Pakistan Education Network

Lahore: Universities and colleges must set up language teaching centres for the improvement of students’ communication skills in languages particularly in English and Urdu.

This was stated by Chairman Department of Chemistry, Government College University Prof Dr Saeed Iqbal. He said language barrier was not only the major learning handicap but also adamant to communication skill, which impeded the young graduates in competitions and job placement.

He said the graduates particularly in Science, IT and Commerce were seriously lacking communication skills, which was great impediment in their progress and job placement. They also fail to comprehend the real knowledge because of poor English.

Dr Saeed Iqbal said we should teach children in native language and after maturity teach them the languages so that they could get flair in spoken and written languages at least in Urdu and English. The burdening of tiny students with difficult English textbooks and learning foreign language from infancy drift the child in depression, he added. “They also face wrath of teachers and parents for not proper comprehension in English and hence lack of confidence”, he further added. Moreover, the quality of English teaching in schools was also poor. Teachers too were neither qualified nor proficient in English. The example of Germany, France, Chinese, Japanese and Russian could be quoted to substantiate this truth where knowledge was imparted in native language. Because of foreign language as medium of instructions, our students resorted to rote learning instead of comprehension and thus were deprived of the real knowledge and its theme, he said.

He was of the view that this was perhaps the major reason why our students were deprived of the fruits of higher education and why there was no worthwhile research and why we could not produce Noble laureates who were one or two at our credit yet. He said our students were intelligent in a number of science subjects, some of them rich in research but they could not transform their skills and learning due to language barrier.

He said under a crash programme 3/4 months long language courses in Urdu and English should be introduced in Universities including writing and speaking skills. The separate courses should be at the doorstep of the students at Universities and postgraduate colleges. Not only Urdu and English, but courses in Hindi, the language of enemy and the Persian, Arabic and Chinese spoken in neighbouring countries of Iran, Afghanistan Middle East, China etc should be taught to our students so that they could benefit from the science and Arts of these countries and also communicate knowledge to them, he told.Effective coordination among govt depts stressed

Secretary provincial Home Department Nadeem Hassan Asif has said full support would be given to Punjab Ombudsman’s children complaint office in order to ensure protection of children’s rights.

He expressed these views while addressing senior government officials at a children complaint office’s workshop here on Saturday. Punjab Social Welfare Secretary Tariq Feroze, Punjab Zakat Secretary Karim Baksh, DG Health Lahore Dr Fayyaz Ahmad Ranjha, SSP Imran and others also addressed the workshop.

Nadeem Hassan, while stressed the need for effective coordination and proper flow of information among government departments, welfare of begging children and reforms of jail system in the Punjab were among the top priorities of the government.

Punjab Ombudsman Secretary Javed Nisar Ahmad Khan said in order to make the children complaint office effective; a partnership between government departments, NGOs and media would be developed.

While addressing the workshop, UNICEF’s children protection specialist Shamshad Qureshi, observed that in the absence of effective system, thousands of court cases of children were pending, and at present three million children were victim of child labour.

He advocated for simplifying investigation of children complaints, which would ensure protection of children’s rights. He also observed that many children were in jails due to complexities in law. The nation

Popularity: 29% [?]

New media university plan for professionals training
Islamabad: Ministry of Information and Broadcasting would soon set up a Media University to provide required training to mediapersons enabling them to meet the challenges of modern time. “The Ministry would set up a Media University where special courses would be offered for media representatives,” said Secretary, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Mansoor Suhail on Wednesday.

He was addressing the inaugural ceremony of the 26th batch of Common Training Programme here at the Information Service Academy (ISA).

“I congratulate our new officers, who have been inducted in this honourable service purely on the basis of merit. As Secretary Information, I assure you with confidence that a consistent observation and regard for merit will remain my sole guiding principle in discharging my duties,” he said.

(more…)

Popularity: 17% [?]

Most essential elements in education
Islamabad, Nov 7: One of the most essential elements in education that determines quality is the competence and commitment of the teachers who convey knowledge and values to their students. It would not be wrong to say that the teaching sector forms the weakest link in the educational chain in Pakistan. As academic standards declined over the years, it was inevitable that teachers who were products of this decaying system would be the ones affected most adversely.

Not only did this malaise impact on their pedagogic skills and knowledge, it also robbed them of their motivation. Hence it is a positive sign that education authorities in various provinces are attempting to address this problem. While the National Education Policy focuses on in-service training of teachers to improve their standards, others are offering monetary incentives in a bid to motivate teachers to do their best.

It is in this context that the Punjab government deserves to be commended for recognising the key role of teachers and taking the initiative to institute awards of Rs50,000 each for 1,000 teachers/head teachers for their performance. Although the criteria have been defined and seem fair enough on paper, much will depend on how they are applied in practice. Given the corruption in our society, one hopes that this will not become another avenue for bestowing favours on the protégés of those who wield power at different levels.

There is, however, one quality which cannot be quantified but is more important than the yardsticks spelt out for the award. It is a teacher’s ability to motivate his or her students. The best teachers are those who are able to mould students into knowledgeable, caring human beings that can become an asset for society and the state.

They should also have the capacity to motivate students to think rationally and seek knowledge as a life-long pursuit. One hopes that the Punjab government as well as other provincial administrations will devise ways and means of mobilising their teaching cadres with incentives other than monetary gain so that they can pass on their motivation to their students.

Popularity: 9% [?]

Education is must for elected officials
Peshawar: According to a Gilani Research Foundation survey carried out by Gallup Pakistan, majority of all Pakistanis believe education is extremely important for elected officials and that people without proper education should not hold public office; 70% of all respondents claimed that the government is doing wrong by eliminating the requirement for a Bachelor’s degree for people running in the election, 29% favour the decision and 1% gave no response.

In response to another question, 48% said both good education and relevant experience is necessary to be in the government, 34% said only good education matters, 17% believe only relevant experience counts and 1% gave no response. A nationally representative sample of men and women from across the country were asked “Recently, government has decided to withdraw the requirement to have a bachelor’s degree for participating in the elections.

In your view is this decision right or wrong?” Twenty nine percent (29%) think it is the right decision, where as 70% believe otherwise. One percent (1%) of the respondents gave no response. It is notable that a slightly higher percentage of urbanites (31%) as compared to their rural counterparts (28%) are in the favour of this decision.

In a follow up question the respondents were asked “In your view, in order to run good government is it more important to have good education, relevant experience, or both education and experience?” Thirty four percent (34%) prefer highly educated people to be elected in the government, 17% said relevant experience matters the most, whereas 48% believe both good education and experience count. One percent (1%) of the respondents gave no response. The findings reveal that a proportionately higher percentage of ruralites believe being highly educated (36%) and having relevant experience (`8%) is more important to run the government where as a higher percentage of urbanites believe it’s a combination of both good education and relevant experience which counts.

A significantly higher percentage of ANP voters (81%) think both education and experience are important. The study was released by Gilani foundation and carried out by Gallup Pakistan, the Pakistani affiliate of Gallup International. The latest survey was carried out among a sample of 2765 men and women in rural and urban areas of all four provinces of the country. F.P. Report

Popularity: 9% [?]