Hey, I went to City school too. But I would say that the standard of education at O and A levels in Pakistani private schools are still quite far behind those of state schools in the developed world.

Which years? I was there from 2001-2004.
95-97

Hey, I went to City school too. But I would say that the standard of education at O and A levels in Pakistani private schools are still quite far behind those of state schools in the developed world.

That is so untrue I can't help but laugh :lol:

What I learnt in 8th grade in City school they are teaching in college here now. I remember we started learning differentiation the first day of school in 10th grade, while in the US the average student starts learning it in college, or if they're considered very smart, in high school AP class which is taken in 12th grade.

The standard of education in the expensive private O/A level schools of Pakistan, in the famous ones at least, is just as high as the expensive private schools in the US.

95-97

Do you remember Daku, Khatri, the Urdu teacher who looked kinda like Allama Iqbal with his moustache (forgot his name), Hitler, Dada etc? And of course Baba, everyone respected him yet every year students would break into the school and put graffiti everywhere. :lol:

That is so untrue I can't help but laugh :lol:

What I learnt in 8th grade in City school they are teaching in college here now. I remember we started learning differentiation the first day of school in 10th grade, while in the US the average student starts learning it in college, or if they're considered very smart, in high school AP class which is taken in 12th grade.

The standard of education in the expensive private O/A level schools of Pakistan, in the famous ones at least, is just as high as the expensive private schools in the US.

Not really. Even Pakistani private schools = ratta (memorising!).

It's just about memorising, if you memorise well, you do well. The brightest don't always get the highest grades, the one who are good at memorising do. Admit the facts!

Not really. Even Pakistani private schools = ratta (memorising!).

I have studied in Pakistan from age 3 to age 17, I am telling you, private O/A level schools are not ratta. The format of the O/A level exams makes it impossible to pass with ratta, and the kindergarten education at least in City PAF is extremely high quality, my mother is a teacher there and everyday she prepares new material for the kids.

A Pakistani kid from a private Pakistani school could beat an American public school kid in most academic subjects hands down.

If you don't believe me go on Cambridge's website and go through the exams of the last few years, tell me if anything has been repeated blatantly like they do in the Pakistani public school system. Questions in O/A levels require critical thinking and originality. We used to see exam questions we'd never seen before, they had to be solved using a variety of techniques we learnt in class, and they were presented in a very original manner.

The exams are made up by people in Cambridge, I don't know how you can claim it is a ratta system.

I have studied at a private Pakistani school too (City school). Then how come all those international students from Pakistan & India aren't doing as well as us guys in the exams here at uni? I've been through the Pakistani system. Even the private schools are all ratta. While here in the UK, it depends on your knowledge, application, analysis, evaluation etc etc. Rattas don't work like in Pakistan. Anyways City PAF, doesn't have as good a reputation as compared to other branches of City School.

I have studied at a private Pakistani school too (City school).

Which one and what years?

Then how come all those international students from Pakistan & India aren't doing as well as us guys in the exams here at uni? I've been through the Pakistani system. Even the private schools are all ratta. While here in the UK, it depends on your knowledge, application, analysis, evaluation etc etc. Rattas don't work like in Pakistan. Anyways City PAF, doesn't have as good a reputation as compared to other branches of City School.

What are you talking about man? All my engineering classes are full of Pakistanis, and they get A's hardly having studied anything. South Asians are mostly in science and math classes, whereas white kids mostly go for either business or things like international politics or english where they don't have to deal with math. South Asians have a reputation for being smart and being in hard classes along with the east asians such as Japs and Chinese.

If you are claiming they are ratta, then please post examples of exam questions that are from the textbooks used in Pakistani private schools. You will not find any.

The Pakistanis at your university probably grew up in England.

And also, each and every O level exam is made by professors at the University of Cambridge, one of the best institutions of learning in the world. They do not set "ratta" exam questions. You are seriously out of touch with this system. You probably studied in City in class 1 in some small branch which hired a teacher with 20 years of matric teaching experience and he set ratta questions for the end of year exams leading you to think that is how the O level exams are.

Here, have a look at the syllabi and past exam questions of the O levels, and I challange you to show me which questions are "ratta".

http://www.cie.org.uk/qualifications/academic/middlesec/olevel

Which one and what years?

LOADS of different campuses. Till year 7, I left because I knew education would be better abroad in the UK and I was right. You are also taught more about life skills in the UK than a 3rd world country like Pakistan.


What are you talking about man? All my engineering classes are full of Pakistanis, and they get A's hardly having studied anything. South Asians are mostly in science and math classes, whereas white kids mostly go for either business or things like international politics or english where they don't have to deal with math. South Asians have a reputation for being smart and being in hard classes along with the east asians such as Japs and Chinese.

I've heard. But yet to see proof.

If you are claiming they are ratta, then please post examples of exam questions that are from the textbooks used in Pakistani private schools. You will not find any.

Ain't got time to waste by searching for BS. I've been through the system. I know more than my cousins who studies at private Pakistani schools like City School etc.

The Pakistanis at your university probably grew up in England.

Read AGIAN! I said "International students". Those who just came to study.

University of Cambridge[/B], one of the best institutions of learning in the world. They do not set "ratta" exam questions. You are seriously out of touch with this system.

Quality in better in developed countries.

You probably studied in City in class 1 in some small branch which hired a teacher with 20 years of matric teaching experience and he set ratta questions for the end of year exams leading you to think that is how the O level exams are.

Here, have a look at the syllabi and past exam questions of the O levels, and I challange you to show me which questions are "ratta".

http://www.cie.org.uk/qualifications/academic/middlesec/olevel

Wrong about me!

You are making claims without any proof to back up your assertions. Looks like they failed to teach you that when you make a statement that will be challanged by people, you are required to present verifiable proof to support your argument. Do your university teachers accept essays without any citations? I wouldn't be surprised, given your attitude, as shown by your refusal to present a source.

You are asbolutely wrong, and the burden of proof lies on you because you are demeaning Pakistani students with no proof.

http://www.pepfoundation.org/images/peplogo_home.gif http://www.pepfoundation.org/images/peplogo_text.gif http://www.pepfoundation.org/images/nup_logo.gif
Promotion of Education in Pakistan (PEP) Foundation, Inc.

http://www.pepfoundation.org/
A non-profit organization working for educating Pakistan's masses. :applause:

You are making claims without any proof to back up your assertions. Looks like they failed to teach you that when you make a statement that will be challanged by people, you are required to present verifiable proof to support your argument. Do your university teachers accept essays without any citations? I wouldn't be surprised, given your attitude, as shown by your refusal to present a source.

You are asbolutely wrong, and the burden of proof lies on you because you are demeaning Pakistani students with no proof.

I have no interest in this conversation. So why shall I waste my time? Where as essay are important for my future, so of course i would invest my time in them. Maybe its easier where you are! Those international students got Ds and Fs while we got A's, B's n C's. Btw is "challenged" not "challanged".

If the quality of education is so good in Pakistan, then why do people come abroad to study? You don't see the flow going the other way.

Stop it! you both, first it was social issues thread now education thread!:bash:

I have no interest in this conversation. So why shall I waste my time? Where as essay are important for my future, so of course i would invest my time in them. Maybe its easier where you are! Those international students got Ds and Fs while we got A's, B's n C's. Btw is "challenged" not "challanged".

If the quality of education is so good in Pakistan, then why do people come abroad to study? You don't see the flow going the other way.

Don't make idiotic claims if you are not going to back them up with proof. Maybe the university you go to lets in any Tom, Dick and Harry. Where do you go? London Metropolitan University? That one practically begs anyone to come.

And yeah, great, you caught my typo. Btw, you missed the word "it" in that sentence.

And Pakistanis go abroad for studies beacuse they can get a better job back at home, but now we have universities like LUMS which are of international quality, and the generations which have grown up in the 90s and 00s will grow up to be professors at Pakistani universities and we already see the standards improving drastically since the early 90s.

Don't make idiotic claims if you are not going to back them up with proof. Maybe the university you go to lets in any Tom, Dick and Harry. Where do you go? London Metropolitan University? That one practically begs anyone to come.

And yeah, great, you caught my typo. Btw, you missed the word "it" in that sentence.

No sir, my uni only lets people with good grades in. Its one of the best in London. But you having that superior notion that you have I can't blame you for your comments. And that typo, howcome it was in ur previous post too?

And Pakistanis go abroad for studies beacuse they can get a better job back at home, but now we have universities like LUMS which are of international quality, and the generations which have grown up in the 90s and 00s will grow up to be professors at Pakistani universities and we already see the standards improving drastically since the early 90s.

My point exactly! Better job back home because of better education received abroad! Btw Pakistan doesn't have a single uni in the top 1000 in the world. LUMS might be good by Pakistani standards, not internationally.

Mod Bhaiiya!


Jhaaroo Maaro!! :laugh:

No sir, my uni only lets people with good grades in. Its one of the best in London. But you having that superior notion that you have I can't blame you for your comments. And that typo, howcome it was in ur previous post too?

Because I can't spell "challenged" correctly, thats why. And what's the name of your university?

My point exactly! Better job back home because of better education received abroad! Btw Pakistan doesn't have a single uni in the top 1000 in the world. LUMS might be good by Pakistani standards, not internationally.

Obviously if one goes to Stanford or Harvard, then those are of higher quality than anything Pakistan has to offer. But these kids who attend these universities have been going back home and are now on the staff of many Pakistani universities and schools. They are helping to improve standards in higher education. The phenomenon of the "brain drain" of the 90s has stopped to a great degree, in fact it is being reversed with many expat Pakistanis returning home in the last few years.

Until high school level, Pakistani private institutions are on par with any thing the west has to offer, it is only at university level that we fall behind, but that gap is steadily being reduced.

Mod Bhaiiya!


Jhaaroo Maaro!! :laugh:

This is the education thread. We are discussing education. What's the problem? If you don't have anything of value to add, don't ask the mods to delete our on-topic discussion.

Because I can't spell "challenged" correctly, thats why. And what's the name of your university?

I don't want you stalking me (you already do tht over the net). I'll just tell you thats its up there with the best.


Obviously if one goes to Stanford or Harvard, then those are of higher quality than anything Pakistan has to offer. But these kids who attend these universities have been going back home and are now on the staff of many Pakistani universities and schools. They are helping to improve standards in higher education. The phenomenon of the "brain drain" of the 90s has stopped to a great degree, in fact it is being reversed with many expat Pakistanis returning home in the last few years.

Until high school level, Pakistani private institutions are on par with any thing the west has to offer, it is only at university level that we fall behind, but that gap is steadily being reduced.

Not really brain drain is still taking place. Most Pakistanis can't afford private education like you or me. Those returness don't seem to be doing that well, as Pakistani unis are still not on the world map. I don't believe that brain drain is being reversed. I know many families who have left Pakistan recently.

This is the education thread. We are discussing education. What's the problem? If you don't have anything of value to add, don't ask the mods to delete our on-topic discussion.

Man, spare Ooga!

I don't want you stalking me (you already do tht over the net). I'll just tell you thats its up there with the best.

Your refusal to tell me only strengthens my suspicions that you are indeed from the London Met. And don't flatter yourself thinking you have stalkers.

Not really brain drain is still taking place. Most Pakistanis can't afford private education like you or me. Those returness don't seem to be doing that well, as Pakistani unis are still not on the world map. I don't believe that brain drain is being reversed. I know many families who have left Pakistan recently.

In order to counter brain drain, Ministry of Labour, Manpower and Overseas Pakistanis through one of its organizations namely National Talent Pool is running a programme called 'Transfer of Knowledge Through Expatriate Nationals (TOKTEN)' .The programme was started in Pakistan in 1980 with UNDP funds. TOKTEN is a global programme, which is in operation in about 50 countries including China, India, Egypt, Turkey, Iran, Bangladesh and Philippines. Under this programme, services of expatriate Pakistani experts are being utilized for transfer of modern know-how to the country through short duration visits of experts for a period of 2 to 8 weeks. The programme in Pakistan has attained full maturity, and is recognized at national / international level. It has provided an excellent opportunity to expatriate consultants to participate in nation building activities, and make contribution in the form of specialized lectures, seminars/ workshops / symposia and training courses. The consultants have also helped in setting up new laboratories, and initiate new research and development programmes.


Impact of the Programme
The Programme has provided an opportunity to Expatriate Pakistani Consultants to participate in nation building activities and make contribution in the form of specialized lectures, seminars / workshops / symposia and training courses, setting up new laboratories and initiate new research / development Programme in their fields of specialization. The main thrust of the Programme has remained to be specific inputs by outstanding expatriate specialists in priority areas for economic and social development. The host agencies have made substantial achievements with the help of consultants. Satisfaction with the Programme has been wide spread both among the host organizations and consultants as a useful approach for transfer of knowledge, a stimulant to heighten professional activities and a welcome devise to the establishment of associations and collaboration between the professional community at home and abroad. The issues like governance, gender equality, environment, human resource development and sustainable livelihood have also been covered during the assignments of expatriate Pakistani consultants.

Expatriate Pakistani Consultants have made tremendous contribution through their visits in establishing links between their parent organizations with local institutions by providing donations, fellowships, equipment, free books, journals and joint research Programmes.



Success Stories
i. Dr. Anwar Nasim is an Internationally known Geneticist has played a significant role in introducing Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering in Pakistan. On his recommendations, National Institute for Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering, Faisalabad was established which is today recognized as the leading national research institute in this area and is the national focal point for International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology.



ii. Dr. Fatima Z. Basha, an eminent scientist, has contributed over 40,000 US dollars in the form of scientific equipment for setting up a laboratory in HEJ Research Institute of Chemistry, Karachi on drug receptor interactions. It is said that this is the only type of laboratory in Asia. She has also arranged training course for a period of three months for a Pakistani Scientist at Abbott Laboratories, Chicago. She carried out a research programme involving the faculty and research students of the Institute in the area of mechanical synthesis / synthesis of Arizonin and also established collaborative programme between Abbott Labs. and the Institute related to the screening of different natural and synthetic compounds for their biological activity.



iii. Dr. Inayatullah H. Kathio, a Veterinarian, donated equipment worth 60,000 US dollars to Sindh Agriculture University, Jamshoro including blood analysis machine, ultra sound machine and other operation and surgical instruments. He conducted a training course / workshop on orthopedic ophthalmic problem, small tissue surgery in small / large animals and diagnosis of pathologic problem through the use of ultra sound technique. He also arranged services of a lecturer whose salary for one year was paid by Dr. Kathio himself.



iv. Dr. Abdul Shakoor, Engineering Geologist, conducted 4 week National Training Course on 'Evaluation of Rock as Construction Material' at Institute of Geology, University of the Punjab which was attended by 95 professionals from Road Research Laboratory, Building Research Laboratory, NESPAK, PCSIR, Atomic Energy (Mineral Centre), Geological Survey of Pakistan, SEMENCE (a Multinational Company), Central Materials Testing Lab (CMTL) including students and faculty members of the Institute of Geology, University of the Punjab, Lahore. This course was unique in its nature. The latest techniques / knowledge imparted to the participants is now being applied in the respective organizations.



v. Dr. Surraiya Rasheed, specialist in Cancer / AIDS / Viruses, conducted 12 workshops / seminars on 'Molecular Techniques and Molecular Biology of Cancer' at Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre, Lahore which were participated by 50 - 60 doctors and scientists from various medical institutions. In addition, she established 7 collaborative research programmes / facilities between her laboratory and Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre, Lahore. She also delivered seminars / workshops in other institutes of Pakistan which were attended by more than 700 professionals.



vi. Mr. Irshad A. Rana, specialist in Metallurgical Engineering and Smelter Technology reviewed various components of Saindak Metals Project, Quetta and advised an action plan on organizational, technical, erection and commissioning (start up) aspects. He suggested modifications and improvements for erection of the machinery and trials testing of various units which were incorporated in the basic design. His visit was extremely useful / productive and saved annual loss of millions of US dollars in the shape of major risks of security, excessive power consumption and low metal recoveries.

In addition, a number of outstanding TOKTEN Consultants have joined long term assignments in Pakistan such as Dr. Abdul Rauf from Canada as Rector, Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute, Topi, Dr. Haneef Qazi from Newzealand as Managing Director, Canola Oil Corporation, Dr. Rana Irshad from Canada as Project Director, Sandak Metals Ltd. Quetta and Dr. Javed Burki from USA as Executive Director, Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre, Lahore.


http://www.tokten.org.pk/tokten.htm

Your refusal to tell me only strengthens my suspicions that you are indeed from the London Met. And don't flatter yourself thinking you have stalkers.

Believe what you like! It won't make a difference to me or my life. Then why do you reply to whatever I say?

http://www.tokten.org.pk/tokten.htm

Nice link, but that still doesn't hide that fact that many Pakistanis are still leaving in search for a better life abroad. I personally have known many who have left.

Believe what you like! It won't make a difference to me or my life. Then why do you reply to whatever I say?

I reply to what you say because you post stats and stuff, unlike other people. That gives rise to ideas about discussions and debates.

Nice link, but that still doesn't hide that fact that many Pakistanis are still leaving in search for a better life abroad. I personally have known many who have left.

Prove it. A simple google search will probably yeild results for you.

One of them mentions the University of Punjab. Thats rubbsih though! My cousin studied there and she didn't like it at all.

Guys why dont u use PM?

Guys why dont u use PM?

I don't like using PM. It already says my PM box is 93% full!

This is the education thread. We are discussing education. What's the problem? If you don't have anything of value to add, don't ask the mods to delete our on-topic discussion.

Its not really discussion anymore, is it now? More like a catfight between two pre-pubescent hormonal girls. :laugh:

Seriously though, both of you rowdy bitches need to agree to disagree! Because neither one of you is about to accept what the other person is saying and nobody other than the two of you gives a flying fornication about this, so let common sense prevail and just backoff.

:yes:

Here is a GCSE Double Science Award exam paper from 2006, which students at Englands best private school Eton have taken:

http://www.aqa.org.uk/qual/gcse/qp-ms/AQA-3462H1-W-QP-JUN06.PDF

Here is GCE O level exam papers from 2006, which students in Pakistans best private schools have taken:

http://www.cie.org.uk/docs/dynamic/3370.pdf
http://www.cie.org.uk/docs/dynamic/2932.pdf
http://www.cie.org.uk/docs/dynamic/3278.pdf

Here is the American AP Biology, Physics, and Chemistry exams:

http://www.collegeboard.com/prod_downloads/ap/students/biology/ap06_frq_biology.pdf
http://www.collegeboard.com/prod_downloads/ap/students/biology/ap06_frq_biology_b.pdf
http://www.collegeboard.com/prod_downloads/ap/students/physics/ap06_frq_physics_c_e-m.pdf
http://www.collegeboard.com/prod_downloads/student/testing/ap/chemistry/_ap06_frq_chemistry.pdf

Now tell me, trapped, is there any difference in the level of difficulty or in the layout of questions between British GCSEs and Pakistani O levels? You cannot pass any of these exam through "rattafication".


Its not really discussion anymore, is it now? More like a catfight between two pre-pubescent hormonal girls. :laugh:

Seriously though, both of you rowdy bitches need to agree to disagree! Because neither one of you is about to accept what the other person is saying and nobody other than the two of you gives a flying fornication about this, so let common sense prevail and just backoff.

:yes:

We are having a debate about Education standards in Pakistan. Completely on topic. We are not being "rowdy", we are posting our views and I am posting stats and proving what I am saying with links.

I took Ooga's advice.

Net School Enrolment Ratio

Pakistan

1972: 41%
1991: 46%
1996-97: 42%
1998-99: 42%

Urban

1991: 59%
1996-97: 55%
1998-99: 57%

Rural

1991: 41%
1996-97: 37%
1998-99: 37%

Male

1972: 56%
1991: 53%
1996-97: 46%
1998-99: 47%

Female

1972: 23%
1991: 39%
1996-97: 37%
1998-99: 37%

Net School Enrolment Ratio by Province

Balochistan

1996-97: 36%
1998-99: 36%

NWFP

1996-97: 37%
1998-99: 39%

Punjab

1996-97: 42%
1998-99: 44%

Sindh

1996-97: 45%
1998-99: 41%

Percent Completing 5 Years of Schooling

Pakistan

1991: 33%
1996-97: 37%
1998-99: 37%

Urban

1991: 47%
1996-97: 54%
1998-99: 56%

Rural

1991: 27%
1996-97: 28%
1998-99: 28%

Male

1991: 46%
1996-97: 49%
1998-99: 49%

Female

1991: 19%
1996-97: 25%
1998-99: 25%

Literacy rate 15-24 (1998 census)

Pakistan: 55%

Urban: 73%

Rural: 45%

Male: 67%

Female: 43%

Gross Primary Enrolment Rate

Pakistan

1970: 40.0%
1972: 40.5%
1981: 41.9%
1991: 73.0%
1995: 75.0%
1996-97: 72.0%
1998-99: 71.0%

Will post more later, gotta go now.

Edit: Later is here now.

Urban

1991: 92%
1995: 92%
1996-97: 93%
1998-99: 94%

Rural

1991: 66%
1995: 68%
1996-97: 64%
1998-99: 63%

Male

1970: 60.0%
1972: 55.9%
1981: 51.7%
1991: 86.0%
1995: 89.0%
1996-97: 85.0%
1998-99: 80.0%

Female

1970: 23.0%
1972: 22.9%
1981: 27.5%
1991: 59.0%
1995: 65.0%
1996-97: 64.0%
1998-99: 61.0%

I would like to see more updated states. These are royally outdated, I feel. But not sure about their availability.

I would like to see more updated states. These are royally outdated, I feel. But not sure about their availability.

For that, you'll have to wait till the 2008 census in October. I personally can't wait.

Gross Primary Enrolment Rate By Province

Balochistan

1996-97: 62%
1998-99: 64%

NWFP

1996-97: 65%
1998-99: 70%

Punjab

1996-97: 75%
1998-99: 75%

Sindh

1996-97: 73%
1998-99: 65%

Percent Dropout from School

Pakistan

1991: 17%
1996-97: 16%
1998-99: 15%

Urban

1991: 13%
1996-97: 11%
1998-99: 11%

Rural

1991: 20%
1996-97: 20%
1998-99: 18%

Male

1991: 16%
1996-97: 15%
1998-99: 16%

Female

1991: 20%
1996-97: 17%
1998-99: 15%

Literacy rate 10+

1961 18%
1972 22%
1981 36%
1991 35%
1996-97 39%
1998-99 45%
2001 50.5%

Urban

1961 36%
1972 47%
1981 47%
1991 65%
1996-97 58%
1998-99 65%

Rural

1961 12%
1972 14%
1981 14%
1991 36%
1996-97 31%
1998-99 36%

Male

1961 27%
1972 30%
1981 35%
1991 48%
1996-97 51%
1998-99 59%
2001 63%

Female

1961 8%
1972 12%
1981 16%
1991 21%
1996-97 28%
1998-99 31%
2001 38%

One last thing

Literacy rate 10+ by Province

Balochistan

1996-97: 27%
1998-99: 36%

NWFP

1996-97: 30%
1998-99: 37%

Punjab

1996-97: 40%
1998-99: 46%

Sindh

1996-97: 45%
1998-99: 51%

http://216.239.59.104/search?q=cache:54h_iISPQmoJ:www.undg.org/archive_docs/3302-Pakistan_CCA_-_2003_CCA_grid.doc+Islamabad+HDI&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=12&gl=uk

Now you guys can see how bad the dreadful 90s were! :ohno: So many social indicators took a nose dive. :bash: Next I'll post some current stats for comparison.

School attendance (2004-05)

Ever Attended School Aged 10+

Pakistan

2001-02: 51%
2004-05: 54%

Highest by region

Islamabad: 85% (Highest in the country)
Karachi: 78%
Rawalpindi: 77%
Abbotabad: 67%
Quetta: 64%

Lowest by region

Muzaffarghar & Rajanpur: 40%
Jacobabad: 34%
Upper Dir: 34%
Jhal Magsi: 20% (Lowest in the country)

44% of the proportion of the population 10 years and over that has completed primary level or higher has been observed in 2004-05.

Gross Enrolement Ratio (GER) by Primary level (Year 2004-05)

Definition: The GER, sometimes referred to as the participation rate, is the number of children attending primary school divided by the number of children who ought to be attending.

Aged 6-10 years: 86%

Aged 5-9 years: 82%

GER Aged 5-9 by province

Punjab

Narowal: 130%
Muzaffargarh: 66%

Sindh

Karachi: 111%
Jaccobabad: 43%

NWFP

Abbotabad: 117%
Kohistan: 52%

Balochistan

Ketch district: 110%
Jafarabad district: 33% (Lowest in the country)

Percentage of pupils attending Public (Govt/Rubbish) Schools (2004/5)

Punjab

Attock: 96%
Lahore: 37%

Sindh

Nowshero Feroze: 74%
Jaccobabad: 41%

NWFP

Mansehra: 88%
Shangla: 42%

Balochistan

Ketch: 108%
Nasirabad: 32%

Percentage of pupils attending Public (Govt/Rubbish) Schools (2004/5)

Punjab

Attock: 96%
Lahore: 37%

Sindh

Nowshero Feroze: 74%
Jaccobabad: 41%

NWFP

Mansehra: 88%
Shangla: 42%

Balochistan

Ketch: 108%
Nasirabad: 32%




:sly:

Net Enrolement Ratio (NER) at primary level (2004/5)

The NER at primary level refers to the number of students enrolled in primary school of primary school age divided by the number of children in the age group for that level of education.

Pakistan = 52%

Punjab

Sialkot: 84% (Best in Pakistan)
Bahawalpur: 38%

Sindh

Karachi: 65%
Jaccobabad: 25%

N.W.F.P

Abbotabad: 70%
Kohistan: 24%

Balochistan

Ketch: 63%
Qilla Abduallah: 19% (Worst in Pakistan)

:sly:

Read the DEFINITION:

The GER, sometimes referred to as the participation rate, is the number of children attending primary school divided by the number of children who ought to be attending.

If it is above 100% then it means that the children attending the class for a certain age group is larger than it ought to be. Meaning that some might have FAILED and are repeating the year, or that some started education at an older age.

Read the DEFINITION:

The GER, sometimes referred to as the participation rate, is the number of children attending primary school divided by the number of children who ought to be attending.

If it is above 100% then it means that the children attending the class for a certain age group is larger than it ought to be. Meaning that some might have FAILED and are repeating the year, or that some started education at an older age.



oh.....









*feels awkward*

Q. What is the current Literacy Rate in Pakistan?

A. As per PSLM Survey 2004-05, the literacy rate of population 10 years and above was 53% (Males: 66.25% Females: 41.75%) showing an annual growth ratio of 1.5% since 1998 Census. As such the estimated Literacy Rate comes to 56% in 2007.

http://www.moe.gov.pk/faqs.htm?#q4

I added the real literacy rate of Pakistan. NOT the outdated figure of 49.9%.

http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii109/traPPed_2008/WorldLiteracy.jpg?t=1205074434

Youth Literacy Rates (Aged 15-24) (1997-98)

ICT 81%
Punjab 60%
Pakistan 55%
Sindh 53%
NWFP 48%
Balochistan 34%


Youth Literacy Rates (Aged 15-24) (1997-98) MALES

ICT 89%
Punjab 70%
NWFP 68%
Pakistan 67%
Sindh 63%
Balochistan 47%


^^ Theses males youth literacy rates must be AWESOME by now! :drool: :drool:

Youth Literacy Rates (Aged 15-24) (1997-98) FEMALES

ICT 75%
Punjab 49%
Pakistan 43%
Sindh 42%
NWFP 31%
Balochistan 20%


CURRENT YOUTH LITERACY RATES

Youth Literacy Rate 2000-2004, Male, 75%
Youth Literacy Rate 2000-2004, Female, 54%
Youth Literacy Rate 2000-2004, Total, 64%

http://www.unesco.org/education/wef/countryreports/pakistan/rapport_2_1.html

http://www.oit.org/public/english/region/asro/bangkok/skills-ap/skills/pakistan_literacy.htm

Its so hard to find stats on just Islamabad.

Islamabad Literacy (1998)

Total: 69%
Male: 77.9%
Female: 58.2%

Rural

Total: 56.3%
Male: 71%
Female: 40.3%

Urban

Total: 75.2%
Male: 81.1%
Female: 67.7%

^^ Must be awesome by now. Especially the male rate. :drool:

http://www.unesco.org/education/wef/countryreports/pakistan/rapport_2_1.html

Rural ?!

Rural parts of Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) not just the city. ICT is something like 65% urban and the rest rural.

The rural population has a higher literacy rate than the urban?

^^ I was wondering the exact same thing.

The rural population has a higher literacy rate than the urban?

^^ I was wondering the exact same thing.

Sorry I wasn't paying attention. I mixed up the Urban and Rural figures. Its fixed now.

Makes sense now! :yes:

Murree has a literacy rate of 69.3 percent, among population of age 10 and above, which is slightly less then overall district Rawalpindi figure of 70.4 percent. It however is a a lot higher then figures for Punjab province as well as Pakistan as a whole.

The literacy figures look more impressive if we take into account the fact that Murree is mostly a rural area where 87.88 percent population lives in rural areas. Such impressive education figures are not confined to Murree as most of the areas in Rawalpindi district boast a literacy rate well above national average. All most every union council in Rawalpindi district Rawalpindi district have better literacy rate then the national average.
http://www.murreehill.com/population.html

Percentage of Primary School students who are enrolled in Government (Crap) Schools

The government share of primary enrolment is 72 percent in 2004-05.

Punjab

Bhakkar 97%
Lahore 34%

Sindh

Tharparkar 97%
Karachi 40%

N.W.F.P

Upper Dir 95%
Peshawar 64%

Balochistan

Quetta 76%
Others over 90%

Gross Enrolment Rate for the middle level (10-12 years old) 2004-05

The gross enrolment rate for the middle level for Pakistan as a whole is 46 percent.

Urban areas = 64%

Rural areas = 38%

Islamabad = 97% (Highest in Pakistan)

Punjab

Chakwal 81%
Muzaffarghar 28%

Sindh

Karachi 67%
Thatta 17%

N.W.F.P

Chitral 77%
Kohistan 18%

Balochistan

Ketch 62%
Kharan 11% (Lowest in Pakistan)

Net enrolment rates at the middle level are much lower than gross enrolment rates. This is due to the large number of overage children that are enrolled in these classes. The district level comparision within the provinces depict that more or less NERs have the same patterns which are observed for GREs. Islamabad with 36% is at top in all districts.

Matric Level (Aged 14-15)

At matric level, gross enrolment stands at 44 per cent and net enrolment rate at 11per cent.

GER for Matric Level

Punjab

Rawalpindi 80%
Lodhran 23%

Sindh

Karachi 79%
Thatta 20%

N.W.F.P

Chitral 83%
Kohistan & Bonair 18%

Balochistan

Quetta 65%
Kharan 13%

Literacy

The literacy rate for population 10 years and above is 53 percent during 2004-05.

Highest and Lowest Rates shown by Region:

Islamabad 84%

Punjab

Rawalpindi 75%
Lodhran 34%

Sindh

Karachi 78%
Jaccobabad 34%

N.W.F.P

Abbotabad 65%
Kohistan 25%

Balochistan

Quetta 65%
Jhal Magsi 20%

Adult literacy rate for the population aged 15 and above is 50%.

ALL information relating to years 2004-05 copied and pasted from http://www.statpak.gov.pk/depts/fbs/statistics/pslm0405_district/education.pdf

At present (2004), the highest adult literacy rate is in Islamabad Capital Territory (82%) followed by Punjab 56.14%; Sindh 51.48%; NWFP 46.17% and Balochistan 37.18%.

http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0014/001459/145959e.pdf

This thread looks bland with all those statistics. To add some colour to this thread.

http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii109/traPPed_2008/RegionalLiteracyRates.jpg?t=1205209656

http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii109/traPPed_2008/YouthAdultLiteracy.jpg?t=1205210052

http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii109/traPPed_2008/GlobalIlliterates.jpg?t=1205210335

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http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii109/traPPed_2008/GenderLiteracy.jpg?t=1205211226

Literacy by Age

http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii109/traPPed_2008/AgeLiteracy.jpg?t=1205212718

A small step… a giant leap

By Sami Mustafa

Making government schools conform to the standards of modern education is an idea that is neither idealistic nor ambitious. What is needed is simply a paradigm shift where professionalism, and not political expediency, determines the learning and management environment; where education is based not on rote learning but on understanding of concepts and on conceptual development.

According to rough government figures, there are over 130,000 schools in the public sector in Pakistan, with 46,000 in Sindh. Not one of them -- literally, not one of them -- meets the standards of a modern school, either by way of the learning environment or the programme of studies or by way of management. It is, as if, the policymakers have decided to have one set of standards for the rich attending elite private schools and another for the poor attending ill-managed government schools.

Given this attitude of the policymakers, and in the absence of a vision and political will, what was needed to change this attitude was to establish a new paradigm by improving a set of government schools, where modern textbooks can be taught using modern teaching methodology, where professionalism, and not political expediency, determine the learning and management environment; where education is based not on rote learning but on understanding of concepts and on conceptual development; where students enjoy safe and adequate physical infrastructure; where autonomy is given to the school administration and where learning is fun. By establishing the prototype of the new paradigm in government schools, the objective was to demonstrate that students attending government schools can also have the same quality of education which their counterparts are getting in leading private schools.

But can government schools be made to conform to the standards of modern education? Can government schools be made comparable to the best of private schools? The government considers this idea as idealistic and too ambitious. It is neither, it can be done. The fact of the matter is that it has never been taken up with any conviction and seriousness.

Conventional wisdom attributes the failure of the government in providing modern education to corruption and to an absence of political will. Both factors are true, but a more important factor is the mediocrity and a medieval mindset that has continued to dominate the so-called reform efforts, both by the government as well as by the donor-creditor institutions. It is a common belief that more money is the answer to improving the education sector, without appreciating that unless policy changes are effectively implemented, money will have no major impact on public sector education. It is, therefore, not surprising that having spent large amounts of tax-payers’ money and millions of donor dollars, efforts at improving government schools have shown no significant change.

A beginning had to be made. Bookgroup and Zindagi Trust took the initiative of demonstrating quality education in SMB Fatima Jinnah Government Girls Secondary School, Karachi. City District Government of Karachi (CDGK) gave full and unconditional support in carrying out fundamental changes that included changing the textbooks, changing administrative policies and bringing in modern management practices. The objective of these changes was to set a new direction for the much-needed reform of schools in the public sector, not only in Karachi, but also in the rest of the province, and hopefully, in the rest of the country.

Situated over five acres in a densely-populated area of Garden West, the school consisted of seven schools and one college functioning on the same premises, in well-built but dilapidated buildings, with one principal for the college, six different headmistresses and one headmaster for the seven schools. With no coordination between them, the seven schools – with a total number of 2,300 girls and a faculty of 140 – were a typical example of neglect and mismanagement. (One of the schools had just six students, with eight teachers and one headmistress!) The schools ran in two shifts: the morning shift from 7.35am to 12.20pm, and the afternoon shift from 12.35pm to 5.20pm.

When the Department of Education was requested to transfer the management of these seven schools, each official said that this was a model school, in a much better condition than other schools, and that we should select another government school that needed more help. Unfortunately, this model school, though slightly better than others, was still in dire need of change.

One of the first steps was teachers’ training programmes focused on different subjects and teaching methods. Teachers were also discouraged from using corporal punishment and told that they would be monitored closely, and in case a teacher was found guilty of striking a child, serious disciplinary action would be taken.

As part of improving the quality of the learning environment, New Heinemann Maths was introduced in Classes I to VI, a phonics-based English teaching programme from KG to Class II, and the colourful and child-friendly books published by the Bookgroup were introduced in classes I to VIII for teaching Urdu. These books have been provided free of cost to students and a team of trainers from Bay View Academy and The C.A.S. School trained the teachers of these schools to use these books effectively.

As it happens in several private schools, formal examinations have been discontinued up to Class VII. Students are evaluated on the basis of tests and assignments given on a regular basis.

Art is also given high importance for children have a vivid imagination that finds expression best through artistic activities. Therefore, art is being taught with a new approach. Art supplies are provided to all students free of cost.

Students from classes VI to X attend computer classes once a week, with the classes taking place in the air-conditioned and fully-equipped 40-station Aziz Shareef Computer Lab. A fully equipped science lab has been established and students from classes VI to X attend practical classes in chemistry, physics and biology.

To encourage reading and the love of books, library classes are now part of the timetable and students are issued books on a weekly basis. The well-equipped and air-conditioned Razzak Dawood Library has been constructed for this purpose.

Jalebian, the first school newspaper, was published in November last year. The next issue will be ready in April. The editorial board of Jalebian consists of nine students and two faculty members. This 12-page issue contains students’ photographs and their written work, along with the news of the school.

A 14-member student council has been established, and this year students from Class X were nominated by the teachers. However, from next year, the student council will be elected. An academic council, consisting of the principal, the three section heads of SMB and principals of three private schools, has been established. The task of the academic council is to review the curriculum and educational policies of the school and recommend changes wherever necessary.

Like some private schools, learning modules have been introduced recently. Initially, students of Class V take rollerblading and students of Class VI taekwondo as part of the learning modules. A third learning module, photography, is to be introduced soon for students of Class VIII. All these modules take place during the school hour and as part of the curriculum. In due course of time, more modules will be added.

Much had to be changed in terms of administrative structure and policies and the foremost among them was shifting the beginning of the academic year from April to August.

The seven schools, and the afternoon and morning shifts have been collapsed into one unified school. And school timings are now from 8am to 1.00pm. There has been strictness in maintaining the school times and for this the main gate closes at 8.05. Teachers and students coming in late report to the office and as a result of this, teachers are less frequently late and absent. An acting principal has been appointed from among the seven heads, who is in-charge of the entire school. Two headmistresses and one headmaster are section heads. Instead of six days a week, the school is open for only five days, from Monday to Friday. At a cost of almost Rs19 million raised from friends and supporters, two of the four blocks of the school building have been fully repaired and renovated. The work done includes the establishment of a computer lab, the library, the Getz Pharma health room and the science lab, Shan Ashary conference room, making the toilets functional and provision of drinking water, putting lights and fans in all the classrooms and provision of a 75KVA generator, building of basketball courts and landscaping the outside area.

Manned by a qualified doctor and an assistant, the health room provides first aid to all students and staff. In the coming months, the health room will organise health-related teaching programmes.

The school also has a day-care centre where the teachers and the administrative staff can leave their infants and small children while they teach in the school. This has proved to be a big blessing for the teachers and secretarial staff.

The CDGK, headed by the city nazim Mustafa Kamal, has demonstrated not only its political will to improve government schools, but has also allowed fundamental changes to be brought about in order to make government schools modern institutions of learning. If this process could be carried through with continued commitment and support, then existing sub-standard government schools can change for the better and it would be a step forward towards good governance.

What can emerge in their place are ‘neem tree’ schools in the public sector. The neem tree symbolises nature, a healthy environment and learning from one’s immediate surrounding. This is somewhat of a Froebelian concept but this is what distinguishes meaningful learning from learning simply for the sake of passing the examinations. We hope this concept will generate more research and serious discussions on the objectives of education and on the corresponding programme of studies for other government schools.

What is important here is to make sure that these changes are institutionalised and are not left to the whims of policymakers. Once the dynamics of change, not revolving around an individual or individuals but around an institutional policymaking process, set in, then professionalism and academic excellence in government schools will acquire a momentum of their own. By the same token, these changes will establish that money is usefully utilised only after policy changes have been made and enforced. These changes will also establish that changes in the education sector do not take a lifetime.

In only a few months, the efforts put into SMB Fatima Jinnah School brought about fundamental changes in the programme of studies and in the management. Of course, the culture of modern pedagogy and learning, with the passage of time, will get better, as indeed, all changes get better with time if the changes are made in the right direction.

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An effort of a different kind

A school need not mean a large building with rooms opening up in a long corridor and it need not be like one of the many small pigeon hole setups in a small bungalow, or even in a couple of interconnected apartments.

A classroom can be someone’s garage and under a tree, as it is for children of The Garage School (TGS) Karachi. Hailing from the underprivileged families of Neelum and Shah Rasool colonies located nearby, these children are getting a chance to improve their lives at this free school that Shabina Mustafa started in her garage in 1999. Starting off with just 15 children, this one-of-its-kind school now has 115 students, in two shifts, who are given lessons in basic reading and writing skills, maths and manners, health and hygiene, and, to put it simply, how to become better and productive members of society.

There are two classes inside the garage while two classes sit under the trees in the courtyard of Shabina’s home. And with the number of students increasing each year, Mrs Mustafa has shifted some classes to a rented space in Neelum Colony. Registered as a project of Safi Benevolent Trust, named after Shabina’s late husband, TGS has children from various ethnic and religious backgrounds who study together in a harmonious environment.

After these students complete their studies here they are well-prepared to join mainstream schools and many of them have gone on to gain higher education at schools such as Nasra School and St. Patrick’s Technical School. A student, who Mrs Mustafa is really proud of, is presently studying in Bahria College.

There are just two paid teachers, who are from the same background as the students, and two volunteers, with Mrs Mustafa also moonlighting as an instructor herself, besides being the administrator/founder. Classes are also conducted for adult males and females, frequently parents and elder relatives of the students already at TGS. And along with educational guidance, both children and adults get healthcare instructions and medical checkups, and necessary treatments whenever possible. Mrs Mustafa has also managed to arrange free surgical treatment for some serious cases and two students have had surgery for ruptured ear-drums, a girl had her tonsils removed while another her gall bladder and a fourth was treated for detached retina.

Depending solely on donations and volunteer efforts, TGS also provides milk, juices and biscuits in addition to books, uniforms and shoes. These give children an added incentive to come, but, more than anything else, it is the hope for a better life and future that keeps the ranks of students growing.— Ambreen Arshad

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http://www.dawn.com/weekly/review/review1.htm

En route to literacy

By S.M. Ibrahim Farooqi

http://www.dawn.com/weekly/education/images/education1.jpg

One would get the shock of his life after finding out the literacy rate of Zimbabwe. It’s 90.7 per cent according to the CIA Fact Book, 2003 estimate. But wait a minute ... this is Zimbabwe, a socially and economically deprived African country with just over 12 million inhabitants, and not China or Japan, world’s economic giants that we are talking about here.

And Pakistan’s? A vibrant nation consisting of more than 160 million souls and of course with much better sets of social and economic resources than those possessed by Zimbabwe at least, it’s 49.9 (2005). Believe it or not, it’s the ground reality. Statistical figures can be misleading though but sometimes they do signal many facts, direct and indirect.

Education is not just about the paper and the pen. It concerns gaining and utilising correct, up-to-date knowledge besides developing one’s character, all for helping humanity reach new heights of intellect and morality in different fields of human interest. Education distinguishes human beings from the rest of the creatures in many ways. It’s helpful in almost every walk of life, individually as well as collectively. For a nation it’s a matter of life and death, to put it in a nutshell.

More than 60 years since gaining independence, if our nation has less than 50 per cent literate heads, then naturally the burning question is: what are the reasons, fundamental reasons?

Right from the preschool stage through to primary, secondary, higher-secondary, graduation, masters level and beyond, there are numerous-cum-compound problems of every kind. Heaps of pages can be consumed.

And therefore to cover all the areas related to the difficulties faced by Pakistan’s education system in a limited space, I will try to address the imperative subject by dividing it into five key segments — students, parents, teachers, private sector and government.

Primarily, my piece revolves around school and college-related setbacks which are generally faced here in Pakistan, and which are regarded as the leading factors in steering a learner to higher studies or impelling him to go off track, sometimes irrevocably.

Starting from students, the most affected ones. An amorphous bifurcation of the education system (government, matric/private, O/A Levels) coupled with language medium barrier, lack of proper facilities particularly at government institutions/rural areas, scarcity of practical knowledge (which they don’t get from teachers), effects of media distractions, non-existence of cohesion among fellow students due to the “class-conscious” stance fed into some of them by society and what not. A majority of them don’t even have set education goals.

Recently, a few incidents of reportedly intolerable corporal penalties given to students, also resulting in a learner’s death in a school in Sindh, have cropped up as the latest hurdle for juvenile minds as to what they should expect in the near future.

In fact, one feels our pupils don’t have any specific direction to follow and therefore what to talk of them being aware of their education goals. And whose fault is this anyway? Needless to say, not the students’.

According to the UN Common Database (2004) Pakistan’s youth literacy rate (15-24 age group) is 53.9 per cent — 72nd in the world. If one believes in the number and that there were 12 million Internet users in Pakistan in 2006 then why are we lagging behind in overall education development? No matter how many young heads are operating Internet in Pakistan, it can’t reflect the true state of the country’s education, which is based on awareness in every nook and cranny and not by just using a technology haphazardly with no proper aim.

Then the highly unstable political and economic situations, with the aforementioned obstacles already in the students’ way turn out to be a nail in the coffin for many who tend to switch their thoughts and actions very quickly, running wild before ultimately falling as soft victims to anti-social activities like burglary, illegal immigration, drugs addiction and gangsterism.

So if our youth are not inclined towards gaining education then it needs collective, sincere and swift attention at every level — from institutions, parents and undoubtedly the people at the helm of education affairs.

Parents (or guardians), with whom students spend around two-thirds of their time, apart from the duration at education spots, naturally bear the brunt in the attempt to see their children well-trained both academically and morally.

After speaking to some parents on this very subject, three things emerged very prominently: education rapidly getting expensive, moral values diminishing at learning centres and sub-standard quality of education quite rampant.

An experienced school directress, recently witnessed an educated but dejected lady in Karachi burst into tears because she was compelled to put two of her five children into the Cambridge system while the rest into the Matric (usually considered inferior to Cambridge) due to the extreme costs. Forced divide between one’s own children? A shocker indeed.

There is the stationery, tuition fees, transportation, uniform besides the ever-present annual charges to tackle. What should the guardians do? It’s a mind-boggling situation. Think about a government-private school split for a parent with six children.

“… If character is lost nothing remains behind”, very truly said.

Due to an obvious lack of moral guidance at our current schools and colleges, the parents are faced with yet another predicament.

Mere imparting of worldly facts and figures, and negligible or no ethical training has been producing money-making individuals and not ‘humane humans’ who would embrace and spread virtue sincerely besides earning their living.

A common observation is that it’s often the abusive-cum-vulgar behaviour that triggers an altercation between students (or even between the student and teacher) at school, college or even university, and that leads to something very ominous in many cases. Therefore if institutions start playing their role consistently to help develop well-bred academically viable individuals, then we can surely dream of a better social setup for the future.

Now a word on quality, a rare commodity in our present-day academic system at various stages. Though again one finds the space here to write, or rather cover all its aspects, on this grave matter quite short, it can be opined with full conviction that neither the guardians nor the learners themselves are satisfied with the worth of education they get in most educational organisations owing to some sound reasons.

A lack of facilities (at times even basic), all theoretical stuff and scarce practical knowledge, unqualified/unprofessional teachers (both private and public), absence of a government-regulated body to assess institutions’ performances on a constant basis and inadequate educational trips have hindered us in developing a genuinely competitive and subsequently productive learning environment.

Guardians having their due rights also have some responsibilities individually. Being the closest to their young ones, they need to direct them as frank and true friends in their academic endeavours besides directing them judiciously on the subject of character-building.

The teacher, due to many reasons, is the most significant factor in determining the value of education passed on to the pupils, and if an educator treats a study-related point as a matter of ego, something which happened at one of Pakistan’s renowned universities, then one doesn’t need rocket science to figure out the general mindset of the instructors employed across the country. “The best teachers are those who remain students forever”, goes the saying.

The question is: How many instructors are willing to learn themselves? While acknowledging the fact that it’s always a two-way process, i.e., the positive reaction of students to the efforts of teachers and vice versa, being more mature than their students, the teachers are duly expected to play a major part by using their prudence, knowledge and experience to make the younger heads realise the complete meaning of education.

On the other hand, it is also a fact that teachers are not so well taken care of at many private and public organisations. Basic issues such as insufficient pay, non-existent social protection, random and politically-motivated appointments, massive workload and dearth of progress opportunities are all asking for solutions. Long-term success can only be an illusive dream without much incentive for teachers.

In fact, investment in developing and fulfilling the valid requirements of teachers can bring a huge difference, both academically as well as socially.

As education has become just a ‘profitable business’ in our cities whereas rural areas remain deserted in this connection, as an experienced teacher working at a private school in Karachi cautioned that perhaps the nation is not yet fully aware of the actual merit of education, a common Pakistani citizen with a spirit for honesty and nation building has the right to ask: who is responsible for this yawning discrepancy? Common sense points towards the government.

And why not? Actually, apart from the fundamental anomalies such as snail-paced upgrade of syllabi (specifically science-related), quota system, the various mafias’ involvement in numerous institutions, absence of a comprehensive implementation of education policies, unequal opportunities due to the uneven distribution of wealth in society, acute shortage of polytechnic institutions and the fragile link between engineering universities and the manufacturing industry, the government also faces a colossal challenge of convincing Pakistan’s heartfelt citizens as to whether the public sector is doing its utmost to advance education, both in numbers and standard.

Education spending utilised during the fiscal 2006-07, according to a civil organisation named Centre for Peace and Development Initiatives (CPDI), was 33 per cent of the total budgetary sum allocated by the government. And during the first quarter of 2007-08 (July-Sept), it was only 7.6 per cent, signalling that a lot has to be done for putting things back on track.

And above all, spending a scanty 2-2.5 per cent of the GDP on education cannot be justified in any way.

A society (both government and public) that can forfeit a gigantic amount of Rs112 billion, as revealed in a latest press report, due to the improper and insufficient sanitation procedures in the country, we, with an organised and combined effort can also spend a bit more on education, the most profitable venture.

Considering all of this, one can form an opinion that as a nation we must prioritise our goals immediately, rising above all minor differences that we may have, to secure the future generations. Students, teachers, parents, government and the private sector will all have to work, and work hard, keeping in mind a common goal: to gain and spread education, i.e., ‘knowledge and morals’ throughout Pakistan to attain new heights of understanding and goodness as an optimistic person rightly said: “No one can go back and change a bad beginning, we can start now and create a successful ending.” For Pakistan, I replace “anyone” by “everyone”.

We all need to toil and talk less, as less as possible … maybe. And firmly anticipate a big change that will surely come, one day.

http://www.dawn.com/weekly/education/education1.htm

Testing... testing

By Muhammad Ali khan

Testing is a major national issue not only for the coutry’s academicians but for everyone. Every year position holders in local examinations, when interviewed by the media, demand that the testing system be revamped.

They find the existing testing system highly unreliable, lopsided, and invalid and carry hardly any practical value. The option available is the international testing system due to which the country has to deplete its hard earned foreign exchange in the form of payments made by its citizen’s to foreign boards.

To give you a rough idea of the amount involved in this business, a small branch of a private school pays about six million in rupees for O-level examinations.

A huge amount is paid for O and A level examinations only at the school level. And every year the number of testers is rising thatnks to the existing testing system’s losing its recognition at the international and national level. No reputed university whether national or international gives any credibility to the national testing system. It has even lost the trust of its countrymen — IELTS/TOEFL/SAT/GMAT/ MCAT examinations have innumerable enrollments from all sections of society. The same goes for professional entrance examinations.

There hardly seems to be any practical value of the national testing result except for the acquisition of national certification. All public and private universities rely on their own tests which they administer themselves in their own selected locations.

Interestingly, fearing malpractice, no public academic setting is booked even for holding such examinations. Their tests are made by faculty members who though do not have training either, enjoy the trust of being fair and objective in their assessments.

It goes without saying that testing should be geared to teaching or vice versa. Both are complementary to each other. However, it has been seen that the way a test is set and marked is at the variance with teaching practices.

For instance, English is taught mostly by grammar translation methods in the Pakistani context. However, the test contains reading and easy-writing skills with some questions on grammar. The gravity of the matter can also be judged by the fact that in the entire country there is no single reliable test that enjoys international acceptance on gauging the language proficiency of the ones being tested.

The system has flaws at the practical, perceptual and conceptual levels. Let us see its administration first. The physical setting and the weather condition is rarely given its due importance. So is the identification of the one being tested which is done so carelessly that anyone can tamper the admittance to appear in someone else’s place during an examination.

Moreover, there seems to be no set formula for student/invigilator ratio. The invigilators too lack training in invigilating an examination. And there is no practice of giving oral instructions before sitting for an exam.

The criteria for assessment and the way the test is scored is puzzling. Experiential wisdom suggests that it is the quantitative aspect that gets rewarded in terms of higher marks. Therefore, students strive to fill out as many scripts on the examination sheets as it is not even humanly possible to write in the limited time span.

At the perceptual level, testing is taken as the known terrain by its practitioners on grounds of experience due to lack of expertise and highly unrealistic confidence about one’s practice.

Another perception is that those who can ask questions can make a test. Similarly it is assumed that all teachers know how to set a valid, realistic test and are capable of assessing the scripts objectively. They can test what they want to. Analysis of the tests that are used show that they are repetitive in nature with a gap of a year.

This means a student appearing in an examination knows before hand what questions he/she would be required to do in the examination. There is no variety and no creativity. The rubrics are mostly vaguely written or do not give enough information to the students.

It seems that the test setters know very well what the student would do. Therefore, there neither any change in the format of the test, nor in its content or marking. Contrary to this, in an international test, one gets the required information about the test — its format, sections, detailed descriptions of the components, the way the exam is scored along with sample answers.

How can a one-time exercise be taken as an authentic judgment of one’s ability or academic achievements extended over a period of one whole academic calendar year? Examination fear leading to high levels of anxiety among the examinee is common in our society primarily because it is a one-time exercise in a year.

Examinees have no idea of the qualifications of the assessors and the aspect of objectivity in their assessment. Similarly, there is no practice of showing the checked scripts to the examinee even if they do not accept their results and make a written request for re-checking. The whole exercise of sitting through an examination makes the examinee move in darkness and wait for a just assessment, hoping for transcendental interference for a better result.

The present testing has not only a backwash effect on teaching and learning, it has torturing effects on the soul of the learners. They accept all ideas. They do not seem to find the ecstasy in the process of discovering and learning. They do not ask questions. Nor do they like to be challenged. They have little hope for improvement and have lesser faith in their abilities. Rather than making learning and discovering an exhilarating experience, the existing testing system has killed the spirit of fresh enquiry as the only worrying and distracting thought on the mind of the learner is how to pass with good marks. The attributes above for students apply to teachers with hardly any significant changes.

Testing has always been taken for granted or very well-known territory by its executioners — primarily the teachers and the stakeholders. And teachers are taken for granted by their students and society at large.

There is a need to change the belief that all teachers can set good test papers especially without training and that they can assess objectively too. Secondly no untrained person should be allowed to set a test. We need to accept and acknowledge the fact that we as a nation need testing expertise. People can be groomed and educated to do the job. One important aspect of change could be initiating the culture of training in testing for all teachers.

In Pakistan a majority of the teachers enter the teaching profession without teacher’s training. Unfortunately, the need for training is not felt at this level. Making a degree in education mandatory for university teachers would most likely raise reactions beyond one’s comprehension. The prevalent idea is that the teacher should know his/her teaching content well.

There is a need to revisit the policy for hiring university faculty. Initiating a public-private effort to find out the ways and means to change the entire culture of end of the year paper-pencil examination to a more comprehensive continuous system of testing will undoubtedly produce better results.

Not only will this save the country a huge amount of money that citizens have to pay every year for international testing systems, it will also have positive backwash effects on the day to day teaching and learning in our academic institutions. Only then can one hope for creative thinking and the higher skills of drawing implications and critiquing ideas in their own language to become a part of our education system.

The writer is a faculty member at a private university in Karachi

http://www.dawn.com/weekly/education/education2.htm

Architectural plan for Government Girls High School in Saran, Muzaffarabad District

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2341/2325224988_59a9876d01_o.jpg

Notice the American flag
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3056/2325225004_bfec89bac5_o.jpg

Americans gave us the money to build them, don't know why generals who have absolutely nothing to do with it stamp their names on foundation stones
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2094/2325224986_7689fb7f23_o.jpg

Under construction

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2212/2324410993_896a348ab0_o.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2090/2325225000_64f074013d_o.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3008/2313356660_87599e96ba_o.jpg

Lt. General Nadeem, Chairman of the Pakistan Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation authority, planting a tree at the ground-breaking ceremony for the SAERF-funded facility

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2041/2325221122_c6fc2755b7_o.jpg

Preparation for wood paneling for the Government High School in Chattar Plains, Mansehra

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3177/2324408755_c83b8a1f19_o.jpg

Preparation for steel windows for the Government High School in Chattar Plains, Mansehra District

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2088/2324408749_bfe9f7267c_o.jpg

Students welcome CECP representatives to the ground breaking ceremony for a SAERF-funded facility

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2336/2325221152_0e8bd43250_o.jpg

Government High School in Chattar Plains, Mansehra District

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3102/2312546603_d0cba2c7df_o.jpg

Worker constructing a wall for a SAERF-funded facility

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2077/2325221126_e47e6b4743_o.jpg

Basic Health Unit in Kathai, Mansehra District

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3100/2312546743_6cb4f8c12f_o.jpg

Developments in Literacy (DIL)

SGNcbjh1BK0

Developments in Literacy (DIL) is a nonprofit organization based in the USA and devoted to educating children in rural Pakistan.

Since its establishment in 1995, The Citizens Foundation (TCF) has run a managed network of purpose-built schools in the poorest rural areas and most neglected urban slums of Pakistan. TCF's mission is to promote mass-scale quality education at the primary and secondary levels in an environment that encourages intellectual, moral and spiritual growth. TCF's long term goal is to build 1000 schools in Pakistan, with an enrolment of 360,000.

Raising its funds through donations from Pakistanis at home, expatriate communities around the world and corporate sponsorship, today the TCF network has reached all four provinces with 311 school units in 42 locations. As of the new academic session of 2006, about 40,000 less privileged children, almost 50% of them girls, have been receiving quality education in these schools through 2400+ TCF-trained teachers. The students at TCF schools are charged a nominal fee, out of which up to 95% scholarship is awarded along with uniforms and books on a pay-as-you-can-afford basis.

A6z8SFmwnWs

^^ I remember Swerve used have this TCF thing in his sig.

Damn it! I didn't need to waste my time making those literacy maps! But there aren't any HDI maps done on Pakistan. Though they have been done on other countries like Nepal, Iran, China, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina etc

http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii109/traPPed_2008/LiteracyMap.jpg?t=1206542296

It is beyond the scope of this report to ascertain the determinants of district-level literacy rates. However, it appears that level of urbanization is among the important reasons for achieving high levels of literacy. Districts in north Punjab, mostly in high literacy belt, are more urbanized than districts in southern Punjab, with below average levels of literacy. Similarly, in Sindh, Karachi, Hyderabad and Sukker are the most urbanized districts. The same is the case with Quetta in Balochistan. On the basis of deprived indices (calculated from the district-level data on education, housing quality and congestion, residential housing services and employment), the high-literacy districts are mostly the least deprived ones.

http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii109/traPPed_2008/15TopBottomLiteracy.jpg?t=1206543283

Gross Enrolment Rate at Primary Level

http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii109/traPPed_2008/GERPrimary.jpg?t=1206546232

At the national level, gross enrolment rate (GER) at primary level (age 5-9years) increased from 72% in 2000-01 to 86% in 2004-05, recording an increase of 14 percentage points. In urban areas GER increased from 91% in 2000-01 to 104% in 2004-05. Rural areas though have lower GER than urban areas, but it recorded an increase of 16 percentage points, from 66% in 2000-01 to 79% in 2004-05. Punjab has the highest GER at 95%, followed by NWFP at 80%, Sindh at 75% and Balochistan at 67% in 2004-05. Highest GER at primary level exists in Narowal in Punjab at 130% and lowest in Nasirabad at 33% in Balochistan in 2004-05.

Punjab education sector program is bearing fruit as this province has 15 districts, which have GER between 100-130%. These districts form a belt in the North East and North West of Punjab. According to District- Based Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) 2003-04 Punjab, GER is much higher in urban as compared with rural (104% vs 83%) and in boys compared with girls (93% vs. 83%). According to PSLM 2004-05 GER stood at 104% in urban areas and 79% in rural areas. District level results of MICS Punjab 2003-04 are comparable with PSLM 2004-05 results for districts with higher GER.

Haripur, Abbottabad and Manshera are the three districts in NWFP, which have GER in the range of 100-130%. In Sindh Karachi has GER at 111%. In Balochistan Kech district has GER at 110% in 2004-05. In Punjab, central districts have GER in the range80-99% and all southern districts of the province have GER at 61-79%. According to MICS Punjab 2003-04, Lodhran, Muzaffargarh and Rajanpur had GER fewer than 60%.PSLM 2004/05 data show that in these districts GER at primary level has improved in one year. In NWFP, Kohistan, Tank and Dera Ismail Khan are the three districts, which have as low GER as 33-60%. Central west districts of Balochistan have GER at 80-90%.In Sindh, Naushera Feroz is the district where GER is estimated at 81%.

Districts in Punjab, which have low gender gap in literacy, also generally have low gender gap in GER. Gender gap in GER in five districts of Punab – Narowal Gujrat, T.T Singh, Lahore and Sheikupura – is negative, showing that more girls than boys are enrolled in these districts. Punjab and Sindh have no district, which has gender gap in GER as high as 40-70%. Whereas in NWFP districts which have gender gap in the range 40-70% include Kohistan, Upper Dir, Bunair, Kohat, Hangu and Bannu. In NWFP, Mardan, Haripur, Abbottabd and Mansehra have low gender gap in the range of –9-9% in GER, these districts also have low gender gap in literacy. The districts in Northern and Central Balochistan have gender gap in GER in the range of 40-70%.

Net Enrolment Rate at Primary Level

http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii109/traPPed_2008/NERPrimary.jpg?t=1206547951

Net Enrolment rate (NER) at primary level aged 5-9 years has increased by 10 percentage points to 52% in 2004-05 as compared to 42% in 2000-01. In urban areas NER increased from 56% in 2000-01 to 64% in 2004-05. In rural areas this indicator increased by 10 percentage points from 38% in 2000-01 to 48% in 2004-05. Punjab has the highest NER at 58%, followed by Sindh at 48%, NWFP at 47% and Balochistan at 37% in 2004-05.

NER is highest in Sialkot in Punjab at 84%and lowest at 19% in Panjgur in Balochistan. There is a belt spread in the North East and North West of Punjab, which extends to central Punjab, have NER in the range of 60-84%. There is a belt in South East districts of Punjab, which have NER in the range of 35-49%. None of the districts in Punjab have NER as low as 19-34%. In Sindh Karachi has NER at 65% and Nowshero Feroze at 54%. In NWFP Abbotabad, Haripur and Mansehra have NER in the range of 60-84%. In Balochistan Ketch has NER at 63%. Districts coloured in red have NER in the range of 19-34%; in NWFP Kohistan, Lower Dir and Shangla are coloured red and are situated in North of NWFP. In Balochistan 11 districts are coloured in red, which are situated in North, North East, North West and South West of Balochistan. In Sindh Jaccobabad and Thatta have NER in the range of 19-34%.

Districts which form a belt in North East and North West of Punjab which have high NER also have low gender gap in NER in the range of –4% to 4%,T.T. Singh , Multan and Vehari also fall in the same range. In Punjab none of the districts have gender gap in NER as high as 25-37%. In NWFP Manshera and Abbotabad have no gender gap in NER, whereas Kohistan and Lakki Marwat have this gap at 30% and 25%, respectively. In Balochistan Quetta, Sibi and Panjhgur have gender gap in NER at only 4% each, whereas Musa Khel, Lorali and Awaran have gender gap as high as 25-37%. In Sindh, Karachi has gender gap as low as 2% in NER. Like Punjab, none of the districts in Sindh have a district, which has high gender gap coloured in dark green.

Gross Enrolment Rate at Middle Level

http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii109/traPPed_2008/GERMiddle.jpg?t=1206549152

Overall, the middle-level GER for children aged 10-12 increased from 41% in 2000-01 to 46% in 2004-05. In Urban areas there was an increase of one percentage point to 64% in 2004-05 and in rural areas 6 percentage points to 38%. Punjab has highest middle-level GER at 49%, followed by NWFP at 47%, Sindh at 42% and Balochistan at 30% in 2004-05.

Among the districts the highest GER at the middle level, about 97%, is found in Islamabad while the lowest level, only 11%, is observed in Kharan (Balochistan). There is a belt in the North East and North West of Punjab, where middle-level GER is in 50- 97% range (Map 4). In Punjab, Muzaffargarh and Lodhran have very low middle-level GER at 28% each. In NWFP, Chitral, Lower Dir, Malakand, Mardan, Swabi, Kohat, Hangu and Karak have high GER in 50-97% range. Upper Dir, Kohistan, Shangla and Batagram in NWFP have low GER at the middle–level. Quetta and Kech in Balochistan have middle-level GER at 54% and 62% respectively. Middle-level GER in Balochistan is very low (11-29%) in most of the districts situated in North, Central and South East districts of Balochistan. In Sindh, the middle-level GER was highest in Karachi and lowest in Thatta and Badin.

http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii109/traPPed_2008/LiteracyChart.jpg?t=1206611032

dr atta ur rehman has been sacked :ohno:

dr atta ur rehman has been sacked :ohno:
Great!

So which relative of the powers that be has been installed there?

MIRPURKHAS, April 3: Classes at Sindh University’s Mirpurkhas Campus will begin in September, said District Naib Nazim Zafar Ahmed Kamali.

Presiding the meeting of University Campus Academic Committee on Thursday he said the building for postgraduate classes will be completed with a cost of Rs24.5 million in which classes of university campus will start.

The meeting was informed that the Academic Block, compound wall, Auditorium and Library Block of the building for postgraduate classes were complete with finishing under way. The building will be handed over to University Administration by June 30.

He said a meeting will soon be held by varsity’s administration to review requirements of campus.

Regional Director Colleges Prof Ghulam Rasool Maher, Principal Government Shah Abdul Latif College Mirpurkhas Prof Akbar Ali Khaskheli, Prof Dr Saeeduddin, Prof Khursheed Ahmed, Prof Abdul Hameed Shaikh and District Officer Education Works, Fazal Illahi Memon attended the meeting.

Rawalakot Turkiye College for Girls opens tomorrow

Sunday, April 06, 2008
Our correspondent

Islamabad

The Rawalakot Turkiye College for Girls - a unique school comparable to any other educational facility in a European country :eek2:- will be inaugurated tomorrow (Monday) in place of the Post-Graduate College for Girls in Rawalakot, which faced severe destruction in the October 2005 earthquake.

After the earthquake, the people of Turkey were among the first to come forward in aid of their Pakistani brothers. Interestingly, their help was not limited to the boundaries of Turkey and also encompassed the Turkish community living abroad. The girls college in Rawalakot will be a living example of the help offered by Turkish people living in Germany.

Through a joint organization of IHLAS Media Holding of Germany and DITIB (Religious Affairs of Turkish Islamic Union Germany), the Turkish people agreed on reconstruction of Rawalakot Post-Graduate Girls College with ERRA. Later on, the Turkish Islamic Union of Netherlands participated through donations of Basic Health Unit facilities to the said school.

The design, construction, decoration and landscaping of the school have been carried out by Turcon Private Limited. A geological survey of the land led to the decision of constructing single or maximum two-storey buildings. In a campus-wise set-up, all the buildings have been scattered on a 240,000 square feet area.

The educational facilities include 30 classrooms, five laboratories, a gymnasium hall, hostel, lodgment for teachers, principal’s house, BHU, mosque, multi-purpose hall, and an administration block, etc. A total of 14 buildings exceeding a covered area of 60,000 square feet have been built for the school.

Basic amenities such as computers, television sets, music system, sofa sets, beds, mattresses and blankets for teachers and students have been arranged for with the help of donors. Thousands of trees and flowers have also been planted for landscaping.

The construction has been carried out in the conventional method. Both ends of the buildings have been strengthened through shear walls, providing an earthquake-proof structure to ensure safety of the children. The materials used in construction are the same as in the developed countries. Lightweight insulated shingle roof material has been imported and used for the first time in Pakistan for added comfort. Well-insulated U-PVC type windows have also been used. The college will be inaugurated on April 7 at 12.30 p.m.
http://thenews.jang.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=105266

^^ Just like every other project, "Bigger, better, faster, stronger"

Hey! That could be a new song!

^^ Just like every other project, "Bigger, better, faster, stronger"

Hey! That could be a new song!

I believe it already is! Kanye West teamed up with Daft Punk I believe and released one with that title.


I could be wrong about which band he collaborated with

LAHORE: The government is committed to achieving 100 percent enrollment at primary education in the coming two years, said Federal Education Minister Ahsan Iqbal on Sunday.

He said the Education Department and the National Commission for Human Development (NCHD) would work together at district level to achieve the goal. The education minister said this during his visit to the NCHD’s office in Narowal.

“The government, the NCHD, and the Education Department all share similar objectives in this regard. Narowal district will be the first to achieve this goal,” Iqbal said.

NCHD District Manager Amina Jamil said UNESCO had bestowed the International Literacy Award on the NCHD for its services in providing adult education. “The commission is striving to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs),” she added.

http://dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008\04\07\story_7-4-2008_pg7_30

is it possible??

^ It's gonna be hard, but not impossible!

I've had enough! Your other post just made me wanna to reply to this.

the kindergarten education at least in City PAF is extremely high quality, my mother is a teacher there and everyday she prepares new material for the kids.

Why bring up KG? KG is BS! What do they teach in there? How to colour? How to add 1 + 1? HMPH!


What are you talking about man? All my engineering classes are full of Pakistanis, and they get A's hardly having studied anything. South Asians are mostly in science and math classes, whereas white kids mostly go for either business or things like international politics or english where they don't have to deal with math. South Asians have a reputation for being smart and being in hard classes along with the east asians such as Japs and Chinese.

Thats because Desi's don't have good English! They don't know how to explain themselves or their view points properly.


Obviously if one goes to Stanford or Harvard, then those are of higher quality than anything Pakistan has to offer. But these kids who attend these universities have been going back home and are now on the staff of many Pakistani universities and schools. They are helping to improve standards in higher education.

I already answered that! Not a single Pakistani university is in the top 1000 of the world.

The phenomenon of the "brain drain" of the 90s has stopped to a great degree, in fact it is being reversed with many expat Pakistanis returning home in the last few years.

Prove it. A simple google search will probably yeild results for you.

This time I will:

I believe Pakistan's Net migration is higher than that of India's and Bangladesh's! I don't see how it's been reversed? Still to this day more Pakistanis leave Pakistan than go 'back home'.

Pakistan's Net migration rate 2007:

Net migration rate: -1.24 migrant(s)/1,000 population

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/pk.html#People

Pakistan's Net migration rate 2006:

Net migration rate: -0.59 migrant(s)/1,000 population

http://www.theodora.com/wfb2006/pakistan/pakistan_people.html

Pakistan's Net migration rate 2005:

Net migration rate: -1.67 migrant(s)/1,000 population

http://www.allcountries.org/wfb2005/pakistan/pakistan_people.html

Pakistan's Net migration rate 2004:

N/A

Pakistan's Net migration rate 2003:

Net migration rate: -0.75 migrant(s)/1,000 population

http://www.theodora.com/wfb2003/pakistan/pakistan_people.html

Pakistan's Net migration rate 2002:

Net migration rate: -0.79 migrant(s)/1,000 population

http://www.greekorthodoxchurch.org/wfb2002/pakistan/pakistan_people.html

Pakistan's Net migration rate 2001:

Net migration rate: -0.84 migrant(s)/1,000 population

http://workmall.com/wfb2001/pakistan/pakistan_people.html

Pakistan's Net migration rate 2000:

Net migration rate: -0.9 migrant(s)/1,000 population

http://www.photius.com/wfb2000/countries/pakistan/pakistan_people.html

Pakistan's Net migration rate 1999:

Net migration rate: -1.3 migrant(s)/1,000 population

http://www.photius.com/wfb/wfb1999/pakistan/pakistan_people.html

Pakistan's Net migration rate 1998:

Net migration rate -1.71 migrant(s)/1,000 population

http://www.greekorthodoxchurch.org/wfb1998/pakistan/pakistan_people.html

Pakistan's Net migration rate 1997:

Net migration rate -2.14 migrant(s)/1,000 population

http://www.photius.com/wfb1997/pakistan/pakistan_people.html

Pakistan's Net migration rate 1996:

Net migration rate: -16.93 migrant(s)/1,000 population

http://theodora.com/wfb/pakistan_people.html

Pakistan's Net migration rate 1995:

Net migration rate: -1.21 migrant(s)/1,000 population

http://www.theodora.com/wfb/1995/pakistan/pakistan_people.html

Pakistan's Net migration rate 1994:

Net migration rate per 1000: NA

http://www.theodora.com/wfb/1994/pakistan/pakistan_people.html

Pakistan's Net migration rate 1993:

Net migration rate per 1000: NA

http://www.theodora.com/wfb/1993/pakistan/pakistan_people.html

Pakistan's Net migration rate 1992:

Net migration rate per 1000: -5

http://www.theodora.com/wfb/1992/pakistan/pakistan_people.html

Pakistan's Net migration rate 1991:

Net migration rate: - 5 migrants/1,000 population

http://www.theodora.com/wfb1991/pakistan/pakistan_people.html

Pakistan's Net migration rate 1990:

Net migration rate: - 6 migrants/1,000 population

http://www.theodora.com/wfb1990/pakistan/pakistan_people.html

Pakistan's Net migration rate 1989:

Net migration rate: - 2 migrants/1,000 population

http://www.theodora.com/wfb1989/pakistan/pakistan_people.html

I reply to what you say because you post stats and stuff, unlike other people. That gives rise to ideas about discussions and debates.

Thanks! That a nice compliment!

Here is a GCSE Double Science Award exam paper from 2006, which students at Englands best private school Eton have taken:

http://www.aqa.org.uk/qual/gcse/qp-ms/AQA-3462H1-W-QP-JUN06.PDF

Here is GCE O level exam papers from 2006, which students in Pakistans best private schools have taken:

http://www.cie.org.uk/docs/dynamic/3370.pdf
http://www.cie.org.uk/docs/dynamic/2932.pdf
http://www.cie.org.uk/docs/dynamic/3278.pdf

Here is the American AP Biology, Physics, and Chemistry exams:

http://www.collegeboard.com/prod_downloads/ap/students/biology/ap06_frq_biology.pdf
http://www.collegeboard.com/prod_downloads/ap/students/biology/ap06_frq_biology_b.pdf
http://www.collegeboard.com/prod_downloads/ap/students/physics/ap06_frq_physics_c_e-m.pdf
http://www.collegeboard.com/prod_downloads/student/testing/ap/chemistry/_ap06_frq_chemistry.pdf

Now tell me, trapped, is there any difference in the level of difficulty or in the layout of questions between British GCSEs and Pakistani O levels? You cannot pass any of these exam through "rattafication".

When you first sent me these links, I shared them with my cousins back home. The reply which I got was that I should stop thinking from a Western point of view. I should think from a Desi point of view, as only after that will I get the answer to my question. They said that EVERYTHING from the syllabus is taught! So Memorise whole of it as some of it is BOUND to come up!

http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii109/traPPed_2008/GERPCRProgress.jpg?t=1207958555

@ Traped

thanks for ur posting about net migration rate............... I think it is very good for pakistan bcoz population is a problum for pakistan........so we dont need peoples here

we need a strong overseas community overseas....for our remittee and for political concerns

can u plz post short stats of india and BD N-M-Rate....so that we can compare both

Population: 164,741,942 (July 2007 est.)
Growth rate: 1.828% (2007 est.)
Birth rate: 27.74 births/1,000 population (2007 est.)
Death rate: 8 deaths/1,000 population (2007 est.)
Net migration rate: -1.24 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2007 est.)

growth rate is now under contol .(thanks to new generation ,,who are not intrested in marriage and childs)...but we need to put it down to 1.4..
bcoz we were just 5 karoor in 1975 and now we are 16 karoor.................

SAHIWAL, April 11: The National Engineering Services of Pakistan (Private) Limited has approved the master plan for the construction of the Bahauddin Zakariya University’s sub-campus in Sahiwal. The groundbreaking ceremony is likely to be held in a month’s time.

The master plan has been submitted to the BZU vice-chancellor for final approval and starting the construction work on the project, Dawn learnt on Friday.

This sub-campus will be constructed over 57.97 acres in front of the Government College, Sahiwal, and will cater to 2,750 master’s and undergraduate students in 24 disciplines upon its completion in a three-year time.

According to sources, the federal government had already approved Rs478.87 million for the campus construction while the varsity administration was aspiring for another Rs500 million from the provincial government.

In 2005, the BZU had opened its sub-campus on the premises of the Government College, Sahiwal, by taking 24 acres under a three-year lease agreement. Initially, as many as 150 students got admission in three disciplines, MBA, MBA (Executive) and BBA (Honours), and this development helped many students of Sahiwal and suburbs, especially girls, get higher education at their doorstep. Prior to this, they had to travel to Multan or Lahore for this purpose.

"Parents feel comfortable in sending their girls in institutes of advance learning, preferably in the same city. Had this sub-campus not existed, I could not have gotten my higher education," Hamna, a BBA student, told Dawn.

Presently, around 570 students are studying at the sub-campus offering six disciplines, including Master’s in Applied Psychology, English and Economics.

The BZU administration has also sanctioned a university bus for the sub-campus to pick and drop students, reducing the travelling problems of many, especially the girls. The new purpose-built campus will house an academic block, hostels for students and teachers, swimming pool, tennis and basketball courts.

Besides, it will have central library, conference hall, computer centre, gymnasium, student service centre, cricket ground, faculty residences and a cafeteria.

"The groundbreaking ceremony will be held very soon. I assure the people of Sahiwal that upon its completion, the sub-campus will emerge as a centre of excellence," Project Director Dr Muhammad Saleem Bhutto told Dawn.—Shafiq Butt




http://www.dawn.com/2008/04/12/nat24.htm

@ Traped

thanks for ur posting about net migration rate............... I think it is very good for pakistan bcoz population is a problum for pakistan........so we dont need peoples here

we need a strong overseas community overseas....for our remittee and for political concernsp

Your only looking at one part of the situation. Losing your labour force to other countries, especially those who the educated ones is never good for your country.

can u plz post short stats of india and BD N-M-Rate....so that we can compare both

aaahhhh! Man! That's gonna take AGES!

OKAY. I'll give it a try mounty.

B'Desh's Net Migration Rate was 0 migrants/1,000 population from 1989 till 1991. It was Not available for 1992 up till 1994. It was 0 migrants/1,000 population again for 1995 and 1996.

LINKS:

http://www.theodora.com/wfb1989/bangladesh/bangladesh_people.html
http://www.theodora.com/wfb1990/bangladesh/bangladesh_people.html
http://www.theodora.com/wfb1991/bangladesh/bangladesh_people.html
http://www.theodora.com/wfb/1992/bangladesh/bangladesh_people.html
http://www.theodora.com/wfb/1993/bangladesh/bangladesh_people.html
http://www.theodora.com/wfb/1994/bangladesh/bangladesh_people.html
http://www.theodora.com/wfb/1995/bangladesh/bangladesh_people.html
http://theodora.com/wfb/bangladesh_people.html

It started to increase from 1997 onwards. But only peaked at -0.79 in 1999.

Net migration rate 1997 : -0.73 migrant(s)/1,000 population
Net migration rate 1998 : -0.69 migrant(s)/1,000 population
Net migration rate 1999 : -0.79 migrant(s)/1,000 population
Net migration rate 2000 : -0.77 migrant(s)/1,000 population
Net migration rate 2001 : -0.76 migrant(s)/1,000 population
Net migration rate 2002 : -0.75 migrant(s)/1,000 population
Net migration rate 2003 : -0.72 migrant(s)/1,000 population
Net migration rate 2004 : -0.71 migrant(s)/1,000 population
Net migration rate 2005 : -0.69 migrant(s)/1,000 population
Net migration rate 2006 : -0.68 migrant(s)/1,000 population
Net migration rate 2007 : -0.66 migrant(s)/1,000 population

LINKS:

http://www.photius.com/wfb1997/bangladesh/bangladesh_people.html
http://www.greekorthodoxchurch.org/wfb1998/bangladesh/bangladesh_people.html
http://www.photius.com/wfb/wfb1999/bangladesh/bangladesh_people.html
http://www.photius.com/wfb2000/countries/bangladesh/bangladesh_people.html
http://workmall.com/wfb2001/bangladesh/bangladesh_people.html
http://www.greekorthodoxchurch.org/wfb2002/bangladesh/bangladesh_people.html
http://www.theodora.com/wfb2003/bangladesh/bangladesh_people.html
http://www.immigration-usa.com/wfb2004/bangladesh/bangladesh_people.html
http://www.allcountries.org/wfb2005/bangladesh/bangladesh_people.html
http://www.theodora.com/wfb2006/bangladesh/bangladesh_people.html
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/bg.html#People

Next India.

India's Net Migration rate was 0 migrants/1,000 population from 1989 up till 1991. It was NA for 1992, till 1996.

LINKS:
http://www.theodora.com/wfb1989/india/india_people.html
http://www.theodora.com/wfb1990/india/india_people.html
http://www.theodora.com/wfb1991/india/india_people.html
http://www.theodora.com/wfb/1992/india/india_people.html
http://www.theodora.com/wfb/1993/india/india_people.html
http://www.theodora.com/wfb/1994/india/india_people.html
http://www.theodora.com/wfb/1995/india/india_people.html
http://theodora.com/wfb/india_people.html

From 1997 onwards it was ranged between -0.07 & -0.08. Touching -0.05 in 2007.

-0.08 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1997 est.)
-0.08 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1998 est.)
-0.08 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1999 est.)
-0.08 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2000 est.)
-0.08 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2001 est.)
-0.07 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2002 est.)
-0.07 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2003 est.)
NA 2004
-0.07 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2005 est.)
-0.07 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2006 est.)
-0.05 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2007 est.)

LINKS:

http://www.photius.com/wfb1997/india/india_people.html
http://www.greekorthodoxchurch.org/wfb1998/india/india_people.html
http://www.photius.com/wfb/wfb1999/india/india_people.html
http://www.photius.com/wfb2000/countries/india/india_people.html
http://workmall.com/wfb2001/india/india_people.html
http://www.greekorthodoxchurch.org/wfb2002/india/india_people.html
http://www.theodora.com/wfb2003/india/india_people.html
http://www.photius.com/countries/india/society/index.html
http://www.allcountries.org/wfb2005/india/india_people.html
http://www.theodora.com/wfb2006/india/india_people.html
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/in.html#People

^^ Looking at all these statistics. Maybe I shoudn't have said that Pakistan's Net Migration Rate was higher than BD's and India's. I should have said it was WAY HIGHER than BD's and India's. Especially Indias'. Seen as India's highest one was only -0.08 which was still way lower than Pakistan lowest being at -0.59. :lol: BD's highest was -0.79 which was only higher than 2 years for Pakistan (2003 & 2006). The rest all exceed the -0.79 figure. :lol:

I just heard on Dawn News that the Punjab Governor has given a bill to the Parliament to turn the Chief Justice House into a University,

I can't believe it! But watch it get prolonged for 10 years and by then the Sharif brothers will have filled Swiss banks with million and these people will still be believing that we are going to get a university soon.

Hopefully im wrong.

^^ Looking at all these statistics. Maybe I shoudn't have said that Pakistan's Net Migration Rate was higher than BD's and India's. I should have said it was WAY HIGHER than BD's and India's. Especially Indias'. Seen as India's highest one was only -0.08 which was still way lower than Pakistan lowest being at -0.59. :lol: BD's highest was -0.79 which was only higher than 2 years for Pakistan (2003 & 2006). The rest all exceed the -0.79 figure. :lol:

Thanks Traped......

but wikipedia have little diff NMR of india...... I still think that Increase nmr is good for pakistan ..we still have 4rth largest labour force

with 8 karoor childs i-e below 18 age group

Karachi University, NUST and Quaid Azam University make it to TOP 600 global Universities

KARACHI: The fourth edition of The Times Higher Education World University Rankings Supplement from the UK has included three public sector universities of Pakistan among the top 600 universities of the world, two of which are in Karachi, PPI reported Tuesday.

The National University of Science and Technology (NUST) has been ranked No. 470, University of Karachi has been ranked No. 560 and Islamabad’s Quaid-e-Azam University has been ranked No. 564.

Martin Ince of the Times Higher Education Supplement wrote in the editorial that the very top institutions may all be in the English-speaking world, but the top 200 are spread across 28 nations.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007%5C12%5C05%5Cstory_5-12-2007_pg12_2

One more credit to Musharraf! :banana:

With the huge foreign PhD scheme started by HEC under Atta-ur-Rehman, hopefully the rankings will increase and more universities will make it up to that list. The PhD will start returning from later this year to next year so hopefully if the policy is continued, the quality of university will definitely improve.

I already answered that! Not a single Pakistani university is in the top 1000 of the world.

Karachi University, NUST and Quaid Azam University make it to TOP 600 global Universities

KARACHI: The fourth edition of The Times Higher Education World University Rankings Supplement from the UK has included three public sector universities of Pakistan among the top 600 universities of the world, two of which are in Karachi, PPI reported Tuesday.

The National University of Science and Technology (NUST) has been ranked No. 470, University of Karachi has been ranked No. 560 and Islamabad’s Quaid-e-Azam University has been ranked No. 564.

Martin Ince of the Times Higher Education Supplement wrote in the editorial that the very top institutions may all be in the English-speaking world, but the top 200 are spread across 28 nations.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007%5C12%5C05%5Cstory_5-12-2007_pg12_2

One more credit to Musharraf! :banana:

I thought that there were no Pakistani unis in the top 100. Did I just get owned? I HOPE I did. Because I would rather prefer Pakistan winning than me winning!

How come the following links shows that not even 1 Pakistani uni is in the top 1000?

http://www.webometrics.info/Distribution_by_Country.asp
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2006%5C09%5C29%5Cstory_29-9-2006_pg7_39

Where as this link shows that NUST became the 1st uni in the Muslim world to rank in the top 500?

http://www.interface.edu.pk/students/March-08/NUST-rank-UK-fellowship.asp

I'm hungry gotta go eat! :eat:

I thought that there were no Pakistani unis in the top 100. Did I just get owned? I HOPE I did. Because I would rather prefer Pakistan winning than me winning!

How come the following links shows that not even 1 Pakistani uni is in the top 1000?

http://www.webometrics.info/Distribution_by_Country.asp
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2006%5C09%5C29%5Cstory_29-9-2006_pg7_39 (http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2006%5C09%5C29%5Cstory_29-9-2006_pg7_39)

Where as this link shows that NUST became the 1st uni in the Muslim world to rank in the top 500?

http://www.interface.edu.pk/students/March-08/NUST-rank-UK-fellowship.asp (http://www.interface.edu.pk/students/March-08/NUST-rank-UK-fellowship.asp)

I'm hungry gotta go eat! :eat:

because that is 2006 and this is 2008 :)

AWESOME news then! So we went from having not even 1 uni in the top 1000 in Sept 2006 to having 2 unis in the top 600 and one in the top 500 by March 2008. THA'S REMARKABLE PROGRESS! Unbelieveable! Probably the fastest progress made by any country. Thats like climbing up 400/500 places in just 1 and a half years! WOW!! We Rock! I hope we keep on climbing up and up. NEVER have Pakistani unis made so much progress! :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana:

:banana::cheers::banana:

Well done Ata-ur-Rehman and Mushy !!! May ALLAH progress Pakistan!

With the huge foreign PhD scheme started by HEC under Atta-ur-Rehman, hopefully the rankings will increase and more universities will make it up to that list. The PhD will start returning from later this year to next year so hopefully if the policy is continued, the quality of university will definitely improve.

I totally agree & i hope very soon GIK, LUMS and Agha khan Medical university will be joining them.

^^ Looking at all these statistics. Maybe I shoudn't have said that Pakistan's Net Migration Rate was higher than BD's and India's. I should have said it was WAY HIGHER than BD's and India's. Especially Indias'. Seen as India's highest one was only -0.08 which was still way lower than Pakistan lowest being at -0.59. :lol: BD's highest was -0.79 which was only higher than 2 years for Pakistan (2003 & 2006). The rest all exceed the -0.79 figure. :lol:

@ Trapped...

these are 1 of many indicators indian use..... mean if they have 10 % scientist in USA and we have only 4....they say we are more skilled...forgetting that they have 7 times more people in india.

@ Trapped...

these are 1 of many indicators indian use..... mean if they have 10 % scientist in USA and we have only 4....they say we are more
skilled...forgetting that they have 7 times more people in india.

That claim of them making up 30% of NASA and some similarly high figure for Microsoft is the biggest lie I've ever heard. NASA itself has denied this ridiculous claim. It's unbelieveable that people believe chain e-mails.

Having said that, even though it's bad for Pakistan to lose talented people to other nations, it also helps ensure Pakistan has it's citizens abroad who lobby for it politically and send back remittances. Overseas Pakistanis also return to the country for a holiday from time to time which of course generates tourism money for the country.

AWESOME news then! So we went from having not even 1 uni in the top 1000 in Sept 2006 to having 2 unis in the top 600 and one in the top 500 by March 2008. THA'S REMARKABLE PROGRESS! Unbelieveable! Probably the fastest progress made by any country. Thats like climbing up 400/500 places in just 1 and a half years! WOW!! We Rock! I hope we keep on climbing up and up. NEVER have Pakistani unis made so much progress! :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana:

The only other factor is that of "general university" or "specific technical university/departments" but whatever the case, that is something to be proud of.

I would like to see the full list of this ranking...can you give it a try?

never mind...got the list
http://nust.edu.pk/usr/showContents.aspx?mdl=1654

I totally agree & i hope very soon GIK, LUMS and Agha khan Medical university will be joining them.

Yea I'm surprised. How come GIK, LUMS & Aga Khan aren't up there? :?

never mind...got the list
http://nust.edu.pk/usr/showContents.aspx?mdl=1654

USA and the UK dominate the list as usual. The link says that there are actually 4 Pakistani unis in there. NUST Karachi at 470, Quaid-I-Azam Uni ISB at 564, Uni of Karachi at 560 and Uni of Lahore at 456. Uni of Lahore is highest ranked then. So two in the top 500 and two in the top 600! :banana:

Still my uni's ranked higher than all the Unis in Pakistan! :happy: :banana: The unis that my ex's go to aren't there. :baeh3:

It sucks though that the list is in alphabetical order. :crazy:

I just realised that the list only shows the top 566 unis, not the top 1000.

srry:ohno:

^^


One more IBA Karachi.

Not to be a partypooper, but the criteria used by such rankings doesn't apply to Pakistan, so they mean shit basically. Apparently SZABIST is the best (or is that second) best business school in Asia. Or something like that. So please stop celebrating. If I were to rate personally, I'd rate GIK far above any other P@ki institution. LUMS second. The rest are just crap. Nothing to write home about. Actually I think NUST is also pretty good, but not sure. IBA sucks more balls than a ballsucker.

@ Trapped...

these are 1 of many indicators indian use..... mean if they have 10 % scientist in USA and we have only 4....they say we are more skilled...forgetting that they have 7 times more people in india.

Should expand on this..


WASHINGTON: It's an Internet myth that has taken on a life of its own. No matter how often you slay this phony legend, it keeps popping up again like some hydra-headed beast.

But on Monday, the Indian government itself consecrated the oft-circulated fiction as fact in Parliament, possibly laying itself open to a breach of privilege. By relaying to Rajya Sabha members (as reported in The Times of India) a host of unsubstantiated and inflated figures about Indian professionals in US, the government also made a laughing stock of itself.

The figures provided by the Minister of State for Human Resource Development Purandeshwari included claims that 38 per cent of doctors in US are Indians, as are 36 per cent of NASA scientists and 34 per cent of Microsoft employees.

There is no survey that establishes these numbers, and absent a government clarification, it appears that the figures come from a shop-worn Internet chain mail that has been in circulation for many years. Spam has finally found its way into the Indian parliament dressed up as fact.

Attempts by this correspondent over the years to authenticate the figures have shown that it is exaggerated, and even false. Both Microsoft and NASA say they don't keep an ethnic headcount. While they acknowledge that a large number of their employees are of Indian origin, it is hardly in the 30-35 per cent range.

In a 2003 interview with this correspondent, Microsoft chief Bill Gates guessed that the number of Indians in the engineering sections of the company was perhaps in the region of 20 per cent, but he thought the overall figure was not true. NASA workers say the number of Indians in the organization is in the region of 4-5 per cent, but the 36 per cent figure is pure fiction.

The number of physicians of Indian-origin in the US is a little easier to estimate. The Association of American Physicians of Indian Origin (AAPI) has 42,000 members, in addition to around 15,000 medical students and residents. There were an estimated 850,000 doctors in the US in 2004. So, conflating the figures, no more than ten per cent of the physicians in US maybe of Indian-origin – and that includes Indian-Americans – assuming not everyone is registered with AAPI.

These numbers in themselves are remarkable considering Indians constitute less than one per cent of the US population. But in its enthusiasm to spin the image of the successful global Indian to its advantage, the government appears to have milked a long-discredited spam - an effort seen by some readers as the work of a lazy bureaucrat and an inept minister.

The story has attracted withering scrutiny and criticism on the Times of India's website, with most readers across the world trashing it. "The minister should be hauled up by the house for breach of privilege of parliament (by presenting false information based on hearsay). We Indians are undoubtedly one of the most successful ethnic groups in USA, be it in Medicine, Engineering, Entrepreneurship. BUT, that does not translate to those ridiculous numbers that have been presented....this is a circulating e-mail hoax," wrote in Soumya from USA, who said he worked at the NASA facility in Ames, California, and the number was nowhere near what was mentioned in the figures given to Parliament.

"This minister (D.Purandeshwari, Minister of State for HRD)... should be held accountable for misleading the members of parliament and the citizens of India. This just shows how illiterate and mentally defunct the current Indian govt. is," wrote Anand from Melbourne.

Purandeshwari is not the first minister to use the dubious figures in a system where politicians depend heavily on their bureaucrats to furnish facts, figures, and speeches. Former home minister L.K.Advani used the same figures in a speech some years back on a visit to Washington DC.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Indians_in_NASA_Govt_falls_for_net_hoax/articleshow/2856295.cms

Not to be a partypooper, but the criteria used by such rankings doesn't apply to Pakistan, so they mean shit basically. Apparently SZABIST is the best (or is that second) best business school in Asia. Or something like that. So please stop celebrating.

Okie! :( No uni in top 500/600? :cry:

If I were to rate personally, I'd rate GIK far above any other P@ki institution. LUMS second. The rest are just crap. Nothing to write home about. Actually I think NUST is also pretty good, but not sure. IBA sucks more balls than a ballsucker.

How about Aga Khan? You can't call that crap. One of my uncles studied medicine there. Then left for the US, easily got a job there and is raking in the big bucks now. Along with his wife who is a doctor too. They both got 1st's ofcourse. You can't possibly call Aga Khan crap.

Agha khan is not a general university is it?

Yes, those things are considered in the rankings .... but they are applied for everyone. For S & T , i would consider GIK, NUST, UET Lahore to be the best in the country. For business/CS LUMS,FAST,GIK, IBA are surely good. Medicine would certainly go to AKU, King Edward medical college Lahore.

QAU is good in physics and PU in maths at the national level but nothing to write about internationally.

How about NED? whats their specialty?

How about NED? whats their specialty?

Engineering.

Sorry, I forgot Aga Khan. I believe it's really good too. How it ranks globally, I don't know. Also, NED is pretty good. They've lost their luster, but it'd kick KU's butt any day. Also, I'd put Punjab Uni. above KU. KU is nothing but a big scale gang war.

KASHMORE: Zila Nazim Kashmore Sardar Saleem Jan Mzari has underlined the need to promote engineering technology and computer science education in the country. The Nazim said that a new Engineering and Technolgy College was being also established in the district, while the district government was spending maximum fund for the promotion of education.
The Nazim was speaking at an inauguration ceremony of students’ library at Govt Degree College Kandhkot here on Wednesday. He assured that more agricultural land would be acquired for the extension of all faculties besides providing better facilities to students. The Nazim pointed out that the government was planning to introduce a new development package for the uplift of this area.


http://www.regionaltimes.com/16apr2008/heartland/needofit.php

Should expand on this..



http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Indians_in_NASA_Govt_falls_for_net_hoax/articleshow/2856295.cms:banana:

@ Cricket Fan

Thanks yaar.............ur make a thing simple for me..... i always fight with indians about that.....bcoz they post it again and again............. ( i am a doc and know actual number of indian in usa in medical field)

:banana:

MULTAN, April 16: The Bahauddin Zakariya University (BZU), Multan, in collaboration with the Bakhtawar Amin Memorial Trust is going to establish a University Medical and Dental College of 400 beds costing Rs581 millions.

Vice Chancellor Dr Muhammad Zaffarullah told Dawn on Wednesday the college would help medical graduating students and postdoctoral fellows get the best education and would prepare clinicians to practice patient-centered medicine. He said the institution would identify and answer fundamental questions in mechanism, prevention and treatment of diseases in healthcare delivery and the basic science.

He said the pre-doctoral curriculum of the college would produce leaders in medicine who improve healthcare through research and education.

He said that in Europe there were 3.5 doctors for every 1,000 patients, and according to the World Health Organisation the third world countries there had 1.3 doctors against 1,000 patients. In Pakistan, the ratio is 0.7 doctors against 1,000 patients.

He said there were 136,090 doctors in the country, of which 4,178 were in Balochistan, 2,453 in the AJK, 15,098 in the NWFP, 56,028 in Sindh and 55,232 in Punjab while 3,101 doctors were foreign degree holders.

He said there were 2,0820 female doctors in Punjab, 4,343 in the NWFP, 23,641 in Sindh, 1,369 in Balochistan, 779 in the AJK while 703 were foreign degree holders.

He said according to Pakistan Medical Doctors Council, there were 32 public and 36 private medical colleges in the country and all 68 colleges enrolled 7,000 students in 2007.

He said the project would engage 163 faculty members, 281 administrative officials, technical staff and un-skilled laborers, while 150 to 200 jobs for professional, skilled and un-skilled people would also be generated through contractors and consultants of the project.

He said that college would produce 100 doctors every year and a better service would be provided to the patients.

The college will have the departments of anatomy and forensic medicine, pathology, physiology, bio-chemistry, pharmacology, community medicine and administration.

He said that according to a memorandum of understanding, the trust would provide 10 acres to establish the college and would provide all facilities to its hospital located at Northern Bypass.

He said the college students would use the facilities of trust’s hospital.

RAWALPINDI, April 16: The PC-1 for construction of Potohar University in Rawalpindi has been prepared and a summary has been sent to the Punjab government for approval.

Sources said after allocation and release of fund, work on the project would be started.

After the April 2000 presidential referendum, the Rawalpindi district government and the elected nazims demanded President Pervez Musharraf to make announcement regarding establishment of the Potohar University.

Work on preparation of the PC-I was started in 2002 after President Musharraf announced establishment of the university during a public gathering at Race Course Ground.

WASHINGTON: A new World Bank report on education in the Punjab released on Thursday showed that student enrolment in Pakistan had gone up by 10 percent between 2001 and 2005, with the highest increase of 12 percent having occurred in Punjab.

During this period, the number of private schools increased from 32,000 to 47,000 and one in every three children at the primary level was in a private school. Since 1995, the report showed, 50 percent of all new private schools had been set up in rural areas.

According to the report authored by Tara Vishwanath , there have been dramatic changes in the educational landscape of Pakistan in the new millennium. Secular, co-educational and for-profit private schools have become a widespread presence in both urban and rural areas. These changes represent an opportunity and a challenge for educational policy in the country. A large fraction of rural Pakistani households no longer lives in a village with one or two government schools - half the population of rural Punjab, for instance, lives in villages where parents routinely have 7-8 schools to choose from. This new educational landscape is an active educational marketplace with m

The report says that from evaluating policy reform to understanding how the private sector can help educate the poor, the rise of such schools represents a significant opportunity and challenge, not only in Pakistan but also in the wider South-Asian context. With enrolments looking up, debate is likely to shift to what children are learning in school. Enrolment, the report cautions, does not imply learning. Measuring what children are learning in public and private schools and understanding how the educational marketplace can foster learning is a first step towards formulating policy in the new millennium.

The Vishwanath report shares the findings of first round of the Learning and Educational Achievement in Punjab Schools (LEAPS) survey carried out in all the public and private schools offering primary-level education in 112 Punjab villages. The survey includes learning outcomes for 12,000 children in Class III in Urdu, English and mathematics together with detailed information on the beliefs and behaviour of schools, teachers and parents. The report presents findings from the first round of the survey in 2003 along with trends for a few key outcomes between 2003 and 2007. A further report will incorporate all other information from the four rounds collected between 2003 and 2007. The findings shed light on the relative strengths and weaknesses of private and government schooling. Because of higher teacher salaries, government schools require twice the resources to educate a child compared to private schools. Furthermore, children studying in private schools report higher test-scores in all subjects, partly because their teachers exert greater effort.

Private schooling alone, says the report, cannot be the solution. Access to private schools is not universal as they choose to locate themselves in richer villages and richer settlements within villages, limiting access for poor households. In contrast, a laudable feature of the government school system is that it ensures equal geographical access to schools for all. Since children who receive less attention and educational help at home are also more likely to be enrolled in government schools, government school reform could ensure that no child is left behind. The report proposes a modified role for the government for discussion, suggesting that it should be one that is complementary to, rather than in competition with, that of the private sector. The government should be a provider of information on the quality of every school, public or private, which will enable households to make informed decisions and increase beneficial competition between schools. It should also correct the imbalances arising from unequal geographical access to private schools and ensure that all children acquire a set of basic competence. The government should also act as an an innovator willing to experiment with and evaluate “out-of-the-box” reforms such as public-private partnerships where financial support is given to children regardless of the school chosen.

Good news :yes:

WASHINGTON: A new World Bank report on education in the Punjab released on Thursday showed that student enrolment in Pakistan had gone up by 10 percent between 2001 and 2005, with the highest increase of 12 percent having occurred in Punjab.

During this period, the number of private schools increased from 32,000 to 47,000 and one in every three children at the primary level was in a private school. Since 1995, the report showed, 50 percent of all new private schools had been set up in rural areas.

According to the report authored by Tara Vishwanath , there have been dramatic changes in the educational landscape of Pakistan in the new millennium. Secular, co-educational and for-profit private schools have become a widespread presence in both urban and rural areas. These changes represent an opportunity and a challenge for educational policy in the country. A large fraction of rural Pakistani households no longer lives in a village with one or two government schools - half the population of rural Punjab, for instance, lives in villages where parents routinely have 7-8 schools to choose from. This new educational landscape is an active educational marketplace with m

The report says that from evaluating policy reform to understanding how the private sector can help educate the poor, the rise of such schools represents a significant opportunity and challenge, not only in Pakistan but also in the wider South-Asian context. With enrolments looking up, debate is likely to shift to what children are learning in school. Enrolment, the report cautions, does not imply learning. Measuring what children are learning in public and private schools and understanding how the educational marketplace can foster learning is a first step towards formulating policy in the new millennium.

The Vishwanath report shares the findings of first round of the Learning and Educational Achievement in Punjab Schools (LEAPS) survey carried out in all the public and private schools offering primary-level education in 112 Punjab villages. The survey includes learning outcomes for 12,000 children in Class III in Urdu, English and mathematics together with detailed information on the beliefs and behaviour of schools, teachers and parents. The report presents findings from the first round of the survey in 2003 along with trends for a few key outcomes between 2003 and 2007. A further report will incorporate all other information from the four rounds collected between 2003 and 2007. The findings shed light on the relative strengths and weaknesses of private and government schooling. Because of higher teacher salaries, government schools require twice the resources to educate a child compared to private schools. Furthermore, children studying in private schools report higher test-scores in all subjects, partly because their teachers exert greater effort.

Private schooling alone, says the report, cannot be the solution. Access to private schools is not universal as they choose to locate themselves in richer villages and richer settlements within villages, limiting access for poor households. In contrast, a laudable feature of the government school system is that it ensures equal geographical access to schools for all. Since children who receive less attention and educational help at home are also more likely to be enrolled in government schools, government school reform could ensure that no child is left behind. The report proposes a modified role for the government for discussion, suggesting that it should be one that is complementary to, rather than in competition with, that of the private sector. The government should be a provider of information on the quality of every school, public or private, which will enable households to make informed decisions and increase beneficial competition between schools. It should also correct the imbalances arising from unequal geographical access to private schools and ensure that all children acquire a set of basic competence. The government should also act as an an innovator willing to experiment with and evaluate “out-of-the-box” reforms such as public-private partnerships where financial support is given to children regardless of the school chosen.


^^
PArha Likha Program is closed ....:bash:

:laugh:

^^
PArha Likha Program is closed ....:bash:

Instead of "Parha Likha" Punjab, it will be "Bhooka Nanga" Punjab!

Instead of "Parha Likha" Punjab, it will be "Bhooka Nanga" Punjab!

:rofl:

ISLAMABAD, April 19: Literacy ratio in Pakistan still remains at 50 per cent, mainly because of small budgetary allocations, lack of political will and delays in disbursement of funds, according to the Unesco.

In the region, Pakistan has been ranked higher only than Nepal and Bangladesh, which have literacy rates of 49 and 43 per cent, respectively. Other countries have far better ratios: the Maldives, 96 per cent; Sri Lanka, 91 per cent; and India, 61 per cent.

Addressing a function organised by the Parliamentary Caucus on Literacy in Pakistan on Saturday, Unesco’s representative Arshad Saeed Khan said there were about 55 million illiterate people in the country because of which the country risked failing to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

If corrective measures were not taken, the percentage of illiterates might rise to 60 per cent of the population by 2010, he said.

Sindh has the highest percentage in education which stands at 54 per cent followed by Punjab (52 per cent) and the NWFP (40 per cent). Balochistan has the lowest ratio – 33 per cent.

The Unesco attributed the low level of literacy rate to factors like weak organisational infrastructure, low professional capacity, lack of research, non-availability of proper training institutes, low public awareness and lack of evaluation and monitoring system.

“The state shall be responsible for eradication of illiteracy and provision of free and compulsory education up to secondary level, within minimum possible time,” says article 37-B of the 1973 constitution.

Mr Arshad Saeed said that 16 political parties – including the PPP, PML-N, ANP, JUI-F and BNP (Awami), BNP (Mengal), Jamaat-i-Islami, Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party and National Party — had signed Education For All Declaration on February 5, 2008 in which they had pledged to increase education budget up to 4 per cent of GDP, at least 10 per cent of the education budget for literacy and non-formal education, free and compulsory primary education — achieving 100 per cent enrolment rate, 86 per cent adult literacy by 2015, eradicate political interference and favouritism in appointments, transfers of education staff and uniform core curriculum and similar facilities in all schools.

Unesco stressed the need for legislation for free secondary education as a fundamental right, increasing education budget to 4 per cent of GDP, ensuring equal opportunities for all children because Pakistan has ratified Unesco Convention Against Discrimination in Education.

http://www.dawn.com/2008/04/20/nat1.htm

In the region, Pakistan has been ranked higher only than Nepal and Bangladesh, which have literacy rates of 49 and 43 per cent, respectively. Other countries have far better ratios: the Maldives, 96 per cent; Sri Lanka, 91 per cent; and India, 61 per cent.

Well these rates shown here are different from what these countries say they are. Pakistan says its rate is 54-56%, not 50%. Nepal says its rate is just above 50%, not 49%. B'Desh says its rate is 47/48%, not 43%. India says its rate is 65%+, not 61%. Don't know about the Island nations of Maldives and Sri lanka. Only know about the ones on mainland South Asia.

Mr Arshad Saeed said that 16 political parties – including the PPP, PML-N, ANP, JUI-F and BNP (Awami), BNP (Mengal), Jamaat-i-Islami, Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party and National Party — had signed Education For All Declaration on February 5, 2008 in which they had pledged to increase education budget up to 4 per cent of GDP, at least 10 per cent of the education budget for literacy and non-formal education, free and compulsory primary education — achieving 100 per cent enrolment rate, 86 per cent adult literacy by 2015, eradicate political interference and favouritism in appointments, transfers of education staff and uniform core curriculum and similar facilities in all schools.

Thats a nice step. Looks like their following into Mushy's footsteps.

Unesco stressed the need for legislation for free secondary education as a fundamental right, increasing education budget to 4 per cent of GDP, ensuring equal opportunities for all children because Pakistan has ratified Unesco Convention Against Discrimination in Education.

http://www.dawn.com/2008/04/20/nat1.htm

Well lets just get the free primary education bit done properly, then we'll concentrate on free secondary education.

Thats a nice step. Looks like their following into Mushy's footsteps.


Its all talk. These politicians are very good at talking. I'll see when it is implemented.

Notice they excluded the PMLQ and MQM. Shouldn't all parties be included in such an important national issue? Shouldn't this issue be apolitical and non-partisan?

All talk.

I hope I am wrong. The recent history of politicians tells me I am not. Lets hope I am.

Wednesday, April 23, 2008
ISLAMABAD: Minister for Labour, Manpower and Overseas Pakistanis Syed Khursheed Ahmed Shah on Tuesday said the Overseas Pakistanis Foundation (OPF) will set up 8 public schools, 1 medical college and 8 trauma centres in the country.

Addressing the OPF Board of Governors meeting held here, the minister said the government attaches high priorities to the welfare of overseas Pakistanis and their families.

He said the Board of Governors has approved in principle to set up OPF Public Schools at Gwadar, Jacobabad, Nawabshah, Sukkur, Nowshehra, Lahore, Attock and Mirpur (AJK). A medical college at Mirpur (AJK) will also be established.

About trauma centres, the minister said that these centres would be set up at Multan, Rahim Yar Khan, Mianwali, Sukkur, Dadu, Nowshehra, Muzaffarabad (AJK) and Gwadar. He said trauma centres will provide medical facilities to the affectees of road accidents and other emergencies to cover the masses in these areas.

Shah said the foundation has accorded approval for regularization of contract employees of the OPF as well as teachers of OPF public institutes having more than two years’ service as teacher.

The board also approved the salary structure of teaching and non-teaching staff of educational institutions with revised increase. Special teaching allowance of Rs5,000 would also be granted to teachers, he added.

The minister directed the OPF to remove all bottlenecks in the way of implementation of development work at OPF housing schemes by the end of June this year.

The minister said the foundation would intiate Hajj and Umra scheme to facilitate the overseas Pakistanis families in Pakistan in terms of processing all formalities required to perform Hajj and Umra. Shah said the reserved quota for Hajj is being double from 500 to 1,000 to provide maximum opportunities to the families of Pakistani expatriates.

http://thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=108321

HYDERABAD, April 23: Sindh University syndicate at a meeting on Tuesday approved a memorandum of understanding with the Moscow State University, Russia, to undertake collaborative research and exchange of faculty, students, and research projects.

The meeting was presided over by University Vice-Chancellor Mazharul Haq Siddiqui.

It approved the names of noted scientist Prof. (Dr) M.Y. Khuhwar, Project Director High-Tech Central Resource Laboratories and Professor (Dr) M. Umar Dahot, Director Institute of Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering for a committee from University of Sindh and Dr Maluchenko N.V, Deputy Dean of International Cooperation, Dr Alexander I. Netrusov and renowned Scientist Dr Alexander M. Semenov from Russia University who would monitor the progress of agreement and review future directions as well as programmes.

The meeting also appointed Dr Tanver Junejo as Chairperson of the department of Sociology and Dr Mohammad Ali Bhatti as Director of the Institute of Art and Design.

To appoint the professor emeritus in the university the syndicate constituted a committee headed by the vice chancellor with learned scholar Dr N.A Baloch and Dr A.Q. Mughal as its members.

The syndicate meeting enhanced the medical allowance from rupees one thousand to two thousand for university employees from BPS-1 to 22.


http://www.dawn.com/2008/04/24/local10.htm
I never heard any Pakistani University having collaboration with Russian university? good for SU.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

do u know about sindh university.?????

No department is good enough to produce good students........ 60% of graduates dont know how to write english...

ISLAMABAD: The prime minister, along with the chairman of the Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf, launched the quality Namal College in Mianwali on April 27.

The college is the brainchild of Imran Khan, who was appalled at the high level of unemployment among the youth of Mianwali. Therefore, in order to provide high quality training and employable skills, so that the youth of the district could earn a decent living, he wanted to open a college.

A large number of people gathered on Sunday for the inauguration of the college, including government ministers, educationists, and donors alongside the people of Mianwali, who have so generously donated the land on which the college has been built.

Imran's vision is to create a world-class research university and knowledge city where scholars can work and study in an Oxford-like academic environment. "This is the most beautiful location,” said Imran referring to the surroundings, "and exactly the right kind of environment to set up a centre of excellence. In a few years’ time, academics will work and live here."

Working alongside Imran for the last two years has been the University of Bradford, one of the leading universities in the UK, especially in engineering and management courses. The university has been ranked No 1 for graduate employment in the north of England in The Times League tables for the last five years and has a history of developing and delivering high quality and demand-driven degree programmes as well as an excellent reputation for research.

In December 2005, Imran was appointed the university's first international chancellor, succeeding four previous chancellors, the first of whom was Harold Wilson, Labour Prime Minister of Britain.

The University of Bradford has granted 'Associate College' status to Namal College. Commenting on the importance of the partnership with the Namal College, Vice Chancellor of the University of Bradford Mark Cleary said, "The university does not award Associate College status lightly. In our 42-year history since we were granted our Royal Charter, we have given this status to only eight Associate Colleges in the United Kingdom and only three around the world. We were, however, inspired by the vision and values for Namal College, which we felt were very similar to our own and to the commitment for excellence, exemplified by Shaukat Khanum Memorial Hospital, also a partner of the university, which we know will be demonstrated here at Namal College too."

The Bradford University will be involved in designing the courses and curriculum, in ensuring quality assurance mechanism and training and development for the faculty. Courses will be delivered in 4 phases. The Phase I will offer certificate courses, Phase II diploma courses, Phase III degree course and Phase IV research degrees.

The initial curriculum will be focused in the following areas: Construction (masons, carpenters, electricians), automotive engineering, electrical engineering with emphasis on appliances repairs; agricultural equipment engineering, development and maintenance, and cement industry work.

Majority of the students at the university will be on scholarships and come from areas where they would not have had the opportunities that the Namal College would offer. The Namal College will be of enormous benefit not only to the Mianwali district but also the whole of Pakistan. Over the long term, Namal College's "Knowledge City" will act as a best practice model for other regions of Pakistan to extend its benefits nationally, like the Shaukat Khanum is doing today.

http://thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=109413
I liked location of this college.

DERA GHAZI KHAN/MUZAFFARGARH: Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Dost Muhammad Khan Khosa on Sunday announced a medical college for Dera Ghazi Khan and Rs 230 million grant for the water supply scheme in the city and the surrounding areas.

Addressing a gathering at the Circuit House and then at a lunch hosted for him by the PML-N Youth Wing's divisi-onal president Rana Muham-mad Akbar, Khosa said he

would personally monitor the services of officers serving in the districts of Rajanpur, Dera Ghazi Khan, Layyah and Muzaffargarh.

He said the bogus cases registered on political grounds against the party members during the pervious era would be withdrawn and the wrongs done against them would be rectified. Earlier, thousands of people from all walks of life, including PML-N workers, office-bearers, PPP workers, traders and tribesmen from the Khosa tribe, received him at the Ghazi Ghat Bridge.

http://thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=109411

ISLAMABAD: The foundation-stone-laying ceremony of a new faculty block at the women campus of the International Islamic University Islamabad (IIUI) was held here Friday.

IIUI President Dr Anwar Hussain Siddiqui, who was the chief guest on the occasion, said the university was fully aware of the female education and had provided all facilities to female students at par with males. He added the number of female students had crossed 5,000 now which was the largest number in the region. He also thanked the federal government for providing a grant of Rs 480 million for the infrastructure development of the university.

Earlier, briefing the audience, Women Campus Director Farhat Mujtaba, Project and Planning Director Engineer Sarfraz Ahmed Mirza and Deputy Director Tahir Khan said the project of the new faculty block at the women campus would cost Rs 107.268 million and would be completed in just 18 months.

Okay. I'm just quoting all of these informative posts, so that I can summarise all of the info relating to the progress made by Pakistan in Education under one single post. And then create a link for it in my sig under "Education".

LITERACY RATES

a) 1951 Census: One who can read a clear print in any language. 16.4%

b) 1961 Census: One who is able to read with understanding a simple letter in any language. 16.3%

c) 1972 Census: One who is able to read and write in some language with understanding. 21.7%

d) 1981 Census: One who can read newspaper and write a simple letter 26.2%

e) 1998 Census: One who can read a newspaper and write a simple letter, in any language. 43.9%

The present (2004) projected adult literacy rate in Pakistan is 54% (male 66.25% : female 41.75%)

Q. What is the current Literacy Rate in Pakistan?

A. As per PSLM Survey 2004-05, the literacy rate of population 10 years and above was 53% showing an annual growth ratio of 1.5% since 1998 Census. As such the estimated Literacy Rate comes to 56% in 2007. Ministry of Education - Pakistan (http://www.moe.gov.pk/faqs.htm?#q4)


Trend in Literacy Rates since 1972

Punjab

1972 20.7%
1981 27.4%
1998 46.56%
2004 56.14%

Sindh

1972 30.2%
1981 31.5%
1998 45.29%
2004 51.48%

NWFP

1972 15.5%
1981 16.7%
1998 35.41%
2004 46.17%

Balochistan

1972 10.1%
1981 10.3%
1998 26.6%
2004 37.18%

http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0014/001459/145959e.pdf

These are the targets set by the goverment:

Phase 1: 2001-02 to 2005-06 = 61% (Male 71.5% : Female 50.5%)
Phase 2: 2006-07 to 2010-11 = 68% (Male 77% : Female 65%)
Phase 3: 2010-11 to 2015-16 = 86% (Male 86% : Female 86%)

http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0014/001459/145959e.pdf

I am dissapointed by these targets as Pakistan is signatory to the Millenium Development Goals and one of the goals is to achieve 100% literacy rate by 2015. Many poorer developing nations are on track to achieve 100% literacy rate by 2015 some might even achieve it before 2015. But all we will manage is 86%. Still I guess its better than nothing.

'Pakistan's literacy rate nearly 54%'
Pakistan Times Staff Report

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's Senate on Wednesday was informed that national literacy rate is 54 percent out of which 66.25 percent male and 41.75 percent female are literate.

This was stated by Minister for Education, Mrs. Zubaida Jalal in her written reply to a query raised by Senator Sardar Latif Khosa in the Senate here.

Giving the province-wise and gender-wise detail, the Minister informed that an estimated 60.8% population is literate in Punjab province.

The literacy rate for male and female are 70% and 51% respectively, she added.

In NWFP, 47.4% population of the province is literate, out of which 63% are male and 30.8% female.

The Minister said that the literacy rate of Sindh province is about 51.5% out of which 60.5% are male and 42.5% female.

The 34% population of Balochistan are literate and the literacy rate of male and female is about 45% and 23% respectively, she added.

About Pakistan's literacy position in the world, the Minister pointed out that there is no universal definition of literacy. The definition varies from country to country, therefore, it is difficult to rank Pakistan on the scale of literacy position in the world.

She, however, said literacy rate in the world is calculated for 15+ population whereas in Pakistan, it is estimated for population 10+.
http://www.pakistantimes.net/2004/07/15/national4.htm

The size of the following image is 277 KB. Please wait while it loads completely.

http://i16.************/5zn9xcw.jpg

'Literacy Rate in Azad Kashmir nearly 62 pc'
Pakistan Times Kashmir Bureau Report

MUZAFFARABAD (Azad Kashmir): About 62 per cent people in the state of Azad Jammu Kashmir have entered into the category of literate class in the year 2004, says a report compiled by the AJK Planning and Development Department here on Sunday.

According to the report, this figure leaves behind the literacy rates of all the four province of Pakistan. The report says out of 62 per cent about 55.47 per cent are people at the age of 10 or little above of them, the report adds, 70.52 per cent are male and 40.46 per cent female lot.

The report further states that of the total strength of the educated, 32 per cent remain at the primary level, 25 per cent reach to middle classes, 14 per cent are those who do their matriculation. Similarly, 4 per cent receive education at the intermediate level and 2.2 per cent are graduates.

The people who hold master degrees make up 0.9 per cent of the total tally, while role of professional education such as Engineering, Medical and Information Technology is 0.09 per cent.

A source in the education department informed that in 1947, a total of 291 educational institutions were functional in the state of which 254 were primary schools, 30 middle and 6 high schools. The source told that at that time the state had only one college to provide education at the intermediate level.

http://pakistantimes.net/2004/09/27/kashmir5.htm

Q. What % of GDP is allocated to education by all tiers of the government?

A. The total public spending on education (by federal, provincial and district government) comes to 2.21% of GDP during the year 2005-06.

Q. What is the current Literacy Rate in Pakistan?

A. As per PSLM Survey 2004-05, the literacy rate of population 10 years and above was 53% showing an annual growth ratio of 1.5% since 1998 Census. As such the estimated Literacy Rate comes to 56% in 2007.

^^ Highest ever I've noticed for Pakistan! :banana:

Q. What is Gross Enrollment Rate (GER) in Pakistan?

A. According to PSLM Survey 2004-05, the GER is 86% at Primary level, 46% at Middle level and 44% at Secondary level.

http://www.moe.gov.pk/faqs.htm?#q2

School attendance (2004-05)

Ever Attended School Aged 10+

Pakistan

2001-02: 51%
2004-05: 54%

Highest by region

Islamabad: 85% (Highest in the country)
Karachi: 78%
Rawalpindi: 77%
Abbotabad: 67%
Quetta: 64%

Lowest by region

Muzaffarghar & Rajanpur: 40%
Jacobabad: 34%
Upper Dir: 34%
Jhal Magsi: 20% (Lowest in the country)

44% of the proportion of the population 10 years and over that has completed primary level or higher has been observed in 2004-05.

Gross Enrolement Ratio (GER) by Primary level (Year 2004-05)

Definition: The GER, sometimes referred to as the participation rate, is the number of children attending primary school divided by the number of children who ought to be attending.

Aged 6-10 years: 86%

Aged 5-9 years: 82%

GER Aged 5-9 by province

Punjab

Narowal: 130%
Muzaffargarh: 66%

Sindh

Karachi: 111%
Jaccobabad: 43%

NWFP

Abbotabad: 117%
Kohistan: 52%

Balochistan

Ketch district: 110%
Jafarabad district: 33% (Lowest in the country)

Gross Enrolment Rate at Primary Level

At the national level, gross enrolment rate (GER) at primary level (age 5-9years) increased from 72% in 2000-01 to 86% in 2004-05, recording an increase of 14 percentage points. Punjab has the highest GER at 95%, followed by NWFP at 80%, Sindh at 75% and Balochistan at 67% in 2004-05.

http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii109/traPPed_2008/GERPrimary.jpg?t=1206546232

Net Enrolement Ratio (NER) at primary level (2004/5)

The NER at primary level refers to the number of students enrolled in primary school of primary school age divided by the number of children in the age group for that level of education.

Pakistan = 52%

Punjab

Sialkot: 84% (Best in Pakistan)
Bahawalpur: 38%

Sindh

Karachi: 65%
Jaccobabad: 25%

N.W.F.P

Abbotabad: 70%
Kohistan: 24%

Balochistan

Ketch: 63%
Qilla Abduallah: 19% (Worst in Pakistan)

Net Enrolment Rate at Primary Level

Net Enrolment rate (NER) at primary level aged 5-9 years has increased by 10 percentage points to 52% in 2004-05 as compared to 42% in 2000-01. Punjab has the highest NER at 58%, followed by Sindh at 48%, NWFP at 47% and Balochistan at 37% in 2004-05.

http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii109/traPPed_2008/NERPrimary.jpg?t=1206547951

Gross Enrolment Rate for the middle level (10-12 years old) 2004-05

The gross enrolment rate for the middle level for Pakistan as a whole is 46 percent.

Urban areas = 64%

Rural areas = 38%

Islamabad = 97% (Highest in Pakistan)

Punjab

Chakwal 81%
Muzaffarghar 28%

Sindh

Karachi 67%
Thatta 17%

N.W.F.P

Chitral 77%
Kohistan 18%

Balochistan

Ketch 62%
Kharan 11% (Lowest in Pakistan)

Net enrolment rates at the middle level are much lower than gross enrolment rates. This is due to the large number of overage children that are enrolled in these classes. The district level comparision within the provinces depict that more or less NERs have the same patterns which are observed for GREs. Islamabad with 36% is at top in all districts.

Gross Enrolment Rate at Middle Level

Overall, the middle-level GER for children aged 10-12 increased from 41% in 2000-01 to 46% in 2004-05. Punjab has highest middle-level GER at 49%, followed by NWFP at 47%, Sindh at 42% and Balochistan at 30% in 2004-05.

http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii109/traPPed_2008/GERMiddle.jpg?t=1206549152

Matric Level (Aged 14-15)

At matric level, gross enrolment stands at 44 per cent and net enrolment rate at 11per cent.

GER for Matric Level

Punjab

Rawalpindi 80%
Lodhran 23%

Sindh

Karachi 79%
Thatta 20%

N.W.F.P

Chitral 83%
Kohistan & Bonair 18%

Balochistan

Quetta 65%
Kharan 13%

Literacy

The literacy rate for population 10 years and above is 53 percent during 2004-05.

Highest and Lowest Rates shown by Region:

Islamabad 84%

Punjab

Rawalpindi 75%
Lodhran 34%

Sindh

Karachi 78%
Jaccobabad 34%

N.W.F.P

Abbotabad 65%
Kohistan 25%

Balochistan

Quetta 65%
Jhal Magsi 20%

Adult literacy rate for the population aged 15 and above is 50%.

ALL information relating to years 2004-05 copied and pasted from http://www.statpak.gov.pk/depts/fbs/statistics/pslm0405_district/education.pdf

Damn it! I didn't need to waste my time making those literacy maps! But there aren't any HDI maps done on Pakistan. Though they have been done on other countries like Nepal, Iran, China, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina etc

http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii109/traPPed_2008/LiteracyMap.jpg?t=1206542296

It is beyond the scope of this report to ascertain the determinants of district-level literacy rates. However, it appears that level of urbanization is among the important reasons for achieving high levels of literacy. Districts in north Punjab, mostly in high literacy belt, are more urbanized than districts in southern Punjab, with below average levels of literacy. Similarly, in Sindh, Karachi, Hyderabad and Sukker are the most urbanized districts. The same is the case with Quetta in Balochistan. On the basis of deprived indices (calculated from the district-level data on education, housing quality and congestion, residential housing services and employment), the high-literacy districts are mostly the least deprived ones.

http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii109/traPPed_2008/15TopBottomLiteracy.jpg?t=1206543283

http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii109/traPPed_2008/GERPCRProgress.jpg?t=1207958555

From the "Girls' Stipend Program in Pakistan" about which I posted way back in Sept 07 (http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showpost.php?p=15479603&postcount=323)!!!

http://siteresources.worldbank.org/SOUTHASIAEXT/Images/223545-1173117251891/pakedu560x149.jpg

According to higher education commision chairmen

Nations build on higher education ,,,not on primary education......... if it was the case then srilanka shold be the highly developed ....bcoz of 91% education rate....

can i have the source of the above quote please?

According to higher education commision chairmen

Nations build on higher education ,,,not on primary education......... if it was the case then srilanka shold be the highly developed ....bcoz of 91% education rate....

I read something somewhere by the OECD, which said that for poorer nations it is much more beneficial to concentrate on primary education where as for richer nations it is much more beneficial to concentrate on secondary or higher education. As only after mastering primary education, would poor nations be able to master secondary and higher education. While richer nations have already mastered primary and secondary education. Now all they need to do is to concentrate on higher education to further boost the skills of their workforce. I.e. get more people into higher education.

As far as Sri Lanka goes. The thing is that they may have 90%+ literacy rate, but everthing there is taught in Sinhalese. This is what I found out from browsing the Sri Lankan subforum. They even complained that many students in universities didn't even know English, even after graduating. That seems to be the problem.

^^^^^^^

how can u develop with the population which just read and write ???????

u need many IT,MBA,MBBS Etc etc to develop

dr ata-ur-rehman was right........................

100% primary education with 4-5 % graduates are not good

but 50% primary with 15-20% graduates are very good

MULTAN, May 5: Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani on Monday inaugurated the Faculty of Veterinary Sciences and Gilani Law College on the Bahauddin Zakariya University premises.

Speaking on the occasion, he announced the establishment of BZU medical college. BZU Vice-Chancellor Dr Muhammad Zaffarullah said that the project of Gilani Law College would be completed at a cost of Rs350 million and the Faculty of Veterinary Sciences at Rs480 million.

Governor Khalid Maqbool also spoke.

BADIN: Speaker National Assembly, Dr. Fahmida Mirza paid a visit of Badin and while addressing women in a meeting at theMemon Community Centre she said, that women should come forward and get education to prove themselves as a key factor in the development of country.
The government will avail facilities to women, who want to get knowledge in any field and for that purpose different programmes will be announced.
She announced many development schemes for Badin including, Medical College, Engineering College, Community Centers and to open campus of Virtual University for that purpose a team of Higher Education Commission has reached in region. She assured women to provide them jobs in every field. Meanwhile, Dr. Fahmida Mirza visited CTLC centre of NCHD and on the occasion, General Manager of NCHD, Rafiq-u-Rehman while briefing said that NCHD has increased the literacy rate in region from 24 percent to 30.57 percent and 370 girls were educated while more than 50 girls have graduated.
Addressing on the occasion, Speaker National Assembly, Dr. Fahmida Mirza admired the efforts of NCHD and said facilities will be provided to masses of the region to get education and for that purpose government has planed many programmes by which every individual will be facilitated.

KARACHI: Deputy Convener, MQM Rabita Committee and Member National Assembly, Dr. Farooq Sattar here on Friday assured all support for public welfare projects initiated by Memon community in Sindh.
Speaking at a ceremony organized by Amin Chapal, Chairman of the Chapal Group and Chapal World (UAE), he said the proposed mega hospital and medical university in Hyderabad would be extended needed support if found to be beneficial for masses.
He appreciated the voluntary work undertaken by the members of memon community and their selfless services to the downtrodden sections of the society.
These philanthropic services, he said were without any distinction or discrimination and availed by all inhabitants of Sindh.
Amin Chapal said the mega hospital and medical university project was planned to be developed on a 11 acres piece of land donated by his mother Hajiani Zubaida Bai Abdul Karim Chapal.
He said funds worth UAE Dirhmas 12.5 million were also donated through the platform of Chapal World LLC (UAE) Group for the scheme.
President, Hyderabad Memon Anjuman, Dr. M.M Haroon, President, Memon Charitable Hospital, Dr.M.Farooq Memon Rangoonwala, Abdul Karim Ghangra and Mohammad Ali Wehvaria also addressed the session.

KARACHI: The Higher Education Commission has upgraded the category of Sir Syed University of Engineering and Technology.
Chairman HEC has upgraded the University from Category X’/previous `Category B’ to category W’/previous `Category A’ unversities/ institutions in relation to Cabinet Criteria requirements in shape of academic, financial and physical infrastructure.
The Chairman HEC approved the upgradation of SSUET’s Category on the recommendation of the Committee which carried out the University’s inspection earlier. The University has made tremendous progress in various fields with financial strength having risen from required Rs 200 million to 1300.380 million rupees. It includes working capital of Rs 740.114 million as against the required Rs 50 million, financial endowment gone up to Rs 260 million as against standard 50 million rupees and tangible assets having grown to Rs 560.266 million as against normal 100 million rupees. The university has an administrative staff of 184 with 1:1.39 ratio as against admen staff:teacher ratio of 1:2.SSUET’s Faculty has 244 full time teachers as against atleast 24 teachers (full time) and has 15 Professors and Associate Professors with Ph.D degrees. The university subscribe to 38 journals as against atleast 15 current journals of international repute and has 50,200 text books and 16,000 reference books as against atleast 1500 books from major international publishers in the relevant field. It has 10 computer, 18 Electronic , 15 Bio-Medical and 10 Civil Engineering Labs as against standard one lab for each department.

http://epaper.dawn.com/Web/Photographs/2008/05/06/153/06_05_2008_153_015_001.jpg

http://epaper.dawn.com/Web/Photographs/2008/05/06/182/06_05_2008_182_001_001.jpg

Damn! You're on a role! Posting so many pics. Btw I never got to read "Macbeth".

This is what procrastination does to you! Fuck finals!

http://fc03.deviantart.com/fs23/i/2007/326/0/8/first_step_by_xishan1.jpg

Aitchison college map

http://fc07.deviantart.com/fs24/f/2007/324/1/7/Map_by_mabutt88.jpg

LAHORE: The Technology Upgradation and Skill Development Company has begun the process of setting up the Ceramics Development and Training Institute (CDTI) in Gujranwala.

The institute, costing Rs314 million, is designed to help resuscitate the sanitary-ware industry and enable it to face competition in international markets.

According to a TUSDEC spokesman, land for the project has been acquired in village Attawa near Gujranwala, project team has been hired and construction is expected to start shortly.

The facility, being developed under Asian Development Bank’s $12 million small and medium enterprise sector development programme, will be housed in a pre-engineered building and comprise a modern Common Facility Centre (CFC) specialising in sanitary-ware. It will also include a testing laboratory to help the entire ceramics industry in Pakistan.

In addition to the CDTI, three CFCs ie Peshawar Engineering Support Centre (PESC), Hyderabad Engineering Support Centre (HESC) and Quetta Engineering Support Centre (QESC) are to be set up under the ADB programme.

The CDTI will house modern equipment and machinery to be used by the local sanitary-ware cluster as a common facility to help it adopt modern technologies and upgrade productivity and quality. It will also house facilities to provide training and exposure to contemporary technology through hands-on experience.

The facility after becoming operational would not only help increase sanitary-ware exports but would also help local products compete with imports pouring in from various countries of the region.

ISLAMABAD, May 12: Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani on Monday assured government’s continued support to the higher education including the new engineering universities so as to make the country self-sufficient in science and technology sector.

The assurance was given at a briefing on the performance of the Higher Education Commission at the Prime Minister Secretariat. The briefing was given by the HEC chairman Ataur Rahman.

He said during the last five years 56 new universities were set up both in public and private sector, PhD enrolment grew by 300 per cent, PhD output doubled from 300 to about 600 per annum, and university student enrolment increased by 130 per cent whereas Pakistani professionals settled abroad are now returning to Pakistan in large numbers.

HEC has widely been criticised for what has been termed by political leaders and educationists as lavish spending without tangible results in the higher education.

The HEC chief said that enrolment ratio in educational institutions in Pakistan was 4 per cent which needed to be enhanced to 8 per cent. Under an HEC foreign scholarship programmes 1000 students are being sent abroad annually to top universities in Europe, US and China.

He said due to change in salary structure, HEC had been able to reverse the brain drain and a good number of expatriate scientists have been attracted to Pakistan.

He said establishment of the Pakistan education & research network, digital library, virtual university and IT strategy and that a good numbers of engineering universities are being established in various parts of the country with the collaboration of foreign countries.

The prime minister said 100 million people out of 165 million population are below the age of 25 which would be a great asset for the country by providing them professional education and necessary skills.

The Prime Minister said that the budget for education would gradually be increased to 4 per cent of GNP over the next three years whereas expenditure on higher education would also be increased to 30 per cent in the same period of time as per international norms.

The Prime Minister also instructed the concerned authorities to expedite provision of services like water, gas, electricity, sewerage lines, telephone to all those sites already allocated for establishment of the new universities of engineering, science and technology in collaboration with foreign countries.

This is what procrastination does to you! Fuck finals!


Now don't let your dad hear that! :lol:

ISLAMABAD: A four-member high-level delegation from Italy is in Pakistan to conduct interviews of the candidates for the scholarships being awarded by the Higher Education Commission (HEC) for studies in leading Italian universities.

The scholarship program is titled "MS Leading to the PhD Program of Faculty Development for Universities of Engineering Science & Technology of Pakistan (UESTP)".

The Italian delegation comprises Prof B Chiaia, Prof Carlo Neldi, and Dr Elisa Armando from Politecnico di Torino, and Prof Federico Montecchi from University di Pavia. The delegation is being assisted by the senior HEC officers including HRD Adviser Dr Mehmood Raza and HRD Project Director Rana Shafiq Ahmed.

The Italian professors have interviewed more than 200 candidates from all over Pakistan. The interviews are being held in a transparent way to select the future faculty for the UESTP-Italy University, being established in Karachi in collaboration with the consortium of Italian universities. The selected candidates will be bound to serve at UESTP-Italy University for at least five years.

Serve as in do reasearch (for PhDs)? How do you serve at a university?

teaching + research, i guess.

KARACHI, May 21: The Sindh government has announced to extend all support by way of providing land and other facilities to a Pakistani expatriate based in Saudi Arabia who wants to set up a technical college near Port Qasim for producing skilled manpower needed by the industries of the neighborhood.

In a meeting of Pakistan Investors’ Forum in Saudi Arabia one of the participant proposed setting up of a technical college for short-term courses in various disciplines to cater to demand of skilled labour in the industries coming up in the neighborhood. Sindh Industries and Commerce Minister Rauf Siddiqui assured the investor of all support.

The minister informed Pakistan expatriate investors of the steps being taken to promote investment in Larkana, Nawabshah, Hyderabad, Sukkur and Karachi, said a press release of the Sindh government.

ISLAMABAD: Shell Pakistan Limited (SPL) will sponsor a scholarship programme for higher studies of students in top ranking institutions of Pakistan. Shell Pakistan, under its own social investment initiative, will support the selected students in their Bachelor’s level graduate studies and Masters in Business Administration starting from Fall 2008 session.
A ceremony to sign Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Higher Education Commission (HEC) and SPL was held at HEC Secretariat here on Tuesday. Shell Pakistan was represented by Mr. Zaiviji Ismail, Chairman/Managing Director, SPL while Dr. Sohail Naqvi, Executive Director, HEC represented the Commission. Mr. Abid Saeed Ibrahim, General Manager External Affairs, Shell Central Asia was also present on the occasion.
Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Ismail said that Shell has been active in social investment in the areas of health, education, environment and heritage conservation. “We have collaborations with various organizations for eradication of leprosy, treatment of blindness, kidney disorders as well as awareness of HIV AIDS through its Educational Programme”, he said.
He said that SPL wanted to focus more on education because effective education changes generations. He said that one third population of Pakistan is illiterate and living below the poverty line. “We have already helped to enrol 500 children through primary education programme and, through this partnership with HEC, we want to play our part in the promotion of higher education”, he added.
Dr. Ismail said that in the first step, 50 students will be given scholarships at graduate and postgraduate levels. “Although the figure of 50 may seem too little but a journey of thousand miles begins with the first step. This programme will focus on the poor students having a bright record but financial constraint stops them from pursuing higher studies”, he said.
Dr. Sohail Naqvi said that many private corporations are playing important role in solving society’s problems. While appreciating the Shell Pakistan, he said that it is a first step towards public-private partnership initiative of HEC and is expected to pave the way for similar joint ventures.
“It will serve as a role model for other corporate entities to join hands with HEC for the promotion of higher education in Pakistan, and enable them to prove their worth as a socially responsible organization”, he said.
The selected institutions include Institute of Business Administration (all cities), College of Business Management, Karachi, Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute, Swabi, National University of Sciences and Technology, Rawalpindi, Lahore University of Management Sciences.

This is a list of School Life Expectancy by the UN's Statistics Division. I.e. the amount of time boys and girls are expected to remain in schools. Tell me what do you guys think about it? We don't fare well on it at all! :ohno:

School Life Expectancy:

Pakistan:

Total = 7 Years

Men = 7 Years

Women = 6 years

Out of 184 countries. We only beat these 11 countries. All from Africa. Their School Life Expectancy is below 7 years:

Burundi, Chad, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Mali, Senegal, Burkina Faso, Guinea-Bissau, Sudan, Djibouti, Niger.

And we are equal to these 6 countries. Their School Life Expectancy is 7 years, just like ours:

Afghanistan, Benin, Guinea, Myanmar, Sierra Leone, Zambia.

MALES:

On Male School Life Expectancy we beat these 3 Nations:

Burkina Faso, Djibouti, Niger.

We equal these 6 countries:

Zambia, Burundi, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Mali, Guinea-Bissau.

There was No data available for these 14 countries:

Egypt, Belarus, Palau, Bolivia, Tunisia, Bulgaria, Venezuela, Albania, Timor-Leste, United Arab Emirates, Yemen, Myanmar, Senegal, Sudan.

FEMALES

On Female School Life Expectancy we beat these 8 Nations:

Eritrea, Mali, Afghanistan, Chad, Burkina Faso, Guinea-Bissau, Djibouti, Niger.

We equal these 6 Nations:

Benin, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Zambia, Burundi, Ethiopia.

There was no data available for these 8 countries:

Palau, Bolivia, Egypt, Venezuela, Timor-Leste, Myanmar, Senegal, Sudan.

No wonder the word "Jahil Kaum" is thrown around so much! We are Jahil! :ohno:

FULL LISTING: http://unstats.un.org/unsd/demographic/products/socind/education.htm

School Life Expectancy 2002-2005 - Pakistan

http://kwout.com/cutout/y/y8/z8/pmv_bor_rou_sha.jpghttp://kwout.com/cutout/x/d5/x5/az8_bor_rou_sha.jpg

^^ Our Male School Life Expectancy remained stagnant at 7 years during the time period 2002-2005. Our Female School Life Expectany also remained stagnant at 5 years but only during the time between 2002-2004. By 2005 it had increased to 6 years.

This is a list of School Life Expectancy by the UN's Statistics Division. I.e. the amount of time boys and girls are expected to remain in schools. Tell me what do you guys think about it? We don't fare well on it at all! :ohno:

School Life Expectancy:

Pakistan:

Total = 7 Years

Men = 7 Years

Women = 6 years

Out of 184 countries. We only beat these 11 countries. All from Africa. Their School Life Expectancy is below 7 years:

Burundi, Chad, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Mali, Senegal, Burkina Faso, Guinea-Bissau, Sudan, Djibouti, Niger.

And we are equal to these 6 countries. Their School Life Expectancy is 7 years, just like ours:

Afghanistan, Benin, Guinea, Myanmar, Sierra Leone, Zambia.

MALES:

On Male School Life Expectancy we beat these 3 Nations:

Burkina Faso, Djibouti, Niger.

We equal these 6 countries:

Zambia, Burundi, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Mali, Guinea-Bissau.

There was No data available for these 14 countries:

Egypt, Belarus, Palau, Bolivia, Tunisia, Bulgaria, Venezuela, Albania, Timor-Leste, United Arab Emirates, Yemen, Myanmar, Senegal, Sudan.

FEMALES

On Female School Life Expectancy we beat these 8 Nations:

Eritrea, Mali, Afghanistan, Chad, Burkina Faso, Guinea-Bissau, Djibouti, Niger.

We equal these 6 Nations:

Benin, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Zambia, Burundi, Ethiopia.

There was no data available for these 8 countries:

Palau, Bolivia, Egypt, Venezuela, Timor-Leste, Myanmar, Senegal, Sudan.

No wonder the word "Jahil Kaum" is thrown around so much! We are Jahil! :ohno:

FULL LISTING: http://unstats.un.org/unsd/demographic/products/socind/education.htm



:ohno::ohno::ohno::ohno::ohno::ohno::ohno::ohno::ohno::ohno::ohno:

What a damn shame! Our nation should collectively commit suicide after finding out we can't beat African countries.

I believe the culture is to blame, it is counter productive to progress. This is why I am in so much favor of Westernization. The general population of South Asia has never been educated, only the elite class has always done whatever little good has come out of our region.

What a damn shame! Our nation should collectively commit suicide after finding out we can't beat African countries.

I believe the culture is to blame, it is counter productive to progress. This is why I am in so much favor of Westernization. The general population of South Asia has never been educated, only the elite class has always done whatever little good has come out of our region.

The biggest problem is the massive size of the population.

We need a massive primary and secondary education budget because of our large population. This is why we fare so badly on the statistics.

In terms of higher education, we are much much better.

What is the share of GDP for education in Pakistan? 2%

I think India is spending double that. How can we ignore the single most important issue? The one thing that is most important to future prosperity of the country?

The biggest problem is the massive size of the population.

We need a massive primary and secondary education budget because of our large population. This is why we fare so badly on the statistics.

In terms of higher education, we are much much better.

I knew someone would bring up the "massive" size of our population. Bangladesh, a much poorer country than us, has almost the same amount of people as us, but they still managed to do better than us. India with 7 times our population also managed to do better than us! So did China!

In our region of South Asia, which is the 2nd most poorest region in the world after Sub-Saharan Africa, we do worse than everyone else apart from Afghanistan, which we beat on Female School Life Expectancy and equal in the Total School Life Expectancy. Our Male School Life Expectancy is 2 years lower than Afghanistan's. Which is probably the world's most poorest country along with Somalia.

If you want, I can post the figures for the countries than I just mentioned!

In terms of higher education, we are much much better.

BULLSHIT! BS! BS! BS!

If you bothered to click on the link that I provided than you will see that the the TITLE says "School life expectancy (in years). Primary to tertiary education". So there goes your arguement about us apparently being "better" in higher education!

In last 60 years, we had nearly 40 years of army rule ..... WHY couldnt all your great generals do anything about education?

In last 60 years, we had nearly 40 years of army rule ..... WHY couldnt all your great generals do anything about education?

See! This is exactly what me and Brighty are talking about. You extreme supporters of the army and you extreme supporters of the corrupt politicians need to SHUT IT! Everyone is to blame! No need to point fingers or try to shift the blame onto someone else!

In last 60 years, we had nearly 40 years of army rule ..... WHY couldnt all your great generals do anything about education?

I think we had talked about not posting political things here enough. Next time I won't bother replying. Its starting to get annoying to the point where I have to tell you to consider this a warning.

Hope we won't need that.
Thank you.

Something else that I found, differnet from School Life Expectancy:

Definitions:

School life expectancy is defined as the total number of years of schooling which a child of a certain age can expect to receive in the future, assuming that the probability of his or her being enrolled in school at any particular age is equal to the current enrolment ratio for that age.

Average years of schooling of adults is the years of formal schooling received, on average, by adults over age 15.

^^ So I think that the "Average years of schooling" is a lot more reliable, as it shows how many years of schooling were actually received. Where as, "School life expectancy" is just the number of years of schooling that a child can expect to receive.

http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii109/traPPed_2008/AvgYearsSchooling.jpg?t=1211631195

LINK: http://siteresources.worldbank.org/SOUTHASIAEXT/Resources/Publications/448813-1171648504958/SAR_integration_ch2.pdf

HEC initiates high speed internet access for universities

Islamabad—The Higher Education Commission has initiated a project of multi gigabit network titled “Pakistan Education and Research Network (PERN2)” for the education and research community of the country.
This multi gigabit network will replace the existing network of PERN which is primarily based on legacy telecommunication system.
The PERN2 will interlink all public and private sectors academic and research institutes of the country through metro fiber ring using Multi Gigabit Metro Ethernet technology in the seven metro cities of Pakistan.
These metro fiber rings will be interlinked through dark optic fiber using DWDM technology.
The universities and institutes under this initiative will be provided one gigabit links connecting them to the core network of multi gigabit capacity.
PERN2 will provide students, faculty members and researchers a fully integrated and dedicated IP/MPLS based communication infrastructure to achieve true collaborative research, knowledge & resource sharing and distance learning.
The advanced features will include, but will not be limited to, Gigabit Networks, Adaptive Applications and Multicasting.
The PERN2 is also aimed to have connectivity to other research networks of the world including APAN (Asia), Internet2 (USA), GEANT2 (Europe) etc. and initiate collaborative research with the consortiums of NREN(s).
The first phase of the project was launched in December 2007 under which the universities and institutes of Islamabad and Rawalpindi are being provided dark optic fiber for the deployment of Metro Ethernet network.
The task of laying dark optic fiber to these universities and institutes has been almost completed and recently Higher Education Commission has successfully conducted test sessions of video conferencing using these laid optic fibers over gigabit capacity.
The Metro Ethernet network of Islamabad/ Rawalpindi should be fully operational by the end of this year.
The second phase of the project has been launched as well which will provide Multi Gigabit Metro Ethernet networks in the remaining six metro cities namely Karachi, Hyderabad, Quetta, Multan, Lahore and Peshawar.
This Multi Gigabit Education and Research Network of Pakistan named as PERN2 should be fully operational by April 2009.

A taste for just the right kind of English

By Mohammad Zafar

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“Universities are … advised to prepare plans for increasing students’ English language proficiency and enhance their communication skills for academic and professional purposes ... I also urge you to ensure that you do not employ any faculty members unless they have demonstrated their English speaking skills (except in some subjects like Urdu, Arabic, and Persian, etc.)”.

THESE are quotes taken from a recent letter (dated January, 2008) sent by the Chairman, Higher Education Commission (HEC) to all the vice chancellors and heads of degree-awarding institutions in Pakistan.

The letter points out the dissatisfaction with the present English language proficiency of our students for a variety of reasons and the efforts required to find alternative strategies to improve it. It also hints at the gap in what is actually taught under the guise of English language/literature and what is actually needed.

Some of the skills that the students need to have as a result of taking English classes are not to paraphrase “under the greenwood tree” or write a character sketch of Prisoner of Zelda (who is under arrest in Pakistan over the last 40 years and may get bail if our honourable judges are restored), but how to write academic and scientific papers, memos, reports along with the skills needed to give interviews and prepare resumes. For them there just seems to be no other purpose for learning the language other than the reasoning: “because it is an international language”.

Deterioration in English language proficiency is a major concern and many studies (Ahsan, Hussain, Zafar 1998; Akhtar 2008; Mansoor 2004; Rehman 2002) point towards this. English language taught in most institutions here fall under the acronym ‘TENOR’ that is Teaching English for No Obvious Reason. This directive of the chairman HEC augers well because at last we are able to see a purpose for teaching English, be it academic or professional. Translated in linguistic terms, it clearly encourages the use of English for Specific Purposes (ESP) in Pakistan.

In addition, it is an accepted fact in most post-colonial countries that an individual in search of higher education or an executive job seeks proficiency in English language for upward mobility. Unfortunately, English in Pakistan is not just a language. It also symbolises modernity, sophistication, being worldly wise, empowered and educated. ESP can offer more of a culture-free language where the learner uses it as a tool for a specific purpose and puts it down once that purpose has been achieved.

Most advertisements in the national dailies advertise management and professional positions for varied reasons. They may need a doctor, engineer, business executive or even a secretary but for all these jobs they are looking for technical knowledge as well as competency in oral and written English. What kind of English are they looking for? Do they want someone who knows all the English proverbs, can explain if Hamlet was mad or not, recite verses by Keats and Shelley or are they looking for a doctor who can write patients’ summaries, an engineer who can write a feasibility report or a secretary who can write memos, take minutes and telephone messages in the language?

As a result, you have a discrepancy, which occurs because the learners are taught things that they do not need and what they need is not taught to them. It is rather difficult to find close and relevant links between what is taught at colleges and universities and what is needed in the academic or professional settings in Pakistan. Therefore at the threshold of their career, and with years of English language teaching behind them, the students here are still inadequately equipped to cope with the demands of professional English.

The chasm created by the English language courses offered at colleges and universities and the real needs on entering the job market, force the recent graduates to seek language support through private tuitions or approach English language centres to better their language skills. Yet the corporate side feels the pinch of employees lacking in English language skills to cope with the day to day oral and written jobrelated communication. Even those armed with a Master’s degree in literature may find it difficult to get a job and most of them have to go for a second Master’s in linguistics for better market appeal.

Investment in education or English language is seen now as the human capital. Research done in the economics of education have firmly established that education delivers a variety of benefits at many levels. These include benefits for individuals, benefits for companies and benefits for society as a whole. Individuals profit from investment in education through getting higher wages with a low probability of unemployment. Companies reap benefits from education through higher productivity. A commonly-used measure to determine whether investment in education is worthwhile is the rate of return. Both private and social rates of return can be calculated to judge the returns. The same rules and principles apply to the economics of English language in Pakistan. The government of Pakistan invests millions of rupees in the teaching of English language but because it lacks specificity, the returns leave a lot to be desired.

General English normally stresses all the four skills in equal quantity, whereas in ESP it is the need analysis that determines which language skills are most needed by the students/professionals, and the course contents are designed accordingly. An ESP programme may focus on academic writing for students’ writing assignments and research papers; or it might prepare law students in giving persuasive arguments or business students in learning the language of negotiation. The students are shown how to express subject/professional matter in English.

ESP learners are generally adults who already have some familiarity with the English language and are learning English not for pleasure (integrative motivation) but are learning language in order to function effectively in their academic or professional context (instrumental motivation). ESP assesses needs and integrates motivation, subject matter and content with the help of relevant language skills.

Someone who may want to take up the job of an anchor person on TV may have to excel in the art of asking questions but not writing academic papers. The language needs of our international cricketers now playing the Indian Premier League are entirely different from that of a business executive holding a department meeting although both need spoken English.

An article in The Times (London) dated May 31, 2003 states: The attraction of learning English is not linguistic, but economic and utilitarian.

It is the language of advancement, the job-getting language and the status tongue. The reason why general English will not be able to take care of their spe cific needs is because the genre differs from profession to profession and disci pline to discipline. It is the discourse community of a specific profession.

Genre is defined as “a recognisable event characterised by a set of communi cative purpose(s) identified and mutual ly understood by members of the profes sional or academic community in which it regularly occurs. Most often it is high ly structured and conventionalised with constraints of allowable contribution in terms of their intent, positioning, form and functional value. These constraints, however, are often exploited by the ex pert member of the discourse communi ty to achieve private intentions within the framework of socially-recognised purpose(s) (Bhatia, 1993). We need to identify the moves that these members of discourse community make to present their side of the argument. This dis course community can comprise sales men, lawyers, business executives, etc. For instance, a salesman selling computers may make the following moves:

• Introduce the product,
• Enumerate the technical features and state advantages,
• Refer to product functions and indicate prices,
• Compare products and
• Mention models

These moves can be then linguistically ana lysed. The answer to the question relates to the learners, the language required and the learning context. ‘Need’ is the reason why the individual is learning English and ‘use’ will vary from situation to sit uation. The English language needs of a telephone operator will vary greatly from the lan guage needs of a nursing student be cause their purposes are different. In this age of shrinking resources, cost-ef fectivessness and specialised expertise teaching general English at the terti ary/professional level is a luxury and waste which no one may afford, especial ly in countries with very limited resour ces ...

ESP simply means that you teach your students/employees according to their specific English language needs. The basic question asked is: “Why does the learner need to learn a foreign/second language?” Therefore there is no need to teach all that is there in English language because for them English is a means to an end and not an end in itself. The end for them is to cope with the language demands of their academic or professional context. They study English to cope with professional subjects or to use it in their job-related context. They do not study English for the love of English literature and if there are some who want to do that, they can easily study English literature.

The old concept of first learning the whole language (if that was ever possible) and then using part of it for academic or professional needs is no more seen as a good, wise and viable strategy. The old strategy seemed to overlook the purpose of the subject taught and the issue of transferability from academic to professional contexts. The needs are identified through different tools such as questionnaires, interviews, shadowing, documentary analysis and situational analysis. Most of the time ESP courses are for adults and work against time constraints. Hence the question: “What portion of English does the learner need?” Caliban talking to Prospero in Shakespeare’s “Tempest” says:

You taught me language And my profit on’t Is I know how to curse The lines link language to profit and profit is expressed in terms of the purpose to which it will be put. The students and professionals now learning English demand “you teach me language” (in this context English). And “my profit on’t” is the concern of the learner coping with their academic or professional language needs. It is the instrumental approach (your profit on it) that people take.

In the ensuing scenario, the purpose is the key to motivation. The hallmark of ESP is that it attempts to appeal more directly to the students’ interest outside the English class than is normally done in the traditional ESL/EFL class. The ultimate goal of the university or college student is to be able to move on into the working world and function well in a professional capacity. University and professional college curriculum planners should be training students in these skills by giving them challenging, meaningful, and genuinely communicative exercises.

Different groups of people learning English for different purposes will vary with their language needs in terms of skills, lexicons, registers, etc. This clearly “means that generic programmes and course materials not designed for a particular group in mind, will be inefficient, at the very least, and in all probability, grossly inadequate. Just as no medical intervention would be prescribed before a diagnosis of what ails the patient, so no language training programme should be designed without a thorough needs analysis.” (Long, 2005) Countries like Sri Lanka, Malaysia and India have already started ESP courses as outsourcing is a key element in the emerging economy of the world. It is heartening to note that HEC too has taken the initiative and some universities have started offering ESP teacher-training courses too. ESP is the practical solution to most of our English language teaching woes.

In this world of fierce business competition, globalisation and diminishing borders let us use our time to teach English that the students will need in their academic and professional lives. Let us use English for our specific purposes and not let the language use us for its specific purpose. ¦ The writer is assistant professor of English at a private university in Karachi

DAWN Education (http://epaper.dawn.com/ArticleText.aspx?article=25_05_2008_123_002)

The day of the school inspector

By Tanveerul Islam

THE history of our public schools remains half told until we take into consideration the official inspections of these schools that take place not so frequently. And when they do take place, teachers become disgusted and students undergo a rare experience — of even a teacher looking submissive and disgraceful. Meanwhile the parents know nothing about how such occasions might affect the learning process of their children whereas the authorities higher up bother little about the impact of such visits. The topic too has not been raised as an issue in the education sector reforms.

Educational officials, whenever they show up, are supposed to mentor and monitor their colleagues in the complex job of educating young minds. Instead they end up finding faults in the most irrelevant things. Far from acting in an ethical manner, they create scenes inciting feelings of mirth, pity and frustration side by side.

In the name of accountability, they line up the teachers and humiliate them for petty matters right in front of their students. The stories the teachers have about their experience with the education inspectors show that they (the inspectors) don’t really care much about the quality of education.

Take for instance the case in which a senior education official recently suspended the head teacher of a primary school for not weeding the school’s lawns.

“The sahib would have suspended me even if he had found me or my students mowing the lawn at the time of his arrival,” said the teacher during a teachers’ training workshop where the roles of educational leaders and inspectors was being discussed.

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Similarly, a female teacher in her late fifties revealed how the officer visiting her held her personally responsible for the plaster coming off the classroom’s wall.

“The problem was using poor material during the building’s construction and I had even resisted signing the clearance report for construction standards but my senior just wouldn’t listen,” says the bespec tacled lady who heads a government primary school.

Such stories abound but I cannot resist one more in which a field officer made hurtful remarks about the teacher found to be eating an apple during class. The official’s objection was not that the teacher should have avoided eating during class but at the way she was biting into the fruit and then chewing it with her mouth wide open. “You are setting a bad example of eating for the children,” she admonished the teacher who obviously felt humiliated before her students.

It is the responsibility of teachers to teach. But how can they teach courage and confidence to their students when they themselves are made to hang their heads in shame on occasions like these?

In the context of Punjab, besides an Executive District Officer (EDO) there are Deputy District Officers Education (Dy. DOE), District Education Officers (DEOs) and Assistant Education Officers (AEOs), who actually run the system from the district down to the union council level. There is no specific criterion for such positions. More years in service or a higher qualification plus some knowledge of educational regulations can help teachers become eligible for the job. The to-do list, which many of the so-called efficient education officers carry during their visits to educational institutions includes checking the attendance registers of teachers, assuring the hoisting of the national flag everyday, counting furniture, etc. A few of them may also check the prescribed textbooks but there too they hardly know much about how a school book should be designed to pass any kind of judgment on the matter. Do we really need such education inspectors?

“Contemporary educational reforms place a great premium on the effective leadership and management of schools. The logic of this position is that an orderly school environment, that is efficient and well managed, provides preconditions for enhanced student learning,” notes David Hopkins. Besides, there is a huge body of research putting emphasis on bringing more educational leaders into the poor-performing districts.

The Federal Ministry of Education, in the process of developing Vision 2025, must include in its discussion papers how to raise a cadre of educational leaders who could act not only as administrators and managers but also play the role of guardians and reformers in the education system while carrying specialised knowledge as well as an awareness about human relationships and their impact on impressionable minds.

DAWN Education (http://epaper.dawn.com/ArticleText.aspx?article=25_05_2008_123_004)

All projects of Geman- English universitie`s campus closed !!!!

According to Tv news "musharraf is worried about economy and said dozon univirsities planned to open campus in Pakistan but now they denied due to trobuled economy"

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^^ GREAT news! The fewer youth we have to educate the better! Around 30 million youth should be enough to strike a balance between labor force size advantage over other countries that compete with Pakistan and population density. But that number is far off.

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gillani has granted university status to Institute of Engineering and Technology Training, Multan, and Institute of Engineering and Fertilizer Research, Faisalabad, to meet the needs of the growing number of students and cater for the industrial sector.

The prime minister has allowed the National Fertilizer Corporation (NFC) to finance the upgradation of the two institutes out of its own resources, which would require Rs 2 billion. He also gave permission for the allocation of Rs 1 billion through Higher Education Commission for faculty development, upgradation of labs and acquisition of additional land for the Institute of Engineering and Technology Multan.

The PM observed that since there was no dedicated engineering university in Southern Punjab, establishment of an engineering university would provide the people of the region with quality engineering education on their doorsteps besides promoting indigenous research culture and providing solution to local industrial problems.

Earlier, Chairman NFC briefed the PM on the NFC's proposed plan for the upgradation of the two engineering institutes of NFC. The prime minister was told that out of the 19 public sector universities established in Punjab there were only two in lower Punjab whereas there was no engineering university in that region.

NFC is presently running Institute of Engineering and Technology Multan, Institute of Engineering and Fertilizer Research Faisalabad, Plastic Technology Centre Karachi and Synthetic Fibre Development and Application Centre Karachi.

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PESHAWAR: Several academics are being considered for the position of vice chancellor (VC) of the proposed Islamic International University at Imam Dheri in Swat, a provincial minister told Daily Times on Thursday.

Wajid Ali Khan, minister for Environment and a member of the government’s committee holding talks with the Taliban, said names of three to four people were being considered. He also said the provincial government had allocated Rs 100 million for construction of the university at Imam Dheri.

The establishment of the modern university was agreed upon between the NWFP government and Swat-based Taliban in the 15-point ‘peace agreement’ inked on May 21. The pact was signed following three rounds of talks in Chakdara and Peshawar last month. daud khattak

By Younis Chandio &
Sadiq Ali Rind
HYDERABAD: The Sindh Senior Minister for Education, Literacy and Criminal Prosecution Service Pir Mazhar-ul-Haq has directed the Secretary Education to circulate to all the EDOs of the province for sparing a large room in each high school for the establishment of a
library. He was addressing an Award Distribution Ceremony at Government Jan Mohammad Jamali P.C. School on Saturday.
Addressing the gathering he said that the Government of Sindh would provide books for these libraries to facilitate the students and inspire the students for developing the reading habit. He said that it is universally acknowledged principle that one can get education effectively in his mother tongue as such the Sindhi medium schools would be encouraged. He said that the Sindhi medium schools of rural areas can be proved as instrumental source for qualitative education subject to the keen interest of the teachers, parents and students. He said that the learning of the languages other then the mother tongue was very much essential to create love and affection and brotherhood among the different section of the life. He said that he knows that Sindhi people could speak more languages simultaneously which include Urdu, Siraiki, English and so on. He appealed to the people of other languages to learn Sindhi language and added that it would be beneficial for them to get the Sindhi language oriented jobs. Expressing his concern over the number of non-functional schools the province Minister for Education said that though he had given 45 days to the management concerned for re-opening of these 7700 closed schools but according to his knowledge the management has been failed to meet the task assigned to them.

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The government of Austria will be conferring one of its highest national awards on Professor Dr Atta-ur-Rahman, Chairman Higher Education Commission (HEC) on June 12.

Dr Atta-ur-Rahman will be conferred the award entitled ‘Grand Decoration of Honour in Gold with Sash for Services to the Republic of Austria’ in recognition of his outstanding contributions to uplift higher education sector in the country, says a press release here on Friday.

Dr Atta-ur-Rahman, who obtained his PhD from Cambridge University (1968) and was later awarded the degree of Doctor of Science (ScD) by the Cambridge University (UK), has over 778 publications in leading international journals in several fields of organic chemistry including 611 research publications, 15 patents, 93 books and 59 chapters in books published by major US and European press.

Sixty nine students have completed their PhD degrees under his supervision. He is the first scientist from the Muslim world to have won the prestigious UNESCO Science Prize (1999) in the 35 years old history of the prize.

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Papa's dream???? :wtf: He should be following his OWN dream! I hate it how Pakistani parents try to force their own dreams down onto their kids!! What if the kid doesn't want to be a Doctor, Lawyer, Engineer or an Accountant?! Those aren't the only good jobs! Pakistani society is filled with such narrow mindedness!

Papa's dream is education of his child. What s/he wants to study is upto him/her.

Papa's dream is education of his child. What s/he wants to study is upto him/her.

Yea, but why do they then have him dressed as a doc??? As thats seen as the "best" and "most respectful" career! Pfft! I bet his parents would force him to choose a career of THEIR choice.

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Yea, but why do they then have him dressed as a doc??? As thats seen as the "best" and "most respectful" career! Pfft! I bet his parents would force him to choose a career of THEIR choice.
Next time they better show people from every imaginable profession. Maybe little girls as hookers too? Must make sure no-one feels left out.

Next time they better show people from every imaginable profession. Maybe little girls as hookers too? Must make sure no-one feels left out.

As usual you replied with such a sarcastic post. It wouldn't hurt them to show 5/6 different professions at the same time. Instead of just one, which is considered as the "best" and "most respectful" career by Pakistanis! Pfft!

^^ when was the last time you lived /visited pakistan?

^^ WHY??? Aren't Docs considered all special nowadays???

^^ WHY??? Aren't Docs considered all special nowadays???

Yes they are, but not as much as they used to be 20/30/40 years ago. I know many people who did businesses degrees and some are even working as managers in banks. Their parents are with them,a dn all this craze about doctors is not as it used to be. My cousin has done hi studies in IT and he is working and he loves his job.

And all this nonsense about following your own dreams and being forced it nothing but a misconception. Its true many parents tell their kids to do such and such, but how can you force somebody to become a doctor? All the hard work it takes, you have to be really interested in in to accomplish it. If someone's parents forces him/her to be a doctor and they really don't want to, they just flunk all their exams and their parents will happily tell them to do something else. And dude, you are sounding more and more like and english. Keep some P@ki in you man, and no this is not a dis/rant or a umais kinda post. Just feel that you are the most 'englishinized' poster on MP, so be a little more P@ki.


and why the hell is P@ki censored?

It's fucking retarded. We should be able to say P@ki here. I'm going to send the admins a PM to uncensor it.

Yes they are, but not as much as they used to be 20/30/40 years ago. I know many people who did businesses degrees and some are even working as managers in banks. Their parents are with them,a dn all this craze about doctors is not as it used to be. My cousin has done hi studies in IT and he is working and he loves his job.

But Business, IT, Law, Accountancy etc etc are all seen as normal jobs! Just like being a Doc. I mean, its highly unlikely that parents would support their son or daughter, if he or she wanted to do something thats not considered as a "normal" job in the eyes of Pakistanis. Like Modelling, or taking a sport up as a professional career. Or doing anything, which isn't considered a normal job. There will be a lot of hurdles in the way! Very few families will support their kids!

And all this nonsense about following your own dreams and being forced it nothing but a misconception. Its true many parents tell their kids to do such and such, but how can you force somebody to become a doctor? All the hard work it takes, you have to be really interested in in to accomplish it. If someone's parents forces him/her to be a doctor and they really don't want to, they just flunk all their exams and their parents will happily tell them to do something else

I've heard and read about many stories, where boys and girls were forced to follow the careers of their parents choice! They couldn't flunk as then it would have been an embarrasment for the parents, so they were forced to just get on with it. Thats why, many people are not happy with their careers! And no way nearly as motivated, as they could have been, if they were allowed to follow their own dream. Its an endless cycle. There are very few parents out there, who are the way you described them to be.

And dude, you are sounding more and more like and english. Keep some P@ki in you man, and no this is not a dis/rant or a umais kinda post. Just feel that you are the most 'englishinized' poster on MP, so be a little more P@ki.

Waa...what???

But Business, IT, Law, Accountancy etc etc are all seen as normal jobs! Just like being a Doc. I mean, its highly unlikely that parents would support their son or daughter, if he or she wanted to do something thats not considered as a "normal" job in the eyes of Pakistanis. Like Modelling, or taking a sport up as a professional career. Or doing anything, which isn't considered a normal job. There will be a lot of hurdles in the way! Very few families will support their kids!

Well any parent who cares for their child will be scared to let their child go all out for a sport or modeling. That is because they are not secured jobs. Even here and im not lying about this, the teachers tell us jobs such as you described should not be their main focus. What are the chances of playing in the NHL, the NBA or the NFL? For modeling, the parents would not like their children to go in not just in Pakistan but most underdeveloped countries. This is religion related so going against that is somewhat not following the rules of your religion, Islam in this case. Also, this is a very unstable job as well, and you are probably out of a job in your early thirties if not earlier. So its not too much backward thinking, but logical thinking.


I've heard and read about many stories, where boys and girls were forced to follow the careers of their parents choice! They couldn't flunk as then it would have been an embarrasment for the parents, so they were forced to just get on with it. Thats why, many people are not happy with their careers! And no way nearly as motivated, as they could have been, if they were allowed to follow their own dream. Its an endless cycle. There are very few parents out there, who are the way you described them to be.
Well first of all, many people in Pakistan are currently illiterate. So many of them don't even know about many jobs and their kids could easily talk them into going along with what the kid wants. I've seen it happen. Also there are not as few of those parents as you believe. However i do agree with you post, that sometimes you just can't get out of it.


Waa...what???

Become more P@ki you lil british lad!

Well any parent who cares for their child will be scared to let their child go all out for a sport or modeling. That is because they are not secured jobs. Even here and im not lying about this, the teachers tell us jobs such as you described should not be their main focus. What are the chances of playing in the NHL, the NBA or the NFL? For modeling, the parents would not like their children to go in not just in Pakistan but most underdeveloped countries. This is religion related so going against that is somewhat not following the rules of your religion, Islam in this case. Also, this is a very unstable job as well, and you are probably out of a job in your early thirties if not earlier. So its not too much backward thinking, but logical thinking.

See this is exactly what I'm on about! Who cares if the job is stable or not? As long as there is a person who wants that job and is motivated enough, then who cares??? Its stricly no one else's business! Ofcourse you're suddenly not going to make it big! Thats goes for even the jobs which are considered as being "normal". You always start of small and at the bottom and then you slowly, slowly rise to the top! There is struggle everywhere. You don't get anything served on a plate. But that doesn't mean that you won't make even a single penny on the way or that you can't take up Part Time jobs to support your dream along.

Anyways, those jobs were just examples by me. And it is true, that your career would probably end by the time you're in your thirties or 40ties. But the potential of earnings is a lot higher than other jobs. Thats why we are told here, to first get a degree and then follow your dream of becoming a Sports star or whatever, as if you get an injury and your career finishes, then atleast you have a safety net to fall back onto. Again, do a degree of your own choice, not your parents, or uncles, or teachers, or elder cousins, etc etc.

On the topic of a job like Modelling being considered to be "against" Islam. Well, in Islam the opposite sexes are not even allowed to check out each other, let alone drool over their pics in a "Models" thread or flirt or go out with each other. But we all do that. Why is it, that somethings that are not allowed in Islam are considered okay and some aren't? The answer is that the Culture and the Social standing of a person, has a lot more affect on his or her behaviour than Religion. Its not culturally accepted to become a Model and in many quarters of the society, its not socially accepted to become a Model. I never called it "backward" thinking.

As usual you replied with such a sarcastic post. It wouldn't hurt them to show 5/6 different professions at the same time. Instead of just one, which is considered as the "best" and "most respectful" career by Pakistanis! Pfft!
Are you for real? It's an ad, and they just showed a pic. Seriously, I don't even want to say what I think of you right now.

It's fucking retarded. We should be able to say P@ki here. I'm going to send the admins a PM to uncensor it.

I agree, lets have a survey on it. Lets see how many P@ki members support it here.

Brighty & I are 2 Yeses. Anyone else who would like to take back the use of word "P@ki" here?

UP is gone and so should the unnecessary censorship!

Are you for real? It's an ad, and they just showed a pic. Seriously, I don't even want to say what I think of you right now.

You're quite judgemental of people aren't ya???

I agree, lets have a survey on it. Lets see how many P@ki members support it here.

Brighty & I are 2 Yeses. Anyone else who would like to take back the use of word "P@ki" here?

UP is gone and so should the unnecessary censorship!

PM mods or Admins or whatever to have the censorship removed! But please don't derail this thread! This thread is about the EDUCATION sector of Pakistan. I swear, threads get derailed here on MP on a regular bases! If you want to start a petition or a survey then please do so, but start a new thread for it! Thanks!

Count me in.

^^ Like I said before!

PM mods or Admins or whatever to have the censorship removed! But please don't derail this thread! This thread is about the EDUCATION sector of Pakistan. I swear, threads get derailed here on MP on a regular bases! If you want to start a petition or a survey then please do so, but start a new thread for it! Thanks!

There is no organisation in MP I swear! So typical!

NAWABSHAH: The first Girls' Cadet College in Pakistan would be established at Nawabshah with the efforts of former district Nazim Faryal Talpur.

Sources said Rs 450 million had been allocated for the college in the development budget of Sindh.

The number of cadet colleges in Sindh would increase to seven with the new college at Nawabshah. The other six colleges are the Petaro Cadet College, Sanghar Cadet College, Larkana Cadet College, Steel Mill Cadet College, Baqai Cadet College and Bahria Cadet College. They are solely for boys, while the establishment of the girls’ cadet college would provide maximum employment opportunities to women in the armed forces.

The Nawabshah Cadet College will accommodate about 250 girls, who would get similar education and training to boys.

Former district Nazim Faryal Talpur had moved a proposal for opening two separate cadet colleges for boys and girls at Nawabshah but the Sindh government approved only the college for girls.

Sources in the Revenue Department said the district administration had been instructed to select a plot of at, least, 40 acres for the construction of the new college.

First-ever Cadet college for girls, that would be awesome.

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:ohno:

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PESHAWAR, June 16: The NWFP government has allocated Rs5.5 billion for education sector in annual budget 2008-09 and announced to provide free education up to intermediate level.

“All the students up to intermediate level will be provided with free education and text books,” the provincial government announced.

Provision of monthly stipends of Rs200 for female students from grade VI to grade X in all 24 districts would be ensured to promote female education in the province, said the annual budget 2008-09 document presented by the provincial government here in NWFP Assembly on Monday afternoon.

The former Mutahidda Majlis-i-Amal government only provided free of cost text-books to students up to secondary level. The former government had also provided monthly stipends to girl students in seven backwards districts but the present government extended the incentive to all the 24 districts.

The Awami National Party-led provincial government, declaring education sector its top priority, allocated an amount of Rs5.5 billion for the sector which would be utilised to fund 88 projects, out of which 57 were ongoing and 31 were new schemes.

The government said to provide benefit package to teachers in remote and difficult areas. According to budget 25,000 teachers would be imparted training on teaching skills and day-care centres would be established for female teachers in government colleges to facilitate them. The provincial government has also decided to set up cluster hostels for teachers in backward areas.

Additional shifts will be started in boys and girls colleges to promote education. The provision of transport facilities in girls colleges are also planned in the budget.

The basic facilities in schools particularly for girls will be improved substantially by completion of boundary walls in 121 schools, water supply schemes for 129 schools and group latrine for 139 schools, construction of 275 additional classrooms, reconstruction of buildings of 17 secondary schools, establishment of 99 primary schools, up-gradation of 60 primary and 47 middle schools in the current year.

The government has set a target of achieving 100 per cent enrolment ratio in schools by 2010-11 to attain The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The government would initiate work on establishment of 200 primary schools and up-gradation of 100 primary and 100 middle schools, according to the white-paper.

The development and improvement of existing public libraries, establishment of new university at Mardan and new Islamic University at Swat are also planned in the budget. Twenty new government colleges will be established in the province. Supply of water to various colleges would be ensured, the government said.

Establishment of science, IT and post-graduate blocks in various colleges, establishment of digital library and language laboratories are also planned in the budget.

Most of the new projects are focused on promotion of education at primary level, creating gender balance and fulfilling the infrastructural requirements of existing institutions including staff, equipment, furniture, teachers training and essential repairs. The government has also planned to set up homes on the pattern of SOS Villages for street children.

LAHORE, June 16: The Punjab government allocated Rs110 billion for education for 2008-09, up by 5.87 per cent from the outgoing year. The education sector allocation consists of Rs30.129 billion provincial development budget (27.39 per cent), Rs25.272 billion provincial current budget, while 35 districts have been allocated Rs54.599 billion.

During the current financial year, the government allocated Rs21.480 billion under the head of provincial development budget, Rs23.745 billion provincial current budget and the districts were given Rs58.675 billion.

The allocations show t the provincial development and current budget allocations have been raised by 40.265 per cent and 6.43 per cent and the allocation for districts has gone down by 7.465 per cent.

According to the break-up of provincial development budget, Rs16.454 billion are allocated for school education, Rs9.1 billion for higher education, Rs1.825 billion for special education, Rs1.25 billion for literacy and non-formal basic education, and Rs1.5 billion for sports.

The next financial year allocations for school education, special education, literacy and non-formal basic education, and sports are 93.9 per cent, 91.2 per cent, 4.2 per cent and 66.3 per cent higher than current year's allocations.

The allocation for higher education has gone down by 8.42 per cent. The budget document says the Rs9.1 billion allocation for higher education does not include support to universities. The budget documents show the allocation for general universities and degree awarding institutions is Rs7.010 billion.

The Punjab government keeps Rs5 billion in the 2008-09 Annual Development Programme (ADP) for the World Bank-assisted Punjab Education Sector Reforms Programme (PESRP). This allocation carries Rs2.5 billion each for school and college education.

The PESRP would also fund a new initiative for conversion of existing 50 per cent colleges into model colleges. Similarly, two colleges in each district will also be identified for complete revamping and upgradation.

The government has allocated Rs200 million to bear the educational expenditure of those students, who get admission to public professional educational institutions on merit but cannot pay fees.

The government plans to set up 144 model schools to be equipped with modern facilities at a total cost of Rs3.63 billion. Up to 72 schools will also be provided with dormitories to accommodate 11,000 orphan and destitute children. Two model orphanages, one each for boys and girls in each district, will have a boarding facility of 150 to 200 students and a total capacity of 350 students each.

The government also plans a Provincial Education Reforms Commission (PERC) with a cost of Rs10 million.

The government has allocated Rs2 billion for 560 girls’ middle schools to be upgraded as high schools. Similarly, some 542 boys’ schools will be upgraded with an estimated budget of Rs1.91 billion.Up to Rs500 millions have been allocated for the showing outstanding performance. The government will also launch air-conditioned buses for schoolchildren’s pick-and-drop facility in Lahore, Rawalpindi, Multan, Faisalabad, Gujranwala, Bahawalpur and Dera Ghazi Khan.

IT EDUCATION: The government decided to introduce IT education at secondary and higher secondary schools and modern computer labs will be established in 4,574 secondary and higher secondary schools costing Rs4.929 million.

KARACHI: The Sindh Education Department will get Rs 2.3 billion or roughly 16 percent more than what it received in last year’s budget. Out of this, nearly a half or one billion rupees is going into College education. A meager 10 million rupees is for teachers. Special education gets Rs 507 million and Elementary Education Rs 325 million.

District Officers of Education will receive five million rupees to improve public schools in Hyderabad. The Secretary of Education will receive Rs 7,782,000 to improve the Sindh Textbook Board, Jamshoro. Money (Rs 3m) has been set aside for an auditorium for the boy scouts in Karachi, Rs 5 million for an Education Complex in Karachi.

IBA Sukkur will receive Rs 23 million for a hostel block for boys, staff residences and bungalows. Five million rupees has been set aside for new schools at Taiser town, Baldia and Hawkesbay. Education city will get Rs 20 million in Karachi.

I don't know what HSC is, but free education for everyone?

SAHIWAL, June 17: The proposal for establishing the Sahiwal Medical College has been approved by the Punjab chief minister, official sources said.

This medical college will be a public-private partnership. The provincial government will provide Rs 4 billion as seed money while the district government of Sahiwal, in collaboration with the Sahiwal Chamber of Commerce and Industry, will generate resources, including land and finances, for the up-gradation of the DHQ, Haji Abdul Qayum and Silver Jubilee Maternity hospitals.

The three hospitals will operate as teaching hospitals of the medical college, it is learnt.

HYDERABAD, June 17: A scheme has been submitted to the government for setting up a cadet college in New Saeedabad to provide quality education to rural youth, said Sindh Minister for Inter-provincial Coordination, Makhdoom Jamiluzzaman.

Speaking at a ceremony of renaming Saeedabad Chowk as Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Chowk on Tuesday, he said the progress of a society depends on the development and promotion of education adding because of which a network of educational institutions was being laid throughout Sindh and schools being establishment in the neglected areas of Saeedabad of Matiari district.

He said it was important that towns like Saeedabad and Hala should be paid more attention as they were being neglected. Makhdoom Jamiluzzaman said the Sindh Chief Minister will be requested to provide special development funds for Matiari district.

This was peoples’ government which entered the corridors of power through votes and with an agenda to serve masses, he said.

He said Saeedabad main road and link road will be converted into double carriage roads and appealed to the people to remove encroachments. He advised the people not to visit him in Karachi as he would make sure their problems were resolved at their doorsteps.

He directed the district administration to retrieve the plot of a non-Muslim from the possession of a land grabber. A large number of people attended the ceremony.

KARACHI: The Sindh government has given Executive District Officers (EDO) of the education department a do-or-lose-your-job target to re-open 7,500 closed schools within a week.

Sindh Minister for Education and Literacy Pir Mazharul Haq called a meeting of EDOs from all districts of Sindh at the Sindh Secretariat on Tuesday, and questioned their actions in-depth.

The Pakistan Economic Survey (PES) 2007-08, presented on June 10, mentioned that Sindh has the largest share of non-functioning educational institutions – 58 percent. Haq gave the EDOs the target of opening 7,500 closed schools within a week. If an EDO fails to reopen a school in his area, he or she will be sacked.

The minister’s public relations officer, Parviz Narejo, told Daily Times that other important decisions were also made at the meeting, including the decision to end postings to the education department on a pay and scale (OPS) basis within the next three days, the decision to send all officers back to their original posts and the decision to have the Departmental Promotion Committee (DPC) decide new promotions every month.

It was also decided that the administrative and academic aspects of the education department will be separated. A committee will be constituted to conduct a survey within the department to see which field of the two fields each teacher is interested in.

The EDOs were also ordered to make reports on historic school buildings with standout architecture. “If these are not being used by the department, model schools will be opened in them, through a public and private partnership,” said Haq.

The EDOs were also asked to make sure that teachers do not smoke in the classrooms or on the school premises.

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Private sector to run govt schools (http://www.dawn.com/2008/06/23/ebr2.htm)

By Sabihuddin Ghausi

Sindh plans to put government schools and dispensaries under private sector management for improving quality of education and health services in the province.

In his budget speech, Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah said that the provincial government intended to associate private sector, civil society and reputed NGOs and private bodies with the running and managing government schools, dispensaries and other organisations.

This year’s Rs267.8 billion provincial budget has earmarked a PSDP of Rs77.31 billion. The education budget has been raised by 16 per cent to Rs19.5 billion while the health budget is up by 25 per cent up to Rs10.85 billion.

“The children of our peela schools (yellow coloured government school buildings) wearing peela uniform will never be able to compete with children of private schools’’, the chief minister said while admitting about the poor quality of education in government schools in his budget speech before the provincial assembly.

In his post-budget press conference, he elaborated his strategy for running public sector schools efficiently saying: ‘’We will give money to run schools-salaries of teachers and other employees and on other counts-but we will ask members of civil society, NGO’s or reputed private organisations to manage the affairs. The management efficiency will be judged by the results of examinations and the quality of education and of course, the number of children-boys and girls- enrolled in the school.

‘’Government departments are expected to set up rules for public-private partnership’’, a principal of a government school said, expressing fears that eventually this concept may become bogged down under files on desks of bureaucrats.

After visiting two government hospitals in Karachi, the chief minister wondered as to how the hospitals would be running in the remote areas. He announced upgrading district hospitals, making it compulsory for government teachers, doctors and officers to serve at least for three years in remote areas of the province. For this, they will be given incentives in salaries, residence and other facilities. He wants private sector to get associated in running of schools and dispensaries and other government organisations in the remote rural areas.

Among other measures, the provincial government also plans to improve its monitoring of economic indicators by setting up a Sindh Data Centre in the Sindh Bureau of Statistics.

‘’We are in consultation with Social Policy and Development Centre (SPDC), a Canadian aided private consultancy to help us in gathering of relevant information to process and carry out analysis’’, a source in Sindh government said.

Two more centres-Urban Development Centre and Rural Development Centre-are being set up to monitor economic and social indicators at the micro level in cities and villages. An allocation of Rs100 million has been made in the budget of 2008-09 for the purpose. The idea is to produce an annual economic survey of the province.

Officials say that some information on economic indicators has been gathered about the last ten months. Information for two more months are needed to prepare a comprehensive economic survey report for 2007-08 which may be available by October/November. Informal talk with some officials revealed that there is a realisation about capacity limitations in planning, development and financial management. ‘’The fundamental flaw is lack of credible information on ground realities’’, a senior official admitted who did not hesitate to acknowledge that a portion of Rs200 billion amount invested in the province’s planning and development over the last five years was not so well spent.

For improving the resource position, the provincial government has revived the project for setting up a single revenue collection authority and separating tax assessment and collection job from land management as is being done now by the provincial Board of Revenue.

The present Rs267.7 billion budget has been drawn up for the third consecutive year on an interim order passed by President Musharraf in July 2006. However, the chief minister has expressed the hope that eighth reconstituted National Finance Corporation’s award will, ‘’come in weeks, not in months or years’’.

The chief minister’s optimism was based on the fact that political alliance at the federal level and in all the four provinces was gradually consolidating and apparently a substantial ground for working out an economic consensus has already been achieved. At the post-budget press conference, the chief minister who also holds the portfolio of finance, planning and development announced to take up the issue of sales tax on services with the federal government as informally decided by ministers from all the four provinces on June 4 at Lahore.

He also felt confident that in the next NFC award, the population will not be made the only criterion for determining the share in resources. Other factors like poverty, tax collection and such other universally accepted factors will also be given due weight while allocating share of resources to the provinces.

On the fiscal side, the Sindh budget has taken two measures. The first is complete abolition of a stamp duty at rate of 0.01 per cent on face value of shares transacted electronically at the Karachi Stock Exchange. This innovative tax was proposed in 1994 by then advisor on finance Syed Asad Ali Shah.

More than generating revenue, the purpose of collecting stamp duty at the rate of one paisa of Rs10 face value of share on its electronic transfer transaction was documentation that could facilitate correct assessment of trade and business incomes of the stock exchange investors. This stamp duty was kept in limbo till 2006 when it was made a part of Sindh Finance Bill 2006. Its implementation was delayed again till the year 2008. ‘’The management of Karachi Stock Exchange had reservations on this levy, and in order to encourage further development of capital market, the government of Sindh has decided to do away with this stamp duty’’, the chief minister announced in his budget speech.

Qaim Ali Shah also an increased the rate of infrastructure cess from 0.5 to 0.8 per cent of the C and F value of imported cargo being brought into Sindh, another tax introduced in 1994. The business is already angry on levy on some aspects of taxation in federal budget and this increase of 0.3 per cent on import may further sour government-business relationship.

PM forms task force to set up ‘Knowledge City’ in capital (http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008\06\18\story_18-6-2008_pg11_3)

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani on Tuesday approved setting up of a nine-member task force to establish Pakistan’s first ‘Knowledge City’ in the federal capital.

The task force has been given the mandate to formulate recommendations for the city, which will be a centre of excellence for education.

Ahsan Iqbal, former education minister, had sent summary for the project, which was subsequently approved by the prime minister.

Federal minister for education will head the task force, while secretary education, secretary information technology, secretary planning, Capital Development Authority chairman, Higher Education Commission chairman, Federal Directorate of Education director general and Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry president are the members.

The task force will review the current education systems in the world to come up with a suitable education policy. app

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KU hit hard by cut in HEC funds (http://www.dawn.com/2008/06/28/local5.htm)


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KARACHI, June 27: The federal finance ministry’s recent decision to stop the release of the Higher Education Commission’s (HEC) fourth quarterly instalment of development and recurring grant of over Rs8 billion has pushed the University of Karachi into a grave financial crisis, Dawn has learnt.

Research work, which was already hampered by the power outages in recent months, has virtually ground to a halt while a number of projects, particularly those relating to new infrastructural facilities, face an uncertain future.

Sources say that the recent announcement that contractual employees will be regularised, and the 20 per cent raise in government employees’ salaries announced in the budget, will add to the burden on the cash-strapped university, which made many such appointments in recent years. It is being predicted that unless the HEC comes to the university’s rescue, KU will not be able to pay utility bills or staff salaries, and will fall into debt.

The public sector university runs over 50 departments and research institutes, and boasts about 700 faculty members, a large number of non-teaching staff and approximately 20,000 students. Inside sources say that the institution is barely meeting its expenses these days and desperately awaiting relief from the HEC, which has not yet released the fourth quarterly instalment of Rs25 million that was due in April.

“The HEC recently informed us that it is releasing some amount but I don’t know how much,” said Syed Mohammed Khalid, the university’s director finance. “It is believed that there will be a 25 to 30 per cent cut in the instalment due. The meagre amount that will be sent falls under the funds worth Rs1.5 billion, which the prime minister recently announced for over 50 public sector universities.”

Referring to the situation as “critical,” Mr Khalid said that the institution already faced a deficit of Rs27 million and a reduction in its grant would amount to pushing the institution into debt. “The HEC has been raising KU’s grant every year and the university has made a lot of progress,” he remarked. “KU received Rs575 million in 2005-06, which was increased to Rs790 million in 2007-08. However, we did not receive the amount for the raise due in staff salaries last year and it was expected that the HEC would allocate Rs1,086 million for 2008-09.”

‘The dark ages’

Mr Khalid believes that the recent developments have come as a rude shock to all public sector universities. “It now seems as though KU will not even get last year’s amount and if that happens, staff salaries will not be able to be paid. The 20 per cent increase in salaries announced in the recent budget cannot be met by the university in the current situation,” he commented, pointing out that the institution’s only source of income is student fees, which have not been raised since last year.

“The university collected Rs379 million as fees in 2007-08. We have no immediate plans to raise fees this year, but if the situation persists we will have to revise all our expenditures, which means that all ongoing works – developmental or otherwise – will be affected.”

The president of the Karachi University Teachers’ Society (Kuts), Dr Aqeel Ahmed, told Dawn that it appeared as though all the progress made in recent years would come to a halt and the university would regress to the time when it had only enough money to pay salaries and the concept of research was alien.

“This situation will push our universities into the dark ages,” he warned. “We are being asked to generate our own revenue, which means the commercialisation of academic affairs. The faculty of social sciences will suffer the most, and it will also lead to a brain-drain where employees will be forced to work in poor conditions.”

Dr Ahmed said that all universities were contemplating observing a black day as a mark of protest against the government’s decision. “No doubt the country faces an economic slump,” he conceded, “but education should not be compromised at this critical juncture.”

Lack of planning alleged

During the past seven years, KU has witnessed growth in infrastructural facilities and research institutes. Most of these projects await completion and complete functionality due to the lack of basic facilities and funds.

Such projects include the department of food science and technology and the National Centre for Proteomics, whose buildings were inaugurated a few months ago but whose facilities are not yet functional. The Umer Basha Institute of Technology and Dr Feroz Ahmed Institute of Mass Communications are in a similar situation, while work on the construction of the department of biotechnology is incomplete.

Asked about the matter, the director finance said that “these projects will suffer, directly or indirectly, from the current situation, but we are trying to sort the problems out using our own resources.”

Sources say that all problems related to new infrastructure were mainly caused by a lack of planning and bad management on part of the university administration. Most of these facilities, which were initiated under the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP), couldn’t be completed within the allocated amount because the university failed to start the projects on time.

How much the financial affairs of KU are transparent can be gauged from the fact that no audit report has ever been presented in the meetings of the bodies concerned during the last few years, nor does the budget document contain the details of the PSDP projects.

A significant lapse of time caused an increase in the construction cost of different projects and the university, instead of asking for money from the HEC, diverted its own funds for their completion.

Sources add that this was done on the request of the building and utilisation committee in the hope that the amount would be later reimbursed by the HEC.

However, this hope has not materialised so far. Also, there is a big question mark over the future smooth running of these new facilities as they were developed without taking into account the chronic problem of electricity outages.

“Instead of spending money on the construction of new infrastructure, it would have been more appropriate to invest the money on strengthening the existing departments and setting up a power generation and distribution system at the university. Persistent power outages have become a major constraint in carrying out research in recent years, besides causing huge losses to the institution,” a teacher said.

^^Democrazy baby .....yeahhhhh!! :bash:

^^ Stop being so pessimistic! :no:

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^^ Considerable progress in just 4 years :happy:

But this stat might be misleading. If out of 100 kids only 20 are in school, our student:teacher ratio will be better than a country whose 50 kids are in school.

^^ Considerable progress in just 4 years :happy:

But this stat might be misleading. If out of 100 kids only 20 are in school, our student:teacher ratio will be better than a country whose 50 kids are in school.

But we've got loads more kids going to school nowadays. The enrolment rates have increased rapidly, reaching their highest ever level! So I see this is as a double positive.

In my Primary school days, we used to have about 15-20 kids in the class. And at max, maybe about 25 kids. Where as, in secondary school, it was about 28-30 kids. With that increasing to 34-36 kids, during my last year in PK.

ISLAMABAD: After a painful seven-month wait, around 65 more youth on Sunday left for Cuba to study general medicine on scholarship.

Fifty-five youth, including four girls, boarded various flights for the Caribbean island from Islamabad and around 10 from Karachi. They will have a stopover at Dubai on the way to their destination, a Higher Education Commission (HEC) official told Daily Times.

These students are part of the last batch whose departure hit snags almost seven months ago after Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) raised certain objections to the programme for which they had been enrolled in Cuba. A doctor or a dentist requires his/her degree’s recognition by the PMDC for practice in Pakistan.

There followed deliberations among the HEC, the PMDC and Cuban embassy representatives on the subject and a PMDC team’s visit to the North American republic to examine medical teaching and laboratory facilities.

The distraught youth, totalled around 640, heaved a sigh of relief last month when the PMDC gave much-desired green light to their programme.

Under the plan, the students will be sent to Cuba in phases till August 3, Muhammad Sadiq of the HEC said.

He said that the HEC was bearing travel and other expenses of the students. He said that students would be paid 50 Euros each as daily allowance and would be bound to return to Pakistan for service for at least five years.

He said that in all, the HEC had selected 1,000 youth for the programme offered by the Cuban government following the October 2005 earthquake in the NWFP and Azad Jammu and Kashmir.

Sadiq said that many of the students belong to quake-hit areas. Of them, 356 including 60 girls have already been studying in Cuba for over one year, he said.

He said that the Cuban authorities had to fulfil certain formalities, which caused delay in the students’ departure.

At the airport, students told Daily Times that they were delighted at their departure.

A student said that the time that the PMDC took in approving the programme after raising objections to it was quite painful for him.

“We had a testing time during the last seven months but are on cloud nine, now. We owe a debt of gratitude to the HEC, the PMDC and Cuban authorities whose efforts brought us this momentous occasion,” she said.

Ayesha Salman and Asma Salman, two sisters from Mansehra, said that they expected a wonderful time in Cuba during their first international tour.

“We’ve collected so much information about Cuban history, terrain, people, lifestyle, basic laws, political and educational systems, health care etc from various sources that we strongly feel that we’ll manage to adjust ourselves to the new environment quite comfortably. Yet, we’ll miss Pakistan a lot. Anyway, we’re really looking forward to a good time there,” he said.

Another student, Sirajuddin, praised the Cuban government for offering Pakistani youth free medical education. He said that Cuba was known for quality health care and medical education throughout the globe and it was good for Pakistanis to benefit from Cuban experience, which focused on primary health care and preventive medicine.

He said that Cuba offered good educational environment to foreign students. He said currently, around 30,000 students from across the world were enrolled in Cuba for various programmes and two thirds of them studied general medicine.

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It's nice update.

GUJRANWALA, July 17: The Punjab governor on Thursday upgraded the status of Rachna College of Engineering and Technology, Joura Sian (Wazirabad), to university level and issued a notification to the effect.

University Principal Prof Dr Rana Abdul Jabbar Khan and deputy registrar (administration) Muhammad Tufail thanked the prime minister, the governor and vice-chancellor of University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore for upgradation of the Rachna college and providing better facilities to students and staff.

They said 32 acre land had already been acquired at Joura Sian for expanding the university.

Students of Rachna College had been demanding establishment of the university for the last one year.

LAHORE, July 18: Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif said on Friday the government had allocated Rs3.5 billion for setting up model schools all over the province.

“Model schools for boys and girls will be established in every district of Punjab, where free education and boarding facilities will be provided to the poor children,” he said during a visit to Rahim Yar Khan.

Speaking to MNAs and MPAs, and senior administration functionaries, he pledged to provide ample funds to southern Punjab to bring it on a par with better areas. According to a handout, he directed the administrative officers to conduct open courts on a regular basis to solve the problems of the people at the local level.

Saying that both health and education sectors were in a state of neglect, he emphasised the need for providing facilities to the institutions to stem the rot. He asked the officials to do adequate leg work to get first-hand knowledge of the public problems.

The Punjab government, he said, had brought about mega relief package under the Food Stamp Scheme for providing assistance to two million families.

The chief minister also announced establishment of an engineering college in Rahim Yar Khan and construction of the Islamia University Bahawalpur’s campus in the city. He said a committee would look into the educational affairs of the district.

Announcing a medical college in Rahim Yar Khan, he said if the proposed education committee showed satisfactory performance, an additional Rs90 million would be provided for the construction of the college building. He also gave nod to a college for women.

He said a new transport scheme was being launched to provide free pick and drop service to the poor students. The proposed committee, he said, would identify spots for the establishment of new schools here.

He also gave approval for establishment of 10 permanent police posts along the river Sindh, provision of 10 bullet-proof boats, river patrolling and recruitment of 200 expert divers as constables.

Later, Shahbaz Sharif attended a briefing at the Shaikh Zayed Hospital for which he announced a grant on the condition that its administration should sign a written agreement that this hospital would be transformed into the best health facility in Punjab.

A laboratory for diagnosis of hepatitis, 20-bed coronary care unit and provision of MRI machine also were okayed by the chief minister.

ISLAMABAD: The federal cabinet on Friday approved in principle the establishment of the NFC University of Engineering and Technology at Multan to cater for ever-increasing demand for higher education of students of southern Punjab. The approval was accorded in a special meeting of the federal cabinet, held here with Prime Minister Gilani in chair. The prime minister had announced the upgrading of the Institute of Engineering and Technology, Multan, in May this year.

Presently, the Institute of Engineering and Technology, Multan, is affiliated with the Bahauddin Zakria University and is conducting B.Sc courses in the disciplines of chemical engineering and computer system engineering.The Higher Education Commission recommended the upgrading of the institute to the status of university level as a degree awarding institution.

PESHAWAR, July 24: The Awami National Party-led provincial government has decided to start evening classes in schools across NWFP.

NWFP Minister for Education Sardar Hussain Babak during a press briefing here on Thursday said that bringing reforms in the education sector was part of the ANP manifesto. “In an effort to bring a positive change within the meagre resources the provincial government decided to start evening classes in all the schools to provide education to more children,” he added.

He said that the province was short of primary schools and 65 per cent of the girls in the province were out of school. Talking about the sorry state of the education sector in NWFP, the minister said that the provincial education department was short of 22,000 schools. He said the province needed Rs55 billion for the purpose and was looking for financial assistance from the international donor agencies.

“Unfortunately, the image of the province portrayed by the media scares away the donors and foreign investors,” he said. He said that provincial government had also decided to make use of network of mosques and start ‘Maktab School’ in every mosque of the province. In these Maktab schools children aged five who are not able to go to far-off government schools will get education.

“Primary School Teachers will be appointed in Maktab Schools to teach the same syllabus to children, which is being taught in the government schools,” the minister said, adding that it would also create employment opportunities.

He said that they wanted to change out-dated techniques of teaching. “The students should be allowed to express themselves through activity-based learning. The education department would start group discussions and literary activities in schools,” Mr Babak said.

Criticising the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal government in NWFP, the minister said that the present government had decided to switch back to old ‘militia’ uniform and academic session.

He said that white uniform was not economical as students mostly coming from poor families could not afford to wash the uniform every other day. “The change of session also created problems so we are reverting to the old academic session,” he added.

To a query about torching of girl schools in Swat, the minister said that the situation was ‘sad’ and an attempt to push Pakhtun back into age of ignorance. He informed that portions of the damaged school buildings would be repaired. He said that about 56 schools in Swat district and nine in Lower and Upper Dir districts were either attacked or damaged.

He said that the government had also placed a complete ban on postings and transfer of teaching staff in the province. He said that his government had set up clear-cut criteria for the appointment of teachers and would not tolerate political interference in such matters.

The minister expressed concern over the high number of out of school children which he opined resulted in creating a bad image of ‘Pakhtun’ as an ignorant and backward people.

He said that backwardness was resulting extremism. He urged international donor agencies to invest in education sector of NWFP.

LAHORE, July 24: The provincial higher education department has initiated a process to formally upgrade Gujranwala’s Rachna College of Engineering and Technology to Rachna University of Engineering and Technology.

Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani announced recently that the college would be upgraded to a university. Currently, Rachna College is a constituent of the University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore.

Last week, Governor Salmaan Taseer directed the higher education department to initiate process for upgradation of the college. A higher education department official says his department has asked the Rachna College principal to provide its feasibility so that the department can prepare and move a summary for the college’s upgradation and a subsequent notification.

A source told Dawn that the issuance of notifications would not take much time, as the higher education department already had a Model University Ordinance. On the other hand, he said, Rachna College had sufficient infrastructure and regular students. The source also said the Ecnec had already approved Rs450 million for Rachna College.

ISLAMABAD, July 24: The International Islamic University (IIU) and various Chinese institutions have agreed to sign about 10 MoUs for establishment of Chinese studies department at IIU and enhancing cooperation in the field of science and technology with Tsinghua University and Fudan University.

The agreement reached during an IIU delegation’s visit to China recently. The purpose of the visit was to enhance cooperation in academic fields with the Chinese institutions, said a statement issued on Wednesday The delegation comprising IIUI President Dr Anwar Hussain Siddiqui, Vice-President Dr Khalifa Hassan and Prof Ayesha from the Faculty of Usuluddin.

The team met presidents, deans and faculty members of Chinese universities and academic institutions in Beijing, Shanghai and Wuhan.

During their visit to various institutions, the visiting delegates discussed education exchange programmes with their heads.

The Wuhan Central Normal University agreed to help IIU in the area of education including teachers training, exchange of teachers, scholarships for students and other related matters,.

Meanwhile, Shahzad Iqbal Sham, an alumni of the IIU, had been conferred upon the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Islamic Studies on his thesis titled “Islamic provisions in the constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan 1973: 30 years of Implementation in the perspective of judicial decisions and executive orders.” He authored 22 books and presented several papers in various national and international seminars.

ISLAMABAD: The Higher Education Commission (HEC) plans to execute four-year bachelor's degree programmes, said Prof Dr. Sohail Naqvi, HEC executive director

He was talking to the steering committee of provincial education secretaries' meeting held at the HEC regional centre.

Naqvi said initially the programme would be kicked off in degree colleges.

He said: "The committee was constituted in 2003 to ensure cooperation between the HEC and the provincial education departments."

Four-year programmes have already been running successfully for all professional degree courses including architecture and town planning, agricultural sciences, animal husbandry, medical and pharmaceutical sciences, city and regional planning, and engineering, he added.

Almost all the universities have switched over to this new scheme for their BS degrees in Basic and Natural Sciences, Management Sciences Computer Sciences and IT, and Social Sciences.

The committee lauded the idea of monitoring collaborative degrees between local and foreign institutions.

The meeting was attended by Jan Muhammad Dashti, Balochistan Education Department Secretary Maqsood Mumtaz, Punjab Education Department Additional Secretary Hazrat Masud Mian, NWFP Education Department Additional Secretary Taj Muhammad Seelro, Sindh Education Department Additional Secretary Muhammad Javed Khan, HEC Attestation and Accreditation Director General Anwar Amjad, HEC IT Consultant Ghayyur Fatima, HEC curriculum deputy director and others.

ISLAMABAD: Austria has conferred its highest civilian award on Higher Education Commission Chairman Dr Attaur Rehman.

According to the HEC magazine - News and Views -, Dr Atta-ur-Rehman was conferred 'Grand decoration of Honour in God with Sash' in recognition of his outstanding contribution to higher education in Pakistan at a ceremony in Vienna. Dr Atta is the only scientist in the Muslim world who won the UNESCO Science Prize in the 35-year history of the prize. He has got a number of other awards for his contribution to organic chemistry.

http://thepost.com.pk/IsbNewsT.aspx?dtlid=174515&catid=17

Karachi

The Aga Khan University Hospital (AKUH) has won an international award for the master plan of its new Faculty of Arts and Sciences campus to be built in Education City, 30 kilometres off Karachi.

The Society for College and University Planning and the American Institute of Architecture presented the ‘Honour Award for Excellence in Planning for a New Campus’ to the AKUH and its architects, Payette Associates, at their annual conference in Montreal, Canada, last week, according to a press release issued by the AKUH said on Monday.

The university’s new Faculty of Arts and Sciences will be a major component of Education City, a regional development of schools and institutes that will eventually cover 8,000 acres. “The master plan is simultaneously about architecture, city planning, campus planning and academic programming. The goal is more than a campus in the desert. A seed is being planted to simultaneously grow a university and a town.

MIRPURKHAS, July 28 (APP): Counsul General of United States of America Madam Kay Anske participated in different programmes in the city as chief guest amidst strict security arrangements here on Monday. American Counsul General Madam Kay Anske said that she was impressed with the services of disable youths of Mirpurkhas who were running the Gulistan Mazoreen Center on self-help basis and were creating skillfull youths who would pay their important constructive role in the society.
This she said, while speaking at the disables youths and administrative officers of Gulistan-e-Mazoreen Center Mirpurkhas near Gama Stadium.

She expressed her happiness on her visit to this center and said that skillfull disable youths could also play vital role in society.

Patron of Mirpurkhas special sports and welfare association Afaq Ahmed Advocate, Qamaruddin and Abdul Hafeez briefed the Consul General about the work of this center.

Speaking at the inauguration ceremony of MBA classes in Nazeer Hussain Institute of emerging sciences Mirpurkhas, Madam Kay Anske said that no society could progress without education.

She congratulated the people of Mirpurkhas for opportunity to get MBA degree from this institute.

Later She met with a delegation of Rotary club Mirpurkhas led by its president Dr Aziz Khan and discussed the different projects of the rotary club.

Earlier, she visited art gallery Mirpurkhas where she met with artist Lal Mohammad Khan and watched his paintings, mostly of them presenting Thar life.

SUKKUR, July 28: A surplus budget of the Sukkur district government for fiscal 2008-09 was presented in the district council session on Monday which consists of about Rs254.783 million income coupled with an expenditure of 2,528.740 million.

The budget was presented by naib nazim and council convener Abdullah Ghumro as the District Nazim Syed Nasir Hussain Shah was out of the city. Karam Ali Mahesar presided over the budget session.

Giving details of the budget, Mr Ghumro said that the district government would spend Rs25 million on establishment of ‘Benazir Bhutto’ libraries in the five talukas of the district.

An education city would be established in the city in collaboration with the federal government at a cost of Rs one billion to provide modern education facilities to the students.

The education city would include an engineering college, a home economics college, a college of information technology and a college of fine arts, he said.

He said that Rs2 million has been earmarked for the welfare of elderly persons and minorities, Rs1 million for Hajj scheme, Rs55 million for councillors. He said that Rs1105.184 million have been allocated for education sector, which is 47 per cent of the total budget.

The total expected income of the district government is estimated at Rs2540.783 million while the expenditure, including those on salaries, development and other heads amount to Rs2528.740 million, he said.

Mr Ghumro said that the district government has completed a seven year term with the active cooperation of the members and the people of Sukkur.

He said that the targets fixed in the budget of 2007-2008 have been achieved despite numerous difficulties and vowed that their struggle for betterment and welfare of people would continue in the years to come.

SIALKOT, July 28: Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has announced restoring the project to establish a medical college here and forming a special committee consisting of elected representatives and renowned businessmen to monitor the project.

He was addressing local businessmen and notables at the Sialkot Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) on Monday during the first leg of his two-day visit to the district after becoming the chief minister.

SCCI President Dr Khurram Anwar Khawaja, secretaries of 18 provincial departments and prominent businessmen and representatives of local trade bodies were also present.

The chief minister announced a number of development schemes for the area, particularly for the uplift of the city. On the pressing demand of the local business community, the chief minister announced restoring the otherwise shelved Sialkot Medical College project.

He also announced ensuring early release of a special matching grant of Rs408.6 million under the Sialkot City Development Package, which was to be carried out in collaboration with local business community, but was frozen or abandoned subsequently.

During his first stint as chief minister nine years ago, Sharif had announced this grant during his visit to the SCCI on June 1, 1999.

He also announced immediate establishment of intensive care units (ICUs) and orthopaedic units each at Allama Iqbal Memorial DHQ Hospital and Sardar Begum Memorial Hospital.

He also announced construction of two bridges over Nullah Aik in the city, one near Nekapura and the other near Douburji Malhiyaan, besides constructing another flyover or underpass to streamline traffic throughout the city. He also announced laying new sewerage pipelines in the city.

The chief minister said the provincial government would soon sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the business community of Sialkot under which special monitoring committees would be formed to look after all the (above-mentioned) development projects.

The chief minister also ordered immediate dualisation of Sialkot-Gujranwala and Sialkot-Eimenabad roads besides early completion of under-construction Sialkot-Wazirabad Road.

The chief minister assured the business community that effective and positive economic and trade policies would continue to strengthen national economy and to promote sustainable trade activities.

He said the local business community had set a golden example of completing several mega projects on self-help basis, persuading others to follow it.

He also hailed the local export culture and marvellous socio-economic and human resources development, again chiefly on self-help basis.

He said the government was making all out efforts to bring a revolution of industrial development by revamping the SMEs sector.

Sharif said the government was fully aware of the problems being faced by the businessmen and was trying to remove all bottlenecks hindering trade activities.

Earlier, DCO Capt Atta Muhammad Khan (retired) gave a detailed briefing about ongoing development schemes in the district.

The chief minister directed the officials concerned to expedite these projects besides ensuring consumption of quality materials and their timely completion.

Later, addressing an open court in Pasrur, Sharif pledged to weed out corruption from all government departments to ensure cheap and speedy justice to the people.

He said the government was trying to control ‘skyrocketing’ price-hike caused by the wrong policies of the previous regime.

Sharif said all promises made to the people, including the restoration of superior courts judges, supremacy of the Constitution, stability of democracy and solution of national issues, would be honoured and working relationship with allied parties would be maintained at the federal as well as provincial levels without compromising on principles.

Later, addressing a meeting of party workers at Anwar Club Auditorium here, Sharif, who is also the president of the PML-N, said his party would take solid steps to resolve political, economic and administrative problems being faced by the country and would not disappoint the masses.

Earlier, talking to reporters, the chief minister said the party's stand on the restoration of judges reflected the aspirations of 160 million people of the country and the PML-N would stick to its stance.

He said that all possible cooperation would be extended to allied parties to solve national issues and viable proposals would be given to ensure civilian’s rule instead of any dictator’s.

He said that party leaders, office-bearers and elected representatives should maintain a close liaison with the people to resolve their problems.

Expressing concern over a lack of coordination among the government and its coalition partners, the PML-N president urged the government to take on board all component parties of the alliance prior to taking key decisions on national issues otherwise it could grow weaker and weaker.

Sharif said that inordinate delay in announcing the impeachment of President Pervez Musharraf and reinstatement of the deposed judges was enhancing the gravity of political crisis.

The chief minister will visit Daska on Tuesday (today). He will inspect Daska’s THQ Hospital besides holding an open court at Civil Rest House.

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ISLAMABAD, July 30: The Ministry of Education launched a campaign to enrol all out-of-school children here on Wednesday.

The launching ceremony was attended by head teachers of 410 federal and model schools and colleges.

The campaign is aimed at achieving the target of 100 per cent primary enrolment in two years, said programme coordinator Prof Rafique Tahir on the occasion.

He said the ratio of primary enrolment was not satisfactory which was obvious from the statistics showing six million children aged 5-7 out of school.

He said the drive aimed to enrol an estimated 5,590 children who, according to a survey conducted by the Federal Directorate of Education (FDE), were out-of-school within the federal capital. The drive will also be launched in all provinces by the provincial governments. Under the campaign, enrolment will be launched from the coming academic session next month and will continue till September 8, which is observed as International Literacy Day. Children enrolled under the drive will be provided free books and stationery in addition to transportation facility by the FDE, he added.

Secretary Education Jahangir Bashar urged the head teachers to start a door-to-door drive along with the staff concerned in their respective communities to identify the out-of-school children. He told the participants that from now onwards the performance of the institutions and the head teachers would be judged on the basis of the number of children enrolled and the number of drop-outs in addition to the performance in examination, which was already being practised.

To facilitate the process, he added, as many as five hundred new teachers would also be recruited.

GUJRANWALA, July 30: The Punjab Governor has appointed Dr Rana Abdul Jabbar Khan, sitting Principal of Rachna College, as project director to look after the upgradation process of Rachna College of Engineering and Technology to Rachna University of Engineering & Technology, Gujranwala.

ISLAMABAD: Five Pakistani students have won medals in two international competitions held in India and Vietnam last month under Higher Education Commission (HEC)-sponsored projects, said HEC Executive Director Dr S Sohail H Naqvi in a press statement on Friday. He said the students could not participate in International Mathematic Olympiad held in Spain this year due to delay in issuance of visas to them. Giving details, he said Muhammad Affwan Ashraf of Bahria College, Karachi, won silver medal in 19th International Biology Olympiad held in India from July 13 to 20. In International Physics Olympiad held in Vietnam from July 20 to 29, Dr Naqvi said, Hamza Aftab of Atchison College, Lahore, clinched silver medal, Madeha Hussain of Lahore Grammar School bronze medal, while Syed Waqas Raza and Ahmed Bilal Asghar of Lahore Grammar School and Cadet College, Attock, respectively got honorable mention. He said that apart from international recognition, those students had been offered scholarships by noted universities.

ISLAMABAD, Aug 1: The Zhejiang University of China has offered 60 fully-funded scholarships to international students for graduate studies in various disciplines.

These include mathematics, chemistry, mechanical engineering, optical engineering, material science and engineering, power and thermophysics engineering, electrical engineering, control science and engineering, civil engineering, biomedical engineering, crop sci ences, horticulture, plant protection, utilization science of agricultural resources, management science and engineering, constitution law and administration law, history of education, applied psychology, study of Chinese classical texts and others.

The Zhejiang University is located in Hangzhou, an internationally well-known tourist resort famous for beautiful natural sceneries, rich cultural heritage and a booming economy.

LAHORE, Aug 2: Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has said that provision of quality education to people is the basic responsibility of the government and measures are being taken in this regard.

Giving talent award and a certificate to a physically disabled girl for her outstanding performance in the matriculation examination here on Saturday, the chief minister said young generation was an asset and a strategy was being adopted to equip the youth with modern education.

Taking notice of news items about her performance, Sharif called Zahra Abbas, her parents, the education secretary and officials of the Lahore Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education at Chief Minister’s Secretariat and honoured the student.

He said the government would bear all expenditure on Ms Abbas’ education, adding that the nation was proud of her because she proved her talent despite her physical disability.

The chief minister stressed upon Ms Abbas to continue her studies with the same spirit, and congratulated her parents on her success.

Ms Abbas, whose both hands and legs do not work, was a student of a private school and she obtained 700 marks in the science group in the matriculation examination. She writes with the help of her elbows.

Ms Abbas, whose both hands and legs do not work, was a student of a private school and she obtained 700 marks in the science group in the matriculation examination. She writes with the help of her elbows.

Amazing!!

Goes to tell us that there is no 'disability' that can't be overcome, if we give it our best try.

Teen rikshaw driver third in Lahore's school leaving exam
Sun, Aug 3 11:03 AM

Islamabad, Aug 3 (IANS) Studying during the day and driving a rickshaw in the evening to support his family of six, 17-year-old Ali has overcome all odds to stand third in the Lahore Board's secondary school examination. Seeing his grit, the government has awarded him Rs.5 million (nearly $70,000) to help him complete his education.

The teenager, who was forced to quit studies for some time after his father fell ill, has secured 735 marks out of 850.

'I used to study in the day and drive the rickshaw after my school hours to earn for my family,' Ali told IANS from his hometown Kasur, some 50 km from Lahore.

'My father developed heart problems and couldn't drive the rickshaw and so I had to earn money for my brothers and sisters,' said Ali, who uses only one name.

Apart from his ailing father, Ali's family includes his mother and four siblings. He said that he had actually decided to give up studies completely to earn a living.

But when his school's vice principal came to know that Ali would quit studies, he immediately called him and persuaded him against his decision. The teenager said his teachers motivated him to continue studying.

'Two of my teachers even came and asked my father to convince me to carry on with my studies and work in the evening,' he recalled.

Ali then rejoined school after a break of almost two months. The youngster said that he would carry his books along with him and study whenever he got time.

'This paid off and I got the third position in the board,' said an overjoyed Ali, who wants to be an economist.

He has big dreams not only for his country but for the whole of South Asia.

'My aim is to eradicate poverty not only from Pakistan but from the poor countries of our whole region. I want to see this region developed like Europe and America as we see on television and movies,' he said.

Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif was the chief guest at the medal distribution ceremony for the Lahore Board's toppers. When he came to know that Ali is a rickshaw driver and dreamt of becoming an economist, he immediately announced a Rs.5 million award for him to complete his studies.

Ali said that he would use the award money to educate his brothers and sisters as well.

The youngster even had a message for the SAARC leaders meeting in Colombo. He has appealed to them to divert a large chunk of resources for increasing literacy levels in the region. He firmly believes only education can bring the region at par with developed countries.

http://in.news.yahoo.com/43/20080803/876/twl-teen-rikshaw-driver-third-in-lahore_1.html

On another note, Can he even drive solo at 17 in Pakistan, let alone paying public?