Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Of the almost 28 million kids that are in school, nearly 19 million, or two-thirds, attend government schools. That means that all the non-state providers put together (anything other than the public sector, including madressahs, by the way) cater to only 9.1 million kids. That is 33 per cent of all kids that are already in school. Of course, we're more interested in the total population, i.e. every kid between five and 19 being in school. Of the total burden of 70 million kids, non-state educational institutions are serving only 13 per cent of all kids. Thirteen per cent is not a passing grade, not even in fairy tales.
Of course, establishing the need to retain public services in the education sector -- without which 87 per cent of all kids would be left out of school -- is not the end of the discussion; it is just the beginning. The real challenge is to make sure that public service in education is indeed a service, rather than a disservice. That's where the education debate gets interesting, and where it encounters resistance from the government and the feudal and military establishments.
Of the almost 28 million kids that are in school, nearly 19 million, or two-thirds, attend government schools. That means that all the non-state providers put together (anything other than the public sector, including madressahs, by the way) cater to only 9.1 million kids. That is 33 per cent of all kids that are already in school. Of course, we're more interested in the total population, i.e. every kid between five and 19 being in school. Of the total burden of 70 million kids, non-state educational institutions are serving only 13 per cent of all kids. Thirteen per cent is not a passing grade, not even in fairy tales.
Of course, establishing the need to retain public services in the education sector -- without which 87 per cent of all kids would be left out of school -- is not the end of the discussion; it is just the beginning. The real challenge is to make sure that public service in education is indeed a service, rather than a disservice. That's where the education debate gets interesting, and where it encounters resistance from the government and the feudal and military establishments.

Wednesday, March 3, 2010


When we seek the developments or SOLUTIONS in our education system then we have to modify the typical definition of LITERACY in PAKISTAN


Its time to end buying tones of expensive scientific equipment that at the end of it all, produce only zero citation papers and zero patents. Curiosly after a bunch of projects were exposed as phony, the HEC broke with its past practice and now no longer puts on its websites detailes of HEC- funded projects. It is also time to stop HEC officials and HEC delegates from gallivanting across the globe at public expense on the vaguest of excuses for "fact- finding" mission and conferences.



The idea of making Pak-Europe universities sounds like a wonder full idea. Pakistan would pay for France, Sweden, Italy and some other European countries to help setup, manage and provide professors for new universities in Pakistan. It would be expensive- Pakistan would have to pay full costs, recurrent expenses, and euro level salaries plus 40% markup for all the foreign professors and vice chancellors. But it would still be worth it because the large presence of European professors teaching in these Pakistani universities would ensure good teaching. High standard degrees would subsequently be awarded by institutions in the respective European countries.

Monday, February 22, 2010

We all know the problems of our education system now its time to step forward to solutions. It is a time to implement instead of projecting the policies only. Foreign states are using LCC systems which should also be introduced in Pakistan to polish the hidden guts of our students and to make them able to have confidence on their own selves.