Recommendations of first Educational Conference 1947

Aims of first Educational Conference 1947

First Educational Conference 1947

First Edu. Conference 1947 Address by Quaid

Ideology of Pakistan: A Retrospect

Author: Muhammad Abbas Publication: Pakistan Times Date: March 23, 2004 URL: http://www.pakistantimes.net/2004/03/23/guest2.htmIt does not need or call for any debate any more that Pakistan came into being on the basis of Islam. It was only Islam, which galvanised Muslims and lined them up behind Muslim League. Other factors, political and economic ones, also played some part in uniting Muslims to struggle for Pakistan but Islam was the preponderant factor as it serves as a cementing force for Muslim society and is the primary link between Muslims the world over. Everything else follows Islam. The entire struggle of the Muslims of the subcontinent was to have a state where they could freely maintain their Islamic entity. No other factor was so clear & intelligible for Muslim masses. Let us have a look on the ideology of Pakistan in retrospect. It was none else than Sir Syed Ahmad Khan who, as early as 1884, said that Hindus and Muslims are two nations and different from each other. If we dig deep into the socio-cultural and historical foundations of Pakistan movement and subsequent creation of Pakistan, we will certainly come to the irrefutable and logical conclusion that Pakistan�s establishment was nothing else than Allah�s will (Amre-Elahi) and according to the tenets of Islam which in effect imply that wherever Muslim are in majority, they should establish a state of their own so that they could live freely and order their lives according to Islam. The fact is that the Indian subcontinent was never one social or political entity throughout its history. It was only for short spans of time that India was politically one. Two distinct nations had lived in it since 711 AD when first Muslim stepped on the soil of the subcontinent. The areas included in the Indus basin had been part of various kingdoms. Even the biggest non-Muslim rulers such as Asoka had never ruled the entire subcontinent. For more than ten centuries since 711 A D Muslims, Hindus and followers of Jainism and Buddhism lived together but remained distinct in all imaginable ways of living, culture, religion and creed. It would be distortion of history to say that Indian subcontinent was and had been a cultural unity or its people lived according to agreed social codes. In his book �India�, (1888) Sir John Strachey observed �This is the first and most essential thing to learn about India-that there is not, and never was an India�. Hinduism, which had succeeded in absorbing or eliminating to a great extent, other creeds, totally failed to absorb Muslims despite Bhagti Movement or movements in the name of humanism, deen-e-elahi and secularism. Muslims and Hindus had been �poles apart�. That the Muslims of the subcontinent from the very beginning had been a separate entity does not need any authentication. Yet it would be worth while to note that Hindu intellectuals and thinkers were convinced of this fact. K M Pamaikar in his book �A survey of Indian History� has said that �Before the tenth century Hindu society was divided horizontally and neither Buddhism nor Jainism affected the division. They were not unassimilable elements and filled in easily with the existing divisions. Islam, on the other hand, split Indian society into two sections from top to bottom and what has now come to be known in the phraseology of today as two separate nations came into being from the beginning. At all stages they were different and hardly any social communications or intermingling existed between them�. Even the low cast �Shudras� despite adopting Hinduism remained different from mainstream Hindu community because of caste system of Hindu society. Since there were inherent weaknesses and lack of social dynamism in Bhudhism and Jainism both creeds could not survive in the subcontinent. But Islam being forceful and dynamic way of life, survived all Hindu moves to absorb Muslims. As a result Muslims remained totally different and maintained their separate identity, culture, beliefs and social code. Besides, Islam brought with it the concepts of equality of mankind, brotherhood and social justice and it retained its vitality. The Muslims stuck to their beliefs, ideas, dress code and cultural traditions. When the time came the sharp differences between Muslims and Hindus manifested themselves in political movement of Muslims based on Islam and Hindus preferred secularism as understood and defined by them. The myth of secularism and oneness of the subcontinent was bound to be exploded. Decline and downfall of Muslim rule in the subcontinent led to the colonisation of the subcontinent by the British. Hindus became willing partners of the British and sided with the foreign rule. The result was that Muslims were the worst sufferers at the hands of the British and majority population � the Hindus. The war of freedom initiated and fought by the Muslims failed because the Hindus sided with the colonising power. But every cloud has a silvery living. The Muslims were not to be cowed down forever. Their leaders, thinkers and educationists remained in the field and Muslim masses, though dormant and somewhat disappointed and frustrated, refused to accept the situation as it obtained and started waking up. Sir Syed Ahmad Khan was the first to give the wake up call and decided to prepare Muslims to fight the adversity with similar weapons � modern education and knowledge, employed for domination. With him, his Aligarh movement, his books and magazine Tahzibul Akhlaq, he started an awareness movement. He prepared the ground for uniting and galvanizing Muslim community of the subcontinent. His colleagues including Nawab Mohsinul Mulk and others created conditions which led to the establishment of All India Muslim League in Dhaka in 1906, a landmark in the history of Pakistan Movement. On March 22, 1940 in his presidential address to the All-India Muslim League Lahore session, the founder of Pakistan M A Jinnah made it plain that �The Hindus and the Muslims belong to two different religious philosophies, social customs, and literature. They neither intermarry, nor interdine together, and indeed they belong to two different civilizations which are based mainly on conflicting ideas and conceptions. He further said Musalmans are a nation according to any definition of a nation, and they must have their homeland, their territory and their State. �Two-Nation� theory implies that Muslims of the subcontinent were a nation quite distinct and separate from the Hindus. In an interview with Beverlay Nicholas, the founder of Pakistan Muhammad Ali Jinnah said in 1944 �You must remember that Islam is not merely a religious doctrine but a realistic and practical code of conduct. I am thinking in terms of everything important in life. I am thinking in terms of our history, our heroes, our art, our architecture, out music, our laws, our jurisprudence�..In all these things, our outlook is not only fundamentally different but also often radically antagonistic to the Hindus. We are different beings. There is nothing in life, which links us together�. (�Verdict on India� by Beverlay Nicholas, PP58-59). The fact is that two-nation theory and Pakistan are the same. All States except Pakistan have been created on the basis of geography, ethnicity and economic interests. This is the uniqueness of Pakistan. The writer is an Islamabad-based analyst of grand repute and ex-Director General, Radio Pakistan.  

Importance of Value Education By Naraginti Reddy

Seven sins: wealth without work, pleasure without conscience, knowledge without character,commerce without morality, science without humanity, worship without sacrifice, politics without principle.
-Mahatma Gandhi
Just in case you believe that great social problems are beyond your scope, consider this story: God said to me: Your task is to build a better world. I answered: How can I do that? The world is such a large, vast Fantasy and Feeling place, so complicated now, and I am so small and useless. There nothing I can do. But God in his great wisdom said: Just build a better you.
- Anonymous
The moral values present a true perspective of the development of any society or nation. They tell us to what extent a society or nation has developed itself. Values are virtues, ideals and qualities on which actions and beliefs are based. Values are guiding principles that shape our world outlook, attitudes and conduct. Values however are either innate or acquired. Innate values are our inborn divine virtues such as love, peace, happiness, mercy and compassion as well as the positive moral qualities such as respect, humility, tolerance, responsibility, cooperation, honesty and simplicity.
Acquired values are those external values adopted at your "place of birth" or "place of growth" and
are influenced by the immediate environment. Examples of acquired values are one's mode of dress, the way you bless, cultural customs, traditions, habits and tendencies.
The main causes of moral degeneration are:
- Lack of respect for the sanctity of human life.
- Breakdown of parental control of children in families
- Lack of respect for authority, seen through the brazen breaking of the law and
Total disregard for rules and regulations
- Crime and corruption
- Abuse of alcohol and drugs
- Abuse of women and children, and other vulnerable members of society.
- Lack of respect for other people and property.
To solve all these type problems it is necessary to know the main causes of the above problems. We know today children are tomorrow's citizens. If we give good education to the present day children, the future of the next generations will be well. My opinion education is the solution for all types of the problems. Now we are living in the modern century. If we use science and technology in the proper way it is not difficult for us to solve all the problems of the non-moral and value things.The main object of the study is to inculcate moral and value based education in schools and colleges and to know the attitude of intermediate students towards moral values. Gandhiji advised the inmates of Sabarmati Ashram on the practice of the following values in their day-
to-day life:
1. Ahimsa
2. Non-stealing
3. Non-possession
4. Swadeshi
5. Manual work
6. Fearlessness
7. Truth
8. Chastity
9. Equality of religion
10. Removal of untouchability
11. Control of palate
Important life goals and personal characteristics:
Life goals and Personal characteristics are very necessary for all types of persons in the society.
Life Goals:
- A world at peace (free of war and conflict)Transforming Public Education: Cases in Educaion Fantasy and Feeling in EducaionEntrepreneurship
- Freedom (independence, free choice)
- Wisdom (a mature understanding of life)
- Happiness (contentedness)
- An exciting life (a stimulating, active life)
- Equality (brotherhood, equal opportunity for all)
- A comfortable life (a prosperous life)
- Self-respect (self-esteem, feeling good about yourself)
- Salvation (religiously saved, eternal life)
- Mature love (sexual & spiritual intimacy)
- Social recognition (respect, admiration)
- A sense of accomplishment (I've made a lasting contribution)
- Family security (taking care of loved ones)
- True friendship (close companionship)
- A world of beauty (beauty of nature and the arts)
- Inner harmony (freedom from inner conflict)
- Pleasure (an enjoyable, leisurely life)
- National security (protection from attack)
Personal Characteristics:
- Self-controlled (thinks first, restrained, self-disciplined)
- Honest (sincere, truthful, disclosing)
- Loving (affectionate, tender, caring)
- Ambitious (hard working, aspiring)
- Cheerful (lighthearted, joyful)
- Responsible (dependable, reliable)
- Independent (self-reliant, sufficient)
- Broad-minded (open-minded, able to see other viewpoints)
- Polite (courteous, well mannered)
- Forgiving (willing to pardon others)
- Intellectual (intelligent, reflective, knowledgeable)
- Helpful (working for the welfare of others)
- Obedient (dutiful, respectful)
- Capable (competent, effective, skillful)
- Logical (consistent, rational, aware of reality)
- Clean (neat, tidy)
- Imaginative (daring, creative)
- Courageous (standing up for your beliefs, strong)
Hogan (1973) believes that moral behavior is determined by five factors: (1) Socialization: becoming aware as a child of society's and parents' rules of conduct for being good. (2) Moral
judgment: learning to think reasonably about our own ethics and deliberately deciding on our own
moral standards. (3) Moral feelings: the internalization of our moral beliefs to the degree that we feel shame and guilt when we fail to do what we "should." (4) Empathy: the awareness of other people's situation, feelings, and needs so that one is compelled to help those in need. (5) Confidence and knowledge: knowing the steps involved in helping others and believing that one is responsible for and capable of helping.
Today we facing so many problems like terrorism, poverty and population problem. It is necessary to inculcate moral values in curriculum. Education is an effective weapon. Education is a weapon, whose effect depends on who holds it is his handsand at whom it is aimed. (Joseph Stalin)
Curricular Activities:
Due to liberalization, industrialization and globalization rapid changes are occurring in almost all social sciences. The value possessed and their attitudes according to the changes should be known up to date vast changes are occurring in the education. So called philosophical foundations of India are declining day to day with the country in a state of social turbulence, the goals and functions of formal education need to be reassessed and updated. Through education we can change the world.
- By giving a place for moral values in the curriculum.
- Moral values can be explained through stories and illustrations.
- Through poetry, novel and stories we can inculcate moral values in the students.
- Role play of a good story in the lesson.
- Educate students through posters, advertisements and dramatizations; those are all a part
in the curriculum.
- By introducing a course on moral values as a part of its Master Degree in Developmental
Administration.
- Giving course training to students to develop moral values in the society.
- By educating citizen through direct contact by setting up local offices across the religion.
- First of all educate women in the society. Mother is the first teacher. Motivate every woman
to know about moral values through special course like "Gandhian Studies".
"IF WEALTH IS LOST NOTHING IS LOST"
"IF HEALTH IS LOST SOMETHING IS LOST"
"IF CHARACTER IS LOST EVERYTHING IS LOST"

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Higher Education in Pakistan: A Silent Revolution

	By Atta-ur-Rahman We now live in a world in which knowledge has become the key driver for socio- economic development. Only those countries who invest in their human resources, tap into the creativity of their young, and harness their potential for development will be able to march forward.   Stunning advances made in the last few decades in the fields of information technology, biotechnology, material sciences, health sciences, renewable energy, and other disciplines are rapidly changing the face of the globe, leading several countries toward the path of social and economic development and leaving others behind. The pace of knowledge generation and its impact on new product and process development and emergence of new interdisciplinary areas, e.g. nanotechnology and post- genomic sciences, are providing opportunities for nations not traditionally associated with science leadership to leapfrog many of the advanced G8 countries. These emerging fields have provided opportunities for nations which were not traditionally classified as scientifically and technologically advanced countries. New knowledge, particularly knowledge related to technology, drives economic systems. Economic agents, including firms and governments, are forced to adapt to technical change in order to survive in a competitive environment. While governments should act as facilitators, technology capabilities must accumulate in enterprises. This will only be possible if we strengthen our universities and research and development organizations and create effective linkages between them and industry. It will be the increasing use of knowledge in the production processes and service industry which will determine the growth of our GDP. Our ability to compete or survive in the globalization of economic systems depends on our commitment to developing our human capital and ensuring a continuous learning process within the government institutions and enterprises to create a culture of innovation. Innovation is concerned with enhancing national productivity and national competitive performance.  Dynamic innovation systems involve an interplay between a number of different parts of society which include the government, private sector, universities, and research institutions. The transition of our economy from an agriculture-based economy to a knowledge-based economy involves a mosaic of complex interactions between a large number of players.  Universities will need to play a central part in this transition through the creation, use, and diffusion of new knowledge into the society through the establishment of technology parks, business incubators, access to venture capital, and other such schemes. The new world order requires us to prepare our children to face the challenges of the global economy. This involves a substantially different type of education to be imparted, focused not only on the mastery of subject matters but also on the ability to think critically, innovate, communicate, work effectively in teams, and develop entrepreneurship opportunities and flexibility. This would require a massive focused national effort. While investment towards development of high level science and technology manpower is necessary to meet the critical shortage of teachers and researchers, investment in skill development at technical education and management levels and provision of quality education to the majority of our population is equally important. The Role of Higher Education in Pakistan Established in September 2002, the core function of Higher Education Commission (HEC) is to facilitate the transformation of Pakistan into a knowledge economy.  Since its inception, the HEC has undertaken a systematic process of implementation of an agenda for reform outlined in the HEC Medium Term Development Framework (MTDF), in which Access, Quality and Relevance have been identified as the key challenges faced by the sector. To address these challenges, a comprehensive strategy was defined that identified the core strategic aims for reform as: (i) Faculty Development; (ii) Improving Access; (iii) Excellence in Learning and Research; and (iv) Relevance to National Priorities. Faculty Development With a dual objective of increasing institutional capacity and enhancing local research activities, the major thrust of programs in the area of human resource development has been primarily aimed at improving the academic qualifications of the university faculty. Key programs include the Indigenous Scholarship Program, under which so far 2,000 scholarships for doctoral studies have been awarded with steps to ensure international standards of quality. The Foreign Scholarship Program is geared towards improving the research base in areas of national relevance, particularly those relating to engineering and applied and pure sciences.  The majority of the scholars have studied in Germany, France, Austria, Sweden, Netherlands, Korea, and China, with others in the U.S., UK, Australia, and New Zealand. So far more than 821 scholarships have been awarded to students to pursue Masters and Ph.D. degrees abroad.  A $250 million project to further fund 2000 students for study abroad has been recently approved by the Government of Pakistan. The largest Fulbright Scholarship Program in the world, costing $150 million, has also been launched with U.S. assistance, under which 640 students will study in top American universities. Another 500 students will study in Australia under the Australia Pakistan Scholarship Program. Additionally, a program to fund Post Doctoral Fellowships has been successfully completed, placing more than 255 scholars for 9-12 month fellowships in premier academic and research institutions abroad.  Pakistan will be rewarded for these scholarship initiatives when students return after completing Ph.D.s and perpetuate the culture of research in our universities.  To cater to the immediate needs of qualified personnel in our public sector universities, HEC has implemented the Foreign Faculty Hiring Program to recruit highly qualified faculty members from abroad, both on short and long term appointments. So far over 270 foreign faculty members have participated in this program, about 140 of whom are engaged under the long-term scheme of one to five years. In-service teachers have been supported through one and three month faculty development training modules focused on improvement in pedagogy, enhancement of communication and computer skills, advanced assessment methodologies, and enhancement of subject knowledge. More than 340 faculty members have benefited from this program, which aims to train all active faculty members during the next three years. An additional 430 faculty members have attended short term subject specific training sessions to upgrade their skills relevant to their chosen field.  Additional Master’s training courses, conducted at the HEC over the past two years, have trained more than 2,500 university teachers. Improving Access In the context of an ever-increasing population and spiraling economic demands, enhancing accessibility and participation in higher education remains an important goal for us. A massive program was launched to increase the number of seats available in the universities. As a result enrolment in universities has increased by over 40 percent while distance learning programs show an increase of 19 percent. Increased enrolments require enhanced facilities for students. New projects have therefore been initiated for construction of new academic and research infrastructure, hiring new faculty members, and introduction of market oriented programs to attract new entrants.  Thirteen new universities have been granted charters, mostly in areas where higher education opportunities were hitherto scarce.  Moreover, through the implementation of the indigenous Ph.D. program, the number of students engaged in Ph.D. programs has increased 56 percent. Promotion of Excellence in Learning and Research The generation of new knowledge and efficient dissemination of existing knowledge is a key responsibility of institutions of higher learning. Universities differ from colleges as they have the obligation to foster a research environment and provide facilities to ensure that research enterprise is sufficiently integrated with industry.  To support the conduct of world class research, more than 20 Central Research Laboratories have been established in major universities of the country. The improved facilities are supported by sophisticated IT-based solutions to cater to the research needs. The flagship Competitive Research Program has funded over 333 research programs following a comprehensive peer review process. Additional programs have been implemented to sponsor the attendance of international conferences to researchers presenting original papers as well as initiatives to fund the hosting of local workshops and conferences. The University Linkage Program has been launched to promote enhanced international research collaboration by linking departments in Pakistani universities with their counterparts in leading research universities abroad. Through a collaborative arrangement with the British Council, 50 such linkages have been initiated between Pakistani and British universities. The generation of knowledge at the university level and creation of new programs introduced by HEC has already begun to make an impact on research productivity. According to the Institute of Scientific Information (US), the total number of publications appearing in 8,000 leading internationally abstracted journals indexed in the Web of Science produced out of Pakistan in 2005 was 1259 articles, representing a 41 % increase over the past two years, and a 60 % increase since the establishment of HEC since 2002. Relevance to the Economy and Industrial Linkages The programs of the HEC have targeted the development of necessary manpower to allow the economy of Pakistan to transition towards a knowledge based economy.  Significant assistance has been provided to the engineering sector, by allocating funds to strengthen of current departments, initiate new programs, establish additional campuses, and develop central resource laboratories.  A second major support initiative has been launched in the critical area of biotechnology, with institutes set up in bio-informatics, proteomics, stem cell research, plant genomics and genetic engineering. Quality Assurance and Accreditation We are placing a particular focus on the institution of quality enhancement, assurance, and accreditation mechanisms at universities across the country, with the aim of achieving parity with international standards of quality of higher learning.  Sustainable improvement in the delivery of higher education requires the development of a mechanism for continuous self-monitoring and improvement of the system.  The HEC has established a Quality Assurance Agency to safeguard public interest by enforcing sound standards of higher education and encouraging continuous improvement by reviewing and developing higher education benchmarks and quality criteria. Physical and Technological Infrastructure Development Strategies for increasing enrolment in higher education, improving research capacity, and enhancing the quality of education programs have been complemented by a host of physical and technological infrastructure programs to provide high quality education services. Through the University Computerization and Networking Program, all public sector universities have been provided high quality ICT infrastructure within their institution, including computer laboratories, and local and wide area networks. In addition, the revolutionary Pakistan Educational and Research Network (PERN) has extended its reach to all 60 public sector universities and provides internet connectivity of 155MB across the network. As a full voting member of the Asia Pacific Advance Network Consortium (APAN), PERN is also enhancing its functionality by providing connected universities with additional applications such as video conferencing and Voice Over IP services for communication between connected universities. Video conferencing will become operational this November and students in Pakistan will attend lectures interactively delivered by eminent experts in top universities in Western technologically advanced countries around the globe. Over 700 lectures by Nobel Laureates and top professors have already been lined up to be beamed into Pakistani lecture theatres. Institutions and campuses currently not connected to PERN, or located in remote areas beyond the current reach of the network, have been provided with a satellite based internet downlink providing high speed internet connectivity to support the ICT services. HEC’s Digital Library Program provides a globally unparalleled service with over 20,000 free online journals from the world’s leading publishing houses available to universities and R&D organizations across the country.  The facility also has 10,000 e-books available. Six engineering and three technological universities are being established and will soon become operational thanks to collaboration efforts with Germany, France, Sweden, South Korea, China and Austria.  Each university will be established at an estimated cost of approximately US$400 million. Over 4,500 scholars will be trained for the doctoral degrees and will return to Pakistan on completion of their training to form faculty of that university. The universities will have technology parks and technology incubators with enhanced links to the industry of the area. This will greatly help consolidate our technological base and make us more independent. I dream of seeing Pakistan at the forefront of frontier technologies. A World Bank report has recently termed the changes taking place in the higher education sector a ‘silent revolution’. Pakistan’s talented youth has the potential to use these opportunities so that Pakistan can transition from an agricultural economy to a knowledge economy. Professor Dr. Atta-ur-Rahman is Chairman of the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan. Linkages between Pakistani Institutions and Foreign Universities The Higher Education Commission’s umbrella project for the creation of academic linkages between Pakistani institutions of higher education and foreign universities in various fields has been launched at a capital cost of Rs. 308.772 million (US$5.07 million) for a period of three years. The aim of the project is to promote mutual awareness, understanding, and cooperation between universities in Pakistan and partner countries to improve quality of education and research in Pakistan. Examples of International Linkages: ·        COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Islamabad has linked up with Texas A&M University for ‘Quantum Computing and Atomic Coherence Effects’. The collaboration is helping to create a critical mass of highly qualified scientific and technological manpower by initiating and carrying out world class research and specialized trainings.  ·        Institute of Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering, University of Karachi (KIBGE) and Pasteur Institute, Paris, France are working to evaluate the role of genetic variation in a number of innate genes in susceptibility to tuberculosis in Pakistan. ·        NWFP University of Agriculture, Peshawar and University of Illinois Urbana Champaign (UIUC) and Southern ICU and University of California Davis aims to enhance professional skill through long term collaboration. Specifically, work is being done to catalogue brassica oilseed genetic resources. ·        Balochistan University of Information Technology and Management Sciences with University of Glasgow. Work is in progress to develop application of bioinformatics in elucidating biological mechanism through a model study in the health related biochemical and molecular profiles in various ethnic populations of Balochistan. The research will further facilitate research in agriculture, health, and environment and related industry. ·        The School of Biological Sciences, University of Punjab and National Health Research Complex and Pakistan Medical Research Council and St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, Queen Mary College, London promotes the institutional strengthening in applied immunology for the appropriate diagnosis and management of diabetes mellitus. The aim is the development of glycated haemoglobin test and assay kits, to benefit diabetes patients. The link will contribute key medical advances in the diabetes management research in Pakistan. ·        In collaboration the Department of Molecular Genetics, the University of Karachi and Department of Pathology and Neuroscience, Ninewells Medical School, University of Dundee are involved in Teaching Training and Research in DNA sequencing and Genetics.  The partnership will develop DNA sequencing capabilities of the Pakistani university and train its researchers in genetic engineering and biotechnology.

Salient Features of National Education Policy 1998-2010

Aims and objectives of Education and Islamic Education

Education and training should enable the citizens of Pakistan to lead their lives according to the teachings of Islam as laid down in the Qur'an and Sunnah and to educate and train them as a true practicing Muslim. To evolve an integrated system of national education by bringing Deeni Madaris and modern schools closer to each stream in curriculum and the contents of education. Nazira Qur'an will be introduced as a compulsory component from grade I-VIII while at secondary level translation of the selected verses from the Holy Qur'an will be offered. 

Literacy and Non-Formal Education

Eradication of illiteracy through formal and informal means for expansion of basic education through involvement of community. The current literacy rate of about 39% will be raised to 55% during the first five years of the policy and 70% by the year 2010 Functional literacy and income generation skills will be provided to rural women of 15 to 25 age group and basic educational facilities will be provided to working children. Functional literacy will be imparted to adolescents (10-14) who missed out the chance of primary education. The existing disparities in basic education will be reduced to half by year 2010. 

Elementary Education

About 90% of the children in the age group (5-9) will be enrolled in schools by year 2002-03. Gross enrolment ratio at primary level will be increased to 105% by year 2010 and Compulsory Primary Education Act will be promulgated and enforced in a phased manner. Full utilization of existing capacity at the basic level has been ensured by providing for introduction of double shift in existing school of basics education. Quality of primary education will be improved through revising curricula, imparting in-service training to the teachers, raising entry qualifications for teachers from matriculation to intermediate, revising teacher training curricula, improving management and supervision system and reforming the existing examination and assessment system.

Integration of primary and middle level education in to elementary education (I-VIII). Increasing participation rate from 46% to 65% by 2002-3 and 85% 2010 at middle level. At the elementary level, a system of continuous evaluation will be adopted to ensure attainment of minimum learning competencies for improving quality of education. 

Secondary Education

One model secondary school will be set up at each district level. A definite vocation or a career will be introduced at secondary level. It would be ensured that all the boys and girls, desirous of entering secondary education, become enrolled in secondary schools. Curriculum for secondary and higher secondary will be revised and multiple textbooks will be introduced. The participation rate will be increased from 31% to 48% by 2002-03. The base for technical and vocational education shall be broadened through introduction of a stream of matriculation (Technical) on pilot basis and establishment of vocational high schools. Multiple textbooks shall be introduced at secondary school level.

 Teacher Education

To increase the effectiveness of the system by institutionalizing in-service training of teachers, teacher trainers and educational administrators through school clustering and other techniques. To upgrade the quality of pre-service teacher training programmes by introducing parallel programmes of longer duration at post-secondary and post-degree levels i.e. introduction of programs of FA/FSc education and BA/BSc education . The contents and methodology parts of teacher education curricula will be revised. Both formal and non-formal means shall be used to provide increased opportunities of in-service training to the working teachers, preferably at least once in five years. A special package of incentives package shall be provided to rural females to join the teaching profession. A new cadre of teacher educators shall be created. 

Technical and Vocational Education

To develop opportunities for technical and vocational education in the country for producing trained manpower, commensurate with the needs of industry and economic development goals. To improve the quality of technical education so as to enhance the chances of employment of Technical and vocational Education (TVE) graduates by moving from a static, supply-based system to a demand-driven system. Revision and updating of curricula shall be made a continuing activity to keep pace with changing needs of the job market and for accommodating the new developments. Development of technical competence, communication skills, safety and health measures and entrepreneurial skills etc. shall be reflected in the curricula. Institution-industry linkages shall be strengthened to enhance the relevance of training to the requirements of the job market. Emerging technologies e.g. telecommunication, computer, electronics, automation, petroleum, garments, food preservation, printing and graphics, textile, mining, sugar technology, etc. greatly in demand in the job market shall be introduced in selected polytechnics. A National Council for Technical Education shall be established to regulate technical education.

Higher Education

Access to higher education shall be expanded to at least 5% of the age group 17-23 by the year 2010. Merit shall be the only criterion for entry into higher education. Access to higher education, therefore, shall be based on entrance tests. Reputed degree colleges shall be given autonomy and degree awarding status. Degree colleges shall have the option to affiliate with any recognized Pakistani university or degree awarding institution for examination and award of degrees. To attract highly talented qualified teachers, the university staff will be paid at higher rates than usual grades. Local M.Phil. and Ph.D programs shall be launched and laboratory and library facilities will be strengthened. Split Ph.D programs shall be launched in collaboration with reputed foreign universities and at the minimum, 100 scholars shall be annually trained under this arrangement. All quota/reserve seats shall be eliminated. Students from backward areas, who clear entry tests, would compete amongst themselves. In order to eliminate violence, all political activities on the campus shall be banned. 

Information Technology

Computers shall be introduced in secondary schools in a phased manner. School curricula shall be revised to include recent developments in information technology, such as software development, the Information Super Highway designing Web Pages, etc 

Library and Documentation Services
School, college and university libraries shall be equipped with the latest reading materials/services. Internet connection with computer shall be given to each library. Mobile library services for semi-urban and remote rural areas shall be introduced. 

Private Sector in Education

Encouraging private investment in education. There shall be regulatory bodies at the national and provincial levels to regulate activities and smooth functioning of privately-managed schools and institutions of higher education through proper rules and regulations. A reasonable tax rebate shall be granted on the expenditure incurred on the setting-up of educational facilities by the private sector. Matching grants shall be provided for establishing educational institutions by the private sector in the rural areas or poor urban areas through Education Foundations. Existing institutions of higher learning shall be allowed to negotiate for financial assistance with donor agencies in collaboration with the Ministry of Education. Educational institutions to be set up in the private sector shall be provided (a) plots in residential schemes on reserve prices, and (b) rebate on income tax, like industry. Schools running on non-profit basis shall be exempted from all taxes. Curricula of private institutions must conform to the principles laid down in the Federal Supervision of curricula, Textbooks and Maintenance of Standards of Education Act, 1976. The fee structure of the privately managed educational institutions shall be developed in consultation with the government. 

Innovative Programes

The National Education Testing Service will be established to design and administer standardized tests for admission to professional institutions. Qualifying these tests will become a compulsory requirement for entry to professional education. This mechanism is expected to check the incidence of malpractice in examinations. Likewise, standardized tests shall be introduced for admission to general education in universities. 

Implementation Monitoring And Evaluation

A comprehensive monitoring and evaluation system has been envisaged from grass-roots to the highest level. The District Education Authority will be established in each district to ensure public participation in monitoring and implementation. The education Ministers at the Federal and Provincial levels will oversee monitoring committees, responsible for implementation at their levels. The Prime Minister and Provincial Chief Ministers will be the Chief of National and Provincial Education Councils respectively which will ensure achievements of targets. Existing EMIS at Federal and Provincial levels shall be strengthened to make them responsive to the need of Monitoring and Evaluation System (MES).The Academy of Educational Planning and Management (AEPAM) shall be strengthened and tuned up to meet the emerging demands of MES and its obligations at national and provincial levels. Data collected through Provincial EMISs and collated by AEPAM through National Education Management Information System (NEMIS) shall be recognized as one source for planning, management, monitoring, and evaluation purposes to avoid disparities and confusion. Databases of critical indicators on qualitative aspects of educational growth shall be developed and maintained by AEPAM for developing sustainable indicators of progress, based on more reliable and valid data to facilitate planning, implementation and follow-up. A School Census Day shall be fixed for collecting data from all over the country.
The total expenditure of the government on education will be raised from its present level of 2.2% to 4% of GNP by the year 2002-03 (p.132).

Aims in Education by John dewy

1. The Nature of an Aim.

The account of education given in our earlier chapters virtually anticipated the results reached in a discussion of the purport of education in a democratic community. For it assumed that the aim of education is to enable individuals to continue their education—or that the object and reward of learning is continued capacity for growth. Now this idea cannot be applied to all the members of a society except where intercourse of man with man is mutual, and except where there is adequate provision for the reconstruction of social habits and institutions by means of wide stimulation arising from equitably distributed interests. And this means a democratic society. In our search for aims in education, we are not concerned, therefore, with finding an end outside of the educative process to which education is subordinate. Our whole conception forbids. We are rather concerned with the contrast which exists when aims belong within the process in which they operate and when they are set up from without. And the latter state of affairs must obtain when social relationships are not equitably balanced. For in that case, some portions of the whole social group will find their aims determined by an external dictation; their aims will not arise from the free growth of their own experience, and their nominal aims will be means to more ulterior ends of others rather than truly their own.

Our first question is to define the nature of an aim so far as it falls within an activity, instead of being furnished from without. We approach the definition by a contrast of mere results with ends. Any exhibition of energy has results. The wind blows about the sands of the desert; the position of the grains is changed. Here is a result, an effect, but not an end. For there is nothing in the outcome which completes or fulfills what went before it. There is mere spatial redistribution. One state of affairs is just as good as any other. Consequently there is no basis upon which to select an earlier state of affairs as a beginning, a later as an end, and to consider what intervenes as a process of transformation and realization.

Consider for example the activities of bees in contrast with the changes in the sands when the wind blows them about. The results of the bees' actions may be called ends not because they are designed or consciously intended, but because they are true terminations or completions of what has preceded. When the bees gather pollen and make wax and build cells, each step prepares the way for the next. When cells are built, the queen lays eggs in them; when eggs are laid, they are sealed and bees brood them and keep them at a temperature required to hatch them. When they are hatched, bees feed the young till they can take care of themselves. Now we are so familiar with such facts, that we are apt to dismiss them on the ground that life and instinct are a kind of miraculous thing anyway. Thus we fail to note what the essential characteristic of the event is; namely, the significance of the temporal place and order of each element; the way each prior event leads into its successor while the successor takes up what is furnished and utilizes it for some other stage, until we arrive at the end, which, as it were, summarizes and finishes off the process. Since aims relate always to results, the first thing to look to when it is a question of aims, is whether the work assigned possesses intrinsic continuity. Or is it a mere serial aggregate of acts, first doing one thing and then another? To talk about an educational aim when approximately each act of a pupil is dictated by the teacher, when the only order in the sequence of his acts is that which comes from the assignment of lessons and the giving of directions by another, is to talk nonsense. It is equally fatal to an aim to permit capricious or discontinuous action in the name of spontaneous self-expression. An aim implies an orderly and ordered activity, one in which the order consists in the progressive completing of a process. Given an activity having a time span and cumulative growth within the time succession, an aim means foresight in advance of the end or possible termination. If bees anticipated the consequences of their activity, if they perceived their end in imaginative foresight, they would have the primary element in an aim. Hence it is nonsense to talk about the aim of education—or any other undertaking—where conditions do not permit of foresight of results, and do not stimulate a person to look ahead to see what the outcome of a given activity is to be. In the next place the aim as a foreseen end gives direction to the activity; it is not an idle view of a mere spectator, but influences the steps taken to reach the end. The foresight functions in three ways. In the first place, it involves careful observation of the given conditions to see what are the means available for reaching the end, and to discover the hindrances in the way. In the second place, it suggests the proper order or sequence in the use of means. It facilitates an economical selection and arrangement. In the third place, it makes choice of alternatives possible. If we can predict the outcome of acting this way or that, we can then compare the value of the two courses of action; we can pass judgment upon their relative desirability. If we know that stagnant water breeds mosquitoes and that they are likely to carry disease, we can, disliking that anticipated result, take steps to avert it. Since we do not anticipate results as mere intellectual onlookers, but as persons concerned in the outcome, we are partakers in the process which produces the result. We intervene to bring about this result or that.

Of course these three points are closely connected with one another. We can definitely foresee results only as we make careful scrutiny of present conditions, and the importance of the outcome supplies the motive for observations. The more adequate our observations, the more varied is the scene of conditions and obstructions that presents itself, and the more numerous are the alternatives between which choice may be made. In turn, the more numerous the recognized possibilities of the situation, or alternatives of action, the more meaning does the chosen activity possess, and the more flexibly controllable is it. Where only a single outcome has been thought of, the mind has nothing else to think of; the meaning attaching to the act is limited. One only steams ahead toward the mark. Sometimes such a narrow course may be effective. But if unexpected difficulties offer themselves, one has not as many resources at command as if he had chosen the same line of action after a broader survey of the possibilities of the field. He cannot make needed readjustments readily.

The net conclusion is that acting with an aim is all one with acting intelligently. To foresee a terminus of an act is to have a basis upon which to observe, to select, and to order objects and our own capacities. To do these things means to have a mind—for mind is precisely intentional purposeful activity controlled by perception of facts and their relationships to one another. To have a mind to do a thing is to foresee a future possibility; it is to have a plan for its accomplishment; it is to note the means which make the plan capable of execution and the obstructions in the way,—or, if it is really a mind to do the thing and not a vague aspiration—it is to have a plan which takes account of resources and difficulties. Mind is capacity to refer present conditions to future results, and future consequences to present conditions. And these traits are just what is meant by having an aim or a purpose. A man is stupid or blind or unintelligent—lacking in mind—just in the degree in which in any activity he does not know what he is about, namely, the probable consequences of his acts. A man is imperfectly intelligent when he contents himself with looser guesses about the outcome than is needful, just taking a chance with his luck, or when he forms plans apart from study of the actual conditions, including his own capacities. Such relative absence of mind means to make our feelings the measure of what is to happen. To be intelligent we must "stop, look, listen" in making the plan of an activity.

To identify acting with an aim and intelligent activity is enough to show its value—its function in experience. We are only too given to making an entity out of the abstract noun "consciousness." We forget that it comes from the adjective "conscious." To be conscious is to be aware of what we are about; conscious signifies the deliberate, observant, planning traits of activity. Consciousness is nothing which we have which gazes idly on the scene around one or which has impressions made upon it by physical things; it is a name for the purposeful quality of an activity, for the fact that it is directed by an aim. Put the other way about, to have an aim is to act with meaning, not like an automatic machine; it is to mean to do something and to perceive the meaning of things in the light of that intent.

2. The Criteria of Good Aims. 

We may apply the results of our discussion to a consideration of the criteria involved in a correct establishing of aims. (1) The aim set up must be an outgrowth of existing conditions. It must be based upon a consideration of what is already going on; upon the resources and difficulties of the situation. Theories about the proper end of our activities—educational and moral theories—often violate this principle. They assume ends lying outside our activities; ends foreign to the concrete makeup of the situation; ends which issue from some outside source. Then the problem is to bring our activities to bear upon the realization of these externally supplied ends. They are something for which we ought to act. In any case such "aims" limit intelligence; they are not the expression of mind in foresight, observation, and choice of the better among alternative possibilities. They limit intelligence because, given ready-made, they must be imposed by some authority external to intelligence, leaving to the latter nothing but a mechanical choice of means.

(2) We have spoken as if aims could be completely formed prior to the attempt to realize them. This impression must now be qualified. The aim as it first emerges is a mere tentative sketch. The act of striving to realize it tests its worth. If it suffices to direct activity successfully, nothing more is required, since its whole function is to set a mark in advance; and at times a mere hint may suffice. But usually—at least in complicated situations—acting upon it brings to light conditions which had been overlooked. This calls for revision of the original aim; it has to be added to and subtracted from. An aim must, then, be flexible; it must be capable of alteration to meet circumstances. An end established externally to the process of action is always rigid. Being inserted or imposed from without, it is not supposed to have a working relationship to the concrete conditions of the situation. What happens in the course of action neither confirms, refutes, nor alters it. Such an end can only be insisted upon. The failure that results from its lack of adaptation is attributed simply to the perverseness of conditions, not to the fact that the end is not reasonable under the circumstances. The value of a legitimate aim, on the contrary, lies in the fact that we can use it to change conditions. It is a method for dealing with conditions so as to effect desirable alterations in them. A farmer who should passively accept things just as he finds them would make as great a mistake as he who framed his plans in complete disregard of what soil, climate, etc., permit. One of the evils of an abstract or remote external aim in education is that its very inapplicability in practice is likely to react into a haphazard snatching at immediate conditions. A good aim surveys the present state of experience of pupils, and forming a tentative plan of treatment, keeps the plan constantly in view and yet modifies it as conditions develop. The aim, in short, is experimental, and hence constantly growing as it is tested in action. 

(3) The aim must always represent a freeing of activities. 

The term end in view is suggestive, for it puts before the mind the termination or conclusion of some process. The only way in which we can define an activity is by putting before ourselves the objects in which it terminates—as one's aim in shooting is the target. But we must remember that the object is only a mark or sign by which the mind specifies the activity one desires to carry out. Strictly speaking, not the target but hitting the target is the end in view; one takes aim by means of the target, but also by the sight on the gun. The different objects which are thought of are means of directing the activity. Thus one aims at, say, a rabbit; what he wants is to shoot straight: a certain kind of activity. Or, if it is the rabbit he wants, it is not rabbit apart from his activity, but as a factor in activity; he wants to eat the rabbit, or to show it as evidence of his marksmanship—he wants to do something with it. The doing with the thing, not the thing in isolation, is his end. The object is but a phase of the active end,—continuing the activity successfully. This is what is meant by the phrase, used above, "freeing activity."

In contrast with fulfilling some process in order that activity may go on, stands the static character of an end which is imposed from without the activity. It is always conceived of as fixed; it is something to be attained and possessed. When one has such a notion, activity is a mere unavoidable means to something else; it is not significant or important on its own account. As compared with the end it is but a necessary evil; something which must be gone through before one can reach the object which is alone worth while. In other words, the external idea of the aim leads to a separation of means from end, while an end which grows up within an activity as plan for its direction is always both ends and means, the distinction being only one of convenience. Every means is a temporary end until we have attained it. Every end becomes a means of carrying activity further as soon as it is achieved. We call it end when it marks off the future direction of the activity in which we are engaged; means when it marks off the present direction. Every divorce of end from means diminishes by that much the significance of the activity and tends to reduce it to a drudgery from which one would escape if he could. A farmer has to use plants and animals to carry on his farming activities. It certainly makes a great difference to his life whether he is fond of them, or whether he regards them merely as means which he has to employ to get something else in which alone he is interested. In the former case, his entire course of activity is significant; each phase of it has its own value. He has the experience of realizing his end at every stage; the postponed aim, or end in view, being merely a sight ahead by which to keep his activity going fully and freely. For if he does not look ahead, he is more likely to find himself blocked. The aim is as definitely a means of action as is any other portion of an activity.

3. Applications in Education. There is nothing peculiar about educational aims. They are just like aims in any directed occupation. The educator, like the farmer, has certain things to do, certain resources with which to do, and certain obstacles with which to contend. The conditions with which the farmer deals, whether as obstacles or resources, have their own structure and operation independently of any purpose of his. Seeds sprout, rain falls, the sun shines, insects devour, blight comes, the seasons change. His aim is simply to utilize these various conditions; to make his activities and their energies work together, instead of against one another. It would be absurd if the farmer set up a purpose of farming, without any reference to these conditions of soil, climate, characteristic of plant growth, etc. His purpose is simply a foresight of the consequences of his energies connected with those of the things about him, a foresight used to direct his movements from day to day. Foresight of possible consequences leads to more careful and extensive observation of the nature and performances of the things he had to do with, and to laying out a plan—that is, of a certain order in the acts to be performed.

It is the same with the educator, whether parent or teacher. It is as absurd for the latter to set up his "own" aims as the proper objects of the growth of the children as it would be for the farmer to set up an ideal of farming irrespective of conditions. Aims mean acceptance of responsibility for the observations, anticipations, and arrangements required in carrying on a function—whether farming or educating. Any aim is of value so far as it assists observation, choice, and planning in carrying on activity from moment to moment and hour to hour; if it gets in the way of the individual's own common sense (as it will surely do if imposed from without or accepted on authority) it does harm.

And it is well to remind ourselves that education as such has no aims. Only persons, parents, and teachers, etc., have aims, not an abstract idea like education. And consequently their purposes are indefinitely varied, differing with different children, changing as children grow and with the growth of experience on the part of the one who teaches. Even the most valid aims which can be put in words will, as words, do more harm than good unless one recognizes that they are not aims, but rather suggestions to educators as to how to observe, how to look ahead, and how to choose in liberating and directing the energies of the concrete situations in which they find themselves. As a recent writer has said: "To lead this boy to read Scott's novels instead of old Sleuth's stories; to teach this girl to sew; to root out the habit of bullying from John's make-up; to prepare this class to study medicine,—these are samples of the millions of aims we have actually before us in the concrete work of education." Bearing these qualifications in mind, we shall proceed to state some of the characteristics found in all good educational aims. (1) An educational aim must be founded upon the intrinsic activities and needs (including original instincts and acquired habits) of the given individual to be educated. The tendency of such an aim as preparation is, as we have seen, to omit existing powers, and find the aim in some remote accomplishment or responsibility. In general, there is a disposition to take considerations which are dear to the hearts of adults and set them up as ends irrespective of the capacities of those educated. There is also an inclination to propound aims which are so uniform as to neglect the specific powers and requirements of an individual, forgetting that all learning is something which happens to an individual at a given time and place. The larger range of perception of the adult is of great value in observing the abilities and weaknesses of the young, in deciding what they may amount to. Thus the artistic capacities of the adult exhibit what certain tendencies of the child are capable of; if we did not have the adult achievements we should be without assurance as to the Human Nature and Conductsignificance of the drawing, reproducing, modeling, coloring activities of childhood. So if it were not for adult language, we should not be able to see the import of the babbling impulses of infancy. But it is one thing to use adult accomplishments as a context in which to place and survey the doings of childhood and youth; it is quite another to set them up as a fixed aim without regard to the concrete activities of those educated.

(2) An aim must be capable of translation into a method of cooperating with the activities of those undergoing instruction. It must suggest the kind of environment needed to liberate and to organize their capacities. Unless it lends itself to the construction of specific procedures, and unless these procedures test, correct, and amplify the aim, the latter is worthless. Instead of helping the specific task of teaching, it prevents the use of ordinary judgment in observing and sizing up the situation. It operates to exclude recognition of everything except what squares up with the fixed end in view. Every rigid aim just because it is rigidly given seems to render it unnecessary to give careful attention to concrete conditions. Since it must apply anyhow, what is the use of noting details which do not count?

The vice of externally imposed ends has deep roots. Teachers receive them from superior authorities; these authorities accept them from what is current in the community. The teachers impose them upon children. As a first consequence, the intelligence of the teacher is not free; it is confined to receiving the aims laid down from above. Too rarely is the individual teacher so free from the dictation of authoritative supervisor, textbook on methods, prescribed course of study, etc., that he can let his mind come to close quarters with the pupil's mind and the subject matter. This distrust of the teacher's experience is then reflected in lack of confidence in the responses of pupils. The latter receive their aims through a double or treble external imposition, and are constantly confused by the conflict between the aims which are natural to their own experience at the time and those in which they are taught to acquiesce. Until the democratic criterion of the intrinsic significance of every growing experience is recognized, we shall be intellectually confused by the demand for adaptation to external aims.

(3) Educators have to be on their guard against ends that are alleged to be general and ultimate. Every activity, however specific, is, of course, general in its ramified connections, for it leads out indefinitely into other things. So far as a general idea makes us more alive to these connections, it cannot be too general. But "general" also means "abstract," or detached from all specific context. And such abstractness means remoteness, and throws us back, once more, upon teaching and learning as mere means of getting ready for an end disconnected from the means. That education is literally and all the time its own reward means that no alleged study or discipline is educative unless it is worth while in its own immediate having. A truly general aim broadens the outlook; it stimulates one to take more consequences (connections) into account. This means a wider and more flexible observation of means. The more interacting forces, for example, the farmer takes into account, the more varied will be his immediate resources. He will see a greater number of possible starting places, and a greater number of ways of getting at what he wants to do. The fuller one's conception of possible future achievements, the less his present activity is tied down to a small number of alternatives. If one knew enough, one could start almost anywhere and sustain his activities continuously and fruitfully.

Understanding then the term general or comprehensive aim simply in the sense of a broad survey of the field of present activities, we shall take up some of the larger ends which have currency in the educational theories of the day, and consider what light they throw upon the immediate concrete and diversified aims which are always the educator's real concern. We premise (as indeed immediately follows from what has been said) that there is no need of making a choice among them or regarding them as competitors. When we come to act in a tangible way we have to select or choose a particular act at a particular time, but any number of comprehensive ends may exist without competition, since they mean simply different ways of looking at the same scene. One cannot climb a number of different mountains simultaneously, but the views had when different mountains are ascended supplement one another: they do not set up incompatible, competing worlds. Or, putting the matter in a slightly different way, one statement of an end may suggest certain questions and observations, and another statement another set of questions, calling for other observations. Then the more general ends we have, the better. One statement will emphasize what another slurs over. What a plurality of hypotheses does for the scientific investigator, a plurality of stated aims may do for the instructor.

Summary. An aim denotes the result of any natural process brought to

consciousness and made a factor in determining present observation and choice of ways of acting. It signifies that an activity has become intelligent. Specifically it means foresight of the alternative consequences attendant upon acting in a given situation in different ways, and the use of what is anticipated to direct observation and experiment. A true aim is thus opposed at every point to an aim which is imposed upon a process of action from without. The latter is fixed and rigid; it is not a stimulus to intelligence in the given situation, but is an externally dictated order to do such and such things. Instead of connecting directly with present activities, it is remote, divorced from the means by which it is to be reached. Instead of suggesting a freer and better balanced activity, it is a limit set to activity. In education, the currency of these externally imposed aims is responsible for the emphasis put upon the notion of preparation for a remote future and for rendering the work of both teacher and pupil mechanical and slavish.