Archive for January, 2008
With dreams in their eyes
A midst a cluster of tattered hovels some gypsy youngsters while away their time. Lying on charpoys, scattered pairs on the right and left talk idly as some act as caregivers for their younger siblings. Two teenagers standing nearby enjoy the latest ring tones of their cell phones. The frequent laughing among themselves is indicative [...]
Beyond penalties
We as a nation have become so accustomed to daily shocks of greater proportion than corporal punishment in schools that such trivial incidences fail to shake us anymore. A cursory look at the editorials and letters published after 14-year-old Mudassar Aslam’s death would reveal that they focus more on the issues of penalties and punishments [...]
Investigative strategies
Sometimes I used to ponder what pulls me in research. Either this is my surrounding arena, my mental vision to percept objects and facts differently or simple inquisitiveness which dragged me to investigative strategies.
Campus unrest
Most of the programmes and policies that the Higher Education Commission (HEC) has introduced so far, especially the ones pertaining to raising the bar for academic excellence, face resistance in the already established universities. The resistance is spearheaded by teachers who are hardly known outside their own departments. And if they are, it is more [...]
The second benchers
Girls’ access to school as compared to boys’ continues to be a crises area in Pakistan. There is no denying the fact that the country has not been able to ensure gender equality during the last six decades. Meager budgetary allocations; non-conducive social environment; restricted movement of girls; shortage of female teachers in schools; and [...]
Access, quality and relevance
RAPID advances in science and technology, especially during the last several decades, have led to a division of the world into a few countries which have advanced rapidly and become producers of technology-based products and processes, leaving other nations behind. In this new world in which innovation determines progress, Pakistan has made a late but [...]
Hoping for new policies in education
PAKISTAN is getting ready for the election process. Assemblies will be formed and hopefully complete their tenure. New policies will be planned and many reforms will be introduced. However, it is good to keep the major concerns of the nation in view before planning policies. Although, everyone is familiar with concerns of education in Pakistan [...]
Of bumpy rides and bungalow schools
IN the early morning hours of a chilly December day, three school buses broke down at the civic centre junction of University Road and pupils bound for a Clifton school could not appear in their midterm examination.
Education in the hills
LOCATED 54 kilometres northwest of Islamabad, Murree, where a large number of foreign and domestic tourists including the high gentry of government officials visit during the summer as well as winter, is known as Malka-i-Kohsar (queen of the hills). Not only is Murree the country’s favourite tourist resort and vacation destination, it is also known [...]
Body of knowledge
IN 2003, Government College University, Lahore, supported by the Government of Punjab and the Higher Education Commission (HEC), set up a centre of excellence in mathematics. This centre was known as School of Mathematical Sciences (SMS) and now it has been given a new name — Abdus Salam School of Mathematical Sciences (ASSMS) — in [...]
