Comments on: Minister Seeks Input for Pakistan’s National Education Policy

By: Obaid1

Obaid1 — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 05:03:16 +0000

For one ban all religious and political activities in educational institutions;

At Top University, a Fight for Pakistan’s Future
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/21/world/asia/21university.html

By: Watan Aziz

Watan Aziz — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 02:57:34 +0000

67 pages of useless talk, repeated since 1947

The document contains 237 “shalls” and 73 “wills” for an average of 4.62 per page.

Here is a sampling:
1. A framework setting out the basic standards for school facilities and teaching aid materials shall be established by 2012 and shall form the basis for allocation of funds.
2. All schools shall establish a school mission that assists students in achieving their learning potential and personality development as the key goals. Pursuant to this, co-curricular and extra-curricular activities shall be made a mandatory part of the entire learning process.
3. A concept of service to the society shall be introduced.
4. Student-teacher ratios shall be standardized and enforced at school level.
5. An awareness campaign against corporal punishment shall be initiated and teachers shall be held accountable for violations.
6. A study for analyzing the impact of modern media on children with a view to realize its potential to help in attaining the objectives of the education system shall be undertaken. This must encapsulate the negative impacts and the possible ways to mitigate them.
7. A code of conduct shall be established which shall enable student unions to participate in healthy activities without affecting the environment of the educational institutions.

Get rid of all the shalls and wills.

Start using “are” and “is”.

By: M. Maqsood

M. Maqsood — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 14:03:33 +0000

I think the most important thing that the education policy makers in the country should focus on is educating the teachers on (1) curriculum and instruction, (2) proper assessment, both formative and summative, (3) proper use of technological resources including educational software for better teaching and awareness of what’s going on in the world in their respective subject areas.

The other important thing is the utilization of well-trained and highly educated human resources for the development of a national curriculum that is used in all provinces. National assessment should be aligned to the curriculum, and high priority should be given to the development of test items for secondary and higher secondary high-stakes examinations.

The government should make all the latest work-in-progress documents publicly available in easy to navigate through websites, so that people could see where the government stands in relation to its plans.

Availability of coherent, and updated national education statistics on the Ministry of Education website is very important for academics and practitioners to use and reflect on.

I could run out of ideas to contribute to the education system in the country, and I know positive things can happen despite the recurrent outcry about the lack of resources. All we need is to use the outstanding human resources in and outside Pakistan. Try involving the young people for once, and see how dedicated they are to actually improve the situation!

A professor once told me that the highest number of PhDs in Pakistan are in the field of Education. I only had one question: how could such highly qualified and supposedly responsible people let their conscience become so indifferent to the state of the education system in the country?!