sense education is the process by which society deliberately transmits its accumulated knowledge, values, and skills from one generation to another through institutions.^[1] Teachers in such institutions direct the education of students and might draw on many subjects, including reading, writing, mathematics, science and history. This technical process is sometimes called schooling when referring to the compulsory education of youth. For example, Samuel Bowles ^[2] and Herbert Gintis, ^[3] Teachers in specialized professions such as astrophysics, law, or zoologymay teach only a certain subject, usually as professors at institutions of higher learning. There is also instruction in fields for those who want specific vocational skills, such as those required to be a pilot. In addition there is an array of education possible at the informal level, e.g., at museums and libraries, with the Internet, and in life experience.Prince Ndlovu a teacher by profession, defined education as a calculated and a deliberate program to influence behaviour change.

The right to education has been described as a basic human right: since 1952, Article 2 of the first Protocol to the European Convention on Human Rights obliges all signatory parties to guarantee the right to education. At world level, the United Nations' International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights of 1966 guarantees this right under its Article 13.

Systems of formal education

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Education is a broad concept, referring to all the experiences in which students can learn something:

Instruction refers to the intentional facilitating of learning toward identified objectives, delivered either by an instructor or other forms.
Teaching refers to the actions of a real live instructor designed to impart learning to the student.
Teaching refers to learning with a view toward preparing learners with specific knowledge, skills, or abilities that can be applied immediately upon completion.

Primary education

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Primary (or elementary) education consists of the first few years of formal, structured education. In general, main education consists of six or eight years of schooling starting at the age of five or six, although this varies between, and sometimes within, countries. Globally, around 70% of primary-age children are enrolled in primary education, and this proportion is rising.^[4] Under the Education for All programs driven by UNESCO, most countries have committed to achieving universal enrollment in primary education by 2015, and in many countries, it is compulsory for children to receive primary education. The division between primary and secondary education is somewhat arbitrary, but it generally occurs at about eleven or twelve years of age. Some education systems have separate middle schools, with the transition to the final stage of secondary education taking place at around the age of fourteen. Schools that provide primary education, are mostly referred to as primary schools. Primary schools in these countries are often subdivided intoinfant schools and junior schools.aw

Secondary education

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In most contemporary educational systems of the world, secondary education consists of the second years of formal education that occur during adolescence.^{[citation needed]} It is characterized by transition from the typically compulsory, comprehensive primary education for minors, to the optional, selective tertiary, "post-secondary", or "higher" education (e.g., university, vocational school) for adults.^{[citation needed]}Depending on the system, schools for this period, or a part of it, may be called secondary or high schools, gymnasiums, lyceums, middle schools, colleges, or vocational schools. The exact meaning of any of these terms varies from one system to another. The exact boundary between primary and secondary education also varies from country to country and even within them, but is generally around the seventh to the tenth year of schooling. Secondary education occurs mainly during the teenage years. In the United States and Canada primary and secondary education together are sometimes referred to as K-12 education, and in New Zealand Year 1-13 is used. The purpose of secondary education can be to give common knowledge, to prepare for higher education or to train directly in a profession.

The emergence of secondary education in the United States did not happen until 1910, caused by the rise in big businesses and technological advances in factories (i.e. emergence of electrification), that required skilled workers. In order to meet this new job demand, high schools were created and the curriculum focused on practical job skills that would better prepare students for white collar or skilled blue collar work. This proved to be beneficial for both the employer and the employee, because this improvement in human capital caused employees to become more efficient, which lowered costs for the employer, and skilled employees received a relatively higher wage than employees with just primary educational attainment. In Europe the grammar school or academy existed from as early as the 1500s, public schools or fee paying schools, or charitable educational foundations have an even longer history.

Higher education

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Higher education, also called tertiary, third stage, or post secondary education, is the non-compulsory educational level that follows the completion of a school providing a secondary education, such as a high school, secondary school. Tertiary education is normally taken to include undergraduate and postgraduate education, as well as vocational education and training. Colleges and universities are the main institutions that provide tertiary education. Collectively, these are sometimes known as tertiary institutions. Tertiary education generally results in the receipt of certificates, diplomas, or academic degrees.

Higher education includes teaching, research and social services activities of universities, and within the realm of teaching, it includes both the undergraduate level (sometimes referred to as tertiary education) and the graduate (or postgraduate) level (sometimes referred to as graduate school). Higher education in that country generally involves work towards a degree-level or foundation degree qualification. In most developed countries a high proportion of the population (up to 50%) now enter higher education at some time in their lives. Higher education is therefore very important to national economies, both as a significant industry in its own right, and as a source of trained and educated personnel for the rest of the economy.^{[citation needed]}

Adult education

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Adult education has become common in many countries. It takes on many forms, ranging from formal class-based learning to self-directed learning and e-learning. A number of career specific courses such as veterinary, medical billing and coding, real estate license, bookkeepingand many more are now available to students through the Internet.

Alternative education

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Alternative education, also known as non-traditional education or educational alternative, is a broad term that may be used to refer to all forms of education outside of traditional education (for all age groups and levels of education). This may include not only forms of education designed for students with special needs (ranging from teenage pregnancy to intellectual disability), but also forms of education designed for a general audience and employing alternative educational philosophies and methods.

Alternatives of the latter type are often the result of education reform and are rooted in various philosophies that are commonly fundamentally different from those of traditional compulsory education. While some have strong political, scholarly, or philosophical orientations, others are more informal associations of teachers and students dissatisfied with certain aspects of traditional education^{[citation needed]}. These alternatives, which include charter schools, alternative schools, independent schools, and home-based learning vary widely, but often emphasize the value of small class size, close relationships between students and teachers, and a sense of community^{[citation needed]}.

Indigenous education

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Increasingly, the inclusion of indigenous models of education (methods and content) as an alternative within the scope of formal and non-formal education systems, has come to represent a significant factor contributing to the success of those members of indigenous communities who choose to access these systems, both as students/learners and as teachers/instructors.

As an educational method, the inclusion of indigenous ways of knowing, learning, instructing, teaching and training, has been viewed by many critical and postmodern scholars as important for ensuring that students/learners and teachers/instructors (whether indigenous or non-indigenous) are able to benefit from education in a culturally sensitive manner that draws upon, utilizes, promotes and enhances awareness of indigenous traditions.^[5]

For indigenous students or learners, and teachers or instructors, the inclusion of these methods often enhances educational effectiveness, success and learning outcomes by providing education that adheres to their own inherent perspectives, experiences and worldview. For non-indigenous students and teachers, education using such methods often has the effect of raising awareness of the individual traditions and collective experience of surrounding indigenous communities and peoples, thereby promoting greater respect for and appreciation of the cultural realities of these communities and peoples.

In terms of educational content, the inclusion of indigenous knowledge, traditions, perspectives, worldviews and conceptions within curricula, instructional materials and textbooks and coursebooks have largely the same effects as the inclusion of indigenous methods in education. Indigenous students and teachers benefit from enhanced academic effectiveness, success and learning outcomes, while non-indigenous students/learners and teachers often have greater awareness, respect, and appreciation for indigenous communities and peoples in consequence of the content that is shared during the course of educational pursuits.^[6]

A prime example of how indigenous methods and content can be used to promote the above outcomes is demonstrated within higher education in Canada. Due to certain jurisdictions' focus on enhancing academic success for Aboriginal learners and promoting the values ofmulticulturalism in society, the inclusion of indigenous methods and content in education is often seen as an important obligation and duty of both governmental and educational authorities.^[7]

Curriculum and List of academic disciplines

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An academic discipline is a branch of knowledge which is formally taught, either at the university, or via some other such method. Functionally, disciplines are usually defined and recognized by the academic journals in which research is published, and by the learned societies to which their practitioners belong.^{[citation needed]} Professors say schooling is 80% psychological, 20% physical effort.^{[citation needed]}

Each discipline usually has several sub-disciplines or branches, and distinguishing lines are often both arbitrary and ambiguous. Examples of broad areas of academic disciplines include the natural sciences, mathematics, computer science, social sciences, humanities and applied sciences.^[8]

Learning modalities

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There has been work on learning styles over the last two decades. Dunn and Dunn^[9] focused on identifying relevant stimuli that may influence learning and manipulating the school environment, at about the same time as Joseph Renzulli^[10] recommended varying teaching strategies.Howard Gardner^[11] identified individual talents or aptitudes in his Multiple Intelligences theories. Based on the works of Jung, the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator and Keirsey Temperament Sorter^[12] focused on understanding how people's personality affects the way they interact personally, and how this affects the way individuals respond to each other within the learning environment. The work of David Kolb and Anthony Gregorc's Type Delineator^[13] follows a similar but more simplified approach.

It is currently fashionable to divide education into different learning "modes". The learning modalities^[14] are probably the most common:^[15]

Visual: learning based on observation and seeing what is being learned.
Auditory: learning based on listening to instructions/information.
Kinesthetic: learning based on hands-on work and engaging in activities.

It is claimed that, depending on their preferred learning modality, different teaching techniques have different levels of effectiveness.^[16] A consequence of this theory is that effective teaching should present a variety of teaching methods which cover all three learning modalities so that different students have equal opportunities to learn in a way that is effective for them.^[17] Guy Claxton has questioned the extent thatlearning styles such as VAK are helpful, particularly as they can have a tendency to label children and therefore restrict learning.^[18]

Teaching

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Teachers need to understand a subject enough to convey its essence to students. The goal is to establish a sound knowledge base on which students will be able to build as they are exposed to different life experiences. The passing of knowledge from generation to generation allows students to grow into useful members of society.^{[citation needed]} Good teachers can translate information, good judgment, experience and wisdom into relevant knowledge that a student can understand, retain and pass to others. Studies from the US suggest that the quality of teachers is the single most important factor affecting student performance, and that countries which score highly on international tests have multiple policies in place to ensure that the teachers they employ are as effective as possible. ^[19]

Educational technology

2009-07-22T10:25:00.001-07:00

Technology is an increasingly influential factor in education. Computers and mobile phones are used in developed countries both to complement established education practices and develop new ways of learning such as online education (a type of distance education). This gives students the opportunity to choose what they are interested in learning. The proliferation of computers also means the increase of programming and blogging. Technology offers powerful learning tools that demand new skills and understandings of students, including Multimedia, and provides new ways to engage students, such as Virtual learning environments. Technology is being used more not only in administrative duties in education but also in the instruction of students. The use of technologies such as PowerPoint and interactive whiteboard is capturing the attention of students in the classroom. Technology is also being used in the assessment of students. One example is the Audience Response System (ARS), which allows immediate feedback tests and classroom discussions.

Information and communication technologies (ICTs) are a “diverse set of tools and resources used to communicate, create, disseminate, store, and manage information.”^[20] These technologies include computers, the Internet, broadcasting technologies (radio and television), and telephony. There is increasing interest in how computers and the Internet can improve education at all levels, in both formal and non-formal settings.^[21] Older ICT technologies, such as radio and television, have for over forty years been used for open and distance learning, although print remains the cheapest, most accessible and therefore most dominant delivery mechanism in both developed and developing countries.^[22]

The use of computers and the Internet is in its infancy in developing countries, if these are used at all, due to limited infrastructure and the attendant high costs of access. Usually, various technologies are used in combination rather than as the sole delivery mechanism. For example, the Kothmale Community Radio Internet uses both radio broadcasts and computer and Internet technologies to facilitate the sharing of information and provide educational opportunities in a rural community in Sri Lanka.^[23] The Open University of the United Kingdom (UKOU), established in 1969 as the first educational institution in the world wholly dedicated to open and distance learning, still relies heavily on print-based materials supplemented by radio, television and, in recent years, online programming.^[24] Similarly, the Indira Gandhi National Open University in India combines the use of print, recorded audio and video, broadcast radio and television, and audio conferencing technologies.^[25]

The term "computer-assisted learning" (CAL) has been increasingly used to describe the use of technology in teaching.

Education of Theory

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Education theory is the theory of the purpose, application and interpretation of education and learning. Its history begins with classical Greek educationalists and sophists and includes, since the 18th century, pedagogy and andragogy. In the 20th century, "theory" has become an umbrella term for a variety of scholarly approaches to teaching, assessment and education law, most of which are informed by various academic fields, which can be seen in the below sections.

History

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History of education

A depiction of the University of Bologna, Italy

The history of education according to Dieter Lenzen, president of the Freie Universität Berlin 1994 "began either millions of years ago or at the end of 1770". Education as a science cannot be separated from the educational traditions that existed before. Adults trained the young of their society in the knowledge and skills they would need to master and eventually pass on.^{[citation needed]} The evolution of culture, and human beings as a species depended on this practice of transmitting knowledge.^{[citation needed]} In pre-literate societies this was achieved orally and through imitation. Story-telling continued from one generation to the next. Oral language developed into written symbols and letters. The depth and breadth of knowledge that could be preserved and passed soon increased exponentially.^{[citation needed]} When cultures began to extend their knowledge beyond the basic skills of communicating, trading, gathering food, religious practices, etc, formal education, and schooling, eventually followed.^{[citation needed]} Schooling in this sense was already in place in Egypt between 3000 and 500BC.^{[citation needed]}

Nowadays some kind of education is compulsory to all people in most countries. Due to population growth and the proliferation of compulsory education, UNESCO has calculated that in the next 30 years more people will receive formal education than in all of human history thus far.^[33]

Philosophy of education

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Philosophy of education is the philosophical study of the purpose, process, nature and ideals of education. Philosophy of education can naturally be considered a branch of both philosophy and education. Philosophy of education is commonly housed in colleges and departments of education, yet it is applied philosophy, drawing from the traditional fields of philosophy (ontology, ethics, epistemology, etc.) and approaches (speculative, prescriptive, and/or analytic) to address questions regarding education policy, human development, education research methodology, and curriculum theory, to name a few.

Educational psychology

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A class size experiment in the United States found that attending small classes for 3 or more years in the early grades increased high school graduation rates of students from low income families.^[34]

Educational psychology is the study of how humans learn in educational settings, the effectiveness of educational interventions, the psychology of teaching, and the social psychology of schools asorganizations. Although the terms "educational psychology" and "school psychology" are often used interchangeably, researchers and theorists are likely to be identified as educational psychologists, whereas practitioners in schools or school-related settings are identified as school psychologists.^{[citation needed]} Educational psychology is concerned with the processes of educational attainment in the general population and in sub-populations such as gifted children and those with specific disabilities.^{[citation needed]}

Educational psychology can in part be understood through its relationship with other disciplines. It is informed primarily bypsychology, bearing a relationship to that discipline analogous to the relationship between medicine and biology.^{[citation needed]} Educational psychology in turn informs a wide range of specialities within educational studies, including instructional design, educational technology, curriculum development, organizational learning, special education and classroom management.^{[citation needed]} Educational psychology both draws from and contributes to cognitive science and the learning sciences.^{[citation needed]} In universities, departments of educational psychology are usually housed within faculties of education, possibly accounting for the lack of representation of educational psychology content in introductory psychology textbooks (Lucas, Blazek, & Raley, 2006).

Sociology of education

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The sociology of education is the study of how social institutions and forces affect educational processes and outcomes, and vice versa. By many, education is understood to be a means of overcoming handicaps, achieving greater equality and acquiring wealth and status for all (Sargent 1994). Learners may be motivated by aspirations for progress and betterment. Education is perceived as a place where children can develop according to their unique needs and potentialities.^[35] The purpose of education can be to develop every individual to their full potential.^{[citation needed]} The understanding of the goals and means of educational socialization processes differs according to the sociological paradigm used.

Educational Development

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In some developing countries, the number and seriousness of the problems faced are naturally greater.^{[citation needed]} People in more remote or agrarian areas are sometimes unaware of the importance of education. However, many countries have an active Ministry of Education, and in many subjects, such as foreign language learning, the degree of education is actually much higher than in industrialized countries; for example, it is not at all uncommon for students in many developing countries to be reasonably fluent in multiple foreign languages, whereas this is much more of a rarity in the supposedly "more educated" countries where much of the population is in fact monolingual.

There is also economic pressure from those parents who prefer their children making money in the short term over any long-term benefits of education.^{[citation needed]} Recent studies on child labor and poverty have suggested that when poor families reach a certain economic threshold where families are able to provide for their basic needs, parents return their children to school.^{[citation needed]} This has been found to be true, once the threshold has been breached, even if the potential economic value of the children's work has increased since their return to school.^{[citation needed]} Teachers are often paid less than other similar professions.^{[citation needed]}

Russia has more academic graduates than any other country inEurope.

A lack of good universities, and a low acceptance rate for good universities, is evident in countries with a relatively high population density.^{[citation needed]} In some countries, there are uniform, over structured, inflexible centralized programs from a central agency that regulates all aspects of education.

Due to globalization, increased pressure on students in curricular activities
Removal of a certain percentage of students for improvisation of academics (usually practised in schools, after 10th grade)

India is now developing technologies that will skip land based phone and internet lines. Instead, India launched EDUSAT, an education satellite that can reach more of the country at a greatly reduced cost. There is also an initiative started by a group out of MIT and supported by several major corporations to develop a $100 laptop. The laptops should be available by late 2006 or 2007. The laptops, sold at cost, will enable developing countries to give their children a digital education, and to close the digital divide across the world.

In Africa, NEPAD has launched an "e-school programme" to provide all 600,000 primary and high schools with computer equipment, learning materials and internet access within 10 years. Private groups, like The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, are working to give more individuals opportunities to receive education in developing countries through such programs as the Perpetual Education Fund. An International Development Agency project called nabuur.com, started with the support of American President Bill Clinton, uses the Internet to allow co-operation by individuals on issues of social development.

Internationalisation

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Education is becoming increasingly international. Not only are the materials becoming more influenced by the rich international environment, but exchanges among students at all levels are also playing an increasingly important role. In Europe, for example, the Socrates-Erasmus Programme stimulates exchanges across European universities. Also, the Soros Foundation provides many opportunities for students from central Asia and eastern Europe. Some scholars argue that, regardless of whether one system is considered better or worse than another, experiencing a different way of education can often be considered to be the most important, enriching element of an international learning experience.

Religion and Education

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Islam and Education In Islam education is very important for both males and females, particularly young children. Contrary to common perception the seeking of all types knowledge be it academic, vocational; religious or secular is encouraged whatever age however learning at an early age is seen to allow the mind to concentrate without the stresses and responsibilities of later adult life.^[37

Functions (continued)

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Copyright.
External examination and equivalence of degrees and diplomas.
Development of instructional technology; promotion and coordination of educational research.
National language and other languages used for official purposes including medium of instruction.
National education institutions and organizations and grant-in-aid to them, excluding administrative control of law colleges, National Educational Council.
Education in the Capital of the Federation, Federally Administered Areas and AJ&K .
Financial assistance to educationists and men of letters and their bereaved families.
Pride of performance award in academic fields.
National libraries.
National Service Corps; military training for students.
Boy Scouts and Girl Guides; youth activities and movements.
Welfare of Pakistani students abroad and foreign students in Pakistan.
Relationship with UNESCO and participation in its activities; liaison with other international agencies and organizations in educational programs.
International exchange of students and teachers.
Foreign studies and training, international assistance in the field of education .
Promotion of special studies designed to identify problems of national integrity and measures best calculated to protect the mainsprings of ideological inspiration and develop national cohesion.
Administrative control of the Federal Colleges of Arts and Design.
Administrative control of Islamic Research Institute.
*Selection of scholars against Pakistan Chairs abroad by the Special Selection Board constituted in the Education Division.
**Integrate plans, proposals and programs proposed or prepared or adopted by Higher Education Commission in Higher Education Sector.

Ministry of Education

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Vision

"Our Vision is to prepare the nation for the challenges of Knowledge Revolution".

Mission

"Our aim is to transform Pakistan's education system into equal opportunity quality education provider".

Functions

Development and coordination of national policies, plans and programs in education, development of curricula.

International aspect of development and planning of education.

The importance of universal education

2009-06-08T04:13:00.000-07:00

The state shall remove illiteracy and provide free and compulsory secondary education within minimum possible period…” [Constitution of Pakistan, article 37 (b) and (c])
Not a day passes without a statement by the government functionaries claiming that Pakistan’s education system is making great advancement and we, as a nation, are close to achieving the literacy target by 2015. However, the Education for All (EFA) Global Monitoring Report 2006, which was released by Unesco recently, has rejected these claims. According to the report, “Pakistan and India are at a serious risk of not achieving the adult literacy target by 2015 because their literacy rates are very low and increasing too slowly.”
This report should serve as an eye opener for all the concerned people in the education ministry. However, when we analyse the factors that have played an important role in crippling the education system, the most vital is the lack of universal primary education in the country. It is the basic mainstay of the extended instructive system and if it is flawed or skewed the whole structure would be out of equilibrium.
The importance of primary education has been recognised by international and national agencies and scholars. Investment in the early education benefits the individual, society and the world at large and it is among the most effective apparatus known to reduce poverty and inequity.
It is beneficial for personal well being and, at the same time, strengthens the nation’s economic health by laying the groundwork for persistent economic growth. It could be rightly called the key to creating, applying and spreading erudition and leads to the development of dynamic and internationally vigorous economies. Primary education is indispensable for the formation of egalitarian societies.
Development experts have proved, by examples and research studies, that basic education is essential for both financial and societal progress. For instance, school completion has long been identified as an imperative determinant of wages, with private and social rates of return greater than other investment opportunities. In underdeveloped states, the social rate of return to education has been estimated to be about seven per cent for primary schooling and 16 per cent for secondary schooling, with private rates of return even higher.
According to a World Bank report, “early education is beneficial to the individual in many ways.” It greatly benefits personal well being and increases production and earnings. It has been proved by researchers that every year of schooling increases individual wages for both genders by 10 per cent globally.
In the under developed countries, the gains are even better. It reduces inequality as education is a great leveller. Primary education plays a catalytic role for the most vulnerable sections including girls, ethnic minorities, orphans, disabled people and rural families. In short, education can be the powerful wave that elevates all boats, it adds.
An educated and skilled workforce is one of the pillars of knowledge-based economy as it contributes to improved productivity which, in theory, would lead to higher income and improved economic performance. Countries with higher primary schooling and a smaller gender gap tend to enjoy greater democracy.
As maintained by Amartya Sen, “basic education can be very important in helping people to get jobs and gainful employment. This economic connection is particularly critical in a rapidly globalising world.”
The story of primary education in Pakistan is a tale of consistent failures. Perhaps our policy makers are not aware of the fact that education is not an end in itself, it works as a catalyst to bring changes in knowledge, values, behaviour and lifestyles that are crucial for achieving sustainability and stability.
Although plans have been made and targets set, the outcome is pathetic to say the least. These heart-breaking figures can put across the point more effectively. Still, 53 million of the world’s illiterates are found in Pakistan. The overall literacy rate stands at 51.6 per cent, 63.7 per cent for males and 39.2 per cent for females. Islamabad ranks second with the highest number of out-of-school children. Ten million children of primary school-going age are not enrolled and more than 50 per cent enrolled in schools drop out before they reach fifth grade.
According to Dr Abid Qaiyum Suleri, Assistant Executive Director, SDPI: “Universal primary education is the basic foundation of any nation. Unfortunately, South Asia is the most illiterate region in the world and is home to half of the illiterate population in the world. In the expanse, more children are out of school than the rest of the world. Within South Asia we are one of the poor performers on the literacy front.” Going by government statistics, one may see an apparent improvement in the literacy rate. However, experts have articulated concerns on achieving mere quantitative targets. Numerical objectives will not mean anything till they are accompanied with quality. In our case, we are lagging behind, both on quantity as well as quality fronts, he adds.
Discussing the correlation between education and fanaticism, Dr A.H. Nayyar, a scientist and educational researcher, says: “It is not easy to establish a causal relationship between universal primary education and religious intolerance.”
The phenomenon of Talibanisation is very complex, brought into being by several factors. One of the factors, as in the case of Afghanistan and Pakistan, is the absence of universal education. It is not certain if this factor can be even regarded as an important or a crucial one. Indeed if education is provided to all citizens, then there will be few people frustrated on account of having grown without having any marketable skills. Hence, they are easily attracted to nihilistic and fascistic ideologies and political action, he adds.
Elaborating further, Dr Nayyar says, “However, on the other hand, if they are educated with a curriculum that teaches them hate, extremism and militancy, as is happening in Pakistan, they will also be easily attracted to fascistic ideology and politics.”
How important the issue of universal education in Pakistan is gauged by a report prepared by the US State Department in 2004 titled “Education reforms in Pakistan”. It mentions that “education is absolutely crucial to Pakistan’s development as a moderate and democratic state” and called upon Islamabad to strengthen and modernise its existing public schooling structure.
The government isn’t entirely oblivious and is making intensive efforts to surmount problems. According to the Pakistan Economic Survey 2005-6, “It has taken several policy and programme initiatives to achieve the international goals.” The underlying factors between all these objectives are universal access to primary education by increasing the net enrolment and higher rate of survival till class five, and an increase in the adult literacy rate and to attain gender equality at all levels, it adds.
According to a government spokesman, the “attainment of universal primary education is a persuasive state priority.” There are two main indicators that show the changes in the primary schooling: Gross Enrolment Rate (GER) and Net Enrolment Rate (NER). There has been an increase of 14 percentage points during the last four years in both segments, which clearly shows the hard work and commitment of the present regime, he adds.
Another very important factor that has plagued this sector is the low budgetary allocation. According to the World Bank, Islamabad expenditure on public sector education is only 2.3 per cent of the GDP which is to a great extent lesser than the South Asian average of 3.6 per cent and the low-income states average of 3.4 per cent. Elucidating the phenomenon, Dr Suleri says, “There is an urgent need to question our national priorities. We are spending billions in the name of national security needs. Pakistan bought three Agosta 90B submarines from France for $1 billion. For this amount (for one year) we could have ensured primary education for all 17 million children now un-enrolled.”
The only way to make sure that the country is free from hunger, poverty and diseases would be to ensure universal primary and quality education for all citizens. If that is not going to happen, then we cannot stop internal threats that are weakening the fabric of our society. One should keep in mind that it is not the Agosta 90B, but educated empowered citizens who can defend us from internal threats, he adds.
Another glitch is that primary education is not receiving its due share as a large proportion of the funds are spent on the higher education. Thus, it is creating a major catastrophe by stratifying the general public horizontally and even vertically and, as a result, poverty and ignorance are reinforced, making it nearly impossible for the underprivileged to come out of the vicious cycle of deprivation. Shedding light on the subject, Dr Suleri states, “With very poor quality primary education, we tend to spend millions on higher education. This is just like allocating huge amount of funds for painting a poorly constructed building.” One has nothing against spending on the Higher Education Commission (HEC). However, we should stop to think whether it is meant for children from the upper classes who had the chance to attend high-end private schools. There is a need to balance spending on higher and primary education, he adds.
As Arshed Bhatti associated with Civil Junction, a social enterprise working for the opening up of a political social environment has rightly pointed out: “Primary education can be put on right track by a national policy and provincial planning in which both are informed of the comprehensive knowledge of the complexities involving the needs’ of learners, of society, and the times we live in.” The decentralised implementation then must be backed by firm financial and political commitments. Every thing else will automatically fall in place, he adds.
Analysing the performance of the provincial governments, Prof Dr Muhammad Ali Siddiqui, Dean, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Hamdard University, says: “I am not satisfied with the efforts of the provincial governments in achieving their targets.” On top of it, we are witnessing a lack of will on the part of the elected representatives of the people to execute their promises. Even the much acclaimed boast of providing free education up to matriculation is resulting in increased drop-out rate. Pakistan, under the present circumstances, cannot fulfill its commitment to achieve universal literacy up to 2015 under the Dakar Declaration, he adds.
Arshed Bhatti says that the failure of primary education in Pakistan can be attributed to the combined effect of the following factors: (a) It never got the attention of any government since Independence which means an absence of a comprehensive policy and evolution of a planning approach that was not based on the ground realities. (b) The foundation of primary education inputs (curriculum, books, school design, pedagogy, teachers training, and assessments) was not rooted in applied research. Thus, the inputs did not fit with the known needs of the learners (children) or social realities of the learner; and teachers were not imparted skills to ably link the three (inputs, learners’ needs and social reality around). (c) The demand side is not organised: it has never been, and was never encouraged to be. This means no checks and accountability of the services delivered in the name of education. (d) Whatever planning has been done to deliver primary education, it is not elastic and dynamic. (e) Consistently inadequate investments were made which were not in response to the real and credible assessment of per capita (per child) actual costs on delivering primary education.
Only after implementing across-the-board universal primary education will Pakistan be able to establish a more humane and literate society which can fight religious radicalism, societal disparity, poverty, terrorism and sectarianism. On the other hand, it will provide viable skills to the poor and help them become productive members of the society, breaking the shackles of poverty for good.

Usman Ali Minhas

2009-05-03T08:12:00.000-07:00

Asslam-0-Aliekum

Usman Ali Minhas

Education

Contents

Systems of formal education

Primary education

Secondary education

Higher education

Adult education

Alternative education

Indigenous education

Curriculum and List of academic disciplines

Learning modalities

Teaching

Educational technology

Education of Theory

History

Philosophy of education

Educational psychology

Sociology of education

Educational Development

Internationalisation

Religion and Education

Functions (continued)

Ministry of Education

The importance of universal education

Usman Ali Minhas