Education Commons^™

Policy Analysis Of Girls’ Primary School Completion In Rural Sindh: Root Causes And Policy Recommendations Using Iiep Education Policy Toolbox, Sajid Ali, Aisha Naz Ansari, Mushtaq Ahmed, Zobia Israr Ahmed, Naveed Saleh Siddique, Naveed Ahmed Shaikh, Shazia Solangi, Mujeeb Rehman Khatri, Tauseef Lateef

Institute for Educational Development, Karachi

This report emerged from the policy analysis work produced as part of the course titled ‘Diagnostic tools for improving education policy planning’ by the IIEP-UNESCO with support from KIX. This course enabled us to explore diagnostic tools and their implications, specifically for developing countries, and helped the team unpack diagnostic tools and learn the history of their evolution. We further learned how the education management information system works and how data is essential for policy decisions. Finally, we engaged with real policy analysis using the IIEP Education Policy Toolbox. As a team, we chose to study the issue of girls’ …

From Hallaj To Heer: Poetic Knowledge And The Muslim Tradition, Nosheen Ali

Institute for Educational Development, Karachi

How do we comprehend the poetic universe of Muslim South Asia, and why is it important to do so? This is the larger question — at once historical, sociological, literary, and political — which forms the heart of the inquiry in this paper. In my attempt to address this question, I attend particularly to the themes of language, time, love, spiritual subjectivity, key figures, and resistance in understanding the place of the poetic in Muslim tradition. I then offer glimpses of the Seraiki poetic landscape from southern Punjab in Pakistan, to illuminate the continued power and politics of poetic practice …

School Leaders’ Engagement In Curriculum Planning And Decision Making, Riaz Hussain

Book Chapters / Conference Papers

No abstract provided.

A Take On Social Wellbeing Attributes By First Year Medical Students, Rehana Rehman, Maria Habib, Syeda Sadia Fatima

Department of Biological & Biomedical Sciences

Objective: To compare awareness about concept of social wellness in male and female first year medical students.

Methods: It was a cross sectional, questionnaire based study conducted from February till December 2010. Responses on aspects of social wellness were rated never, sometimes, mostly and always from lowest to highest (1-4); evaluated as frequency, proportion and percentages by PASW (Predictive analysis software) version 18. Chisquare test was applied for comparison of social wellness in both genders; results to be declared significant with pvalue <0.05.

Results: Overall score for social well being of females (20.24±4.50) was higher than male medical students (18.66±4.76; p …

Variation In Standards In Pakistani School Examination Boards, Thomas Christie

Examination Board

No abstract provided.

Students’ Views Of Impact Of Textbooks On Their Achievements, Riaz Hussain

Institute for Educational Development, Karachi

The history of curricula and textbooks development in Pakistan has remained contentious particularly during Zia Ul Haq era (1977- 1988) and after. There have been quite a few reviews of the curricula and textbooks undertaken both by Ministry of Education, Government of Pakistan and independent researchers. These reviews have mainly employed document/textbook analysis methods and few of them explored teachers or students’ views of curricula and textbooks. This paper argues that since teachers and students are the ultimate users and beneficiaries of textbooks so their views are worth exploring before suggesting or initiating any change process including curricula and textbooks …

Knower’S Roles Of Autonomy For Knowledge Construction : A Case Of International Baccalaureate (Ib) Curriculum, Raheel Tajuddin Lakhani

Institute for Educational Development, Karachi

No abstract provided.

Teacher Empowerment Through Collaborative Action Research: Concepts, Possibilities And Challenges, Anjum Halai, Sherwin Rodrigues, Tauseef Akhlaq

Book Chapters / Conference Papers

This paper focuses on the process of collaborative action research (CAR) as an approach to teacher empowerment, and on issues and questions that emerged as a result of experience with CAR in Pakistan. This is part of a cross-national five year CAR project in selected schools in Pakistan, Rwanda and South Africa, Implementing curriculum change for reducing poverty and improving gender equity, which is studying the process of implementation of curriculum change in science and mathematics classrooms in disadvantaged settings, so that understandings of, and approaches to, poverty alleviation may be developed. A CAR approach has been adopted in this …

Outrageous State, Sectarianized Citizens: Deconstructing The ‘Textbook Controversy’ In The Northern Areas, Pakistan, Nosheen Ali

Institute for Educational Development, Karachi

This paper examines the ‘textbook controversy’ (2000-2005) that arose when the Pakistan state introduced new, overtly Sunni textbooks in the Northern Areas, and the local Shia population began to agitate for a more balanced curriculum. The conflict reached an acute stage during 2004-2005, as violent confrontations took place between Shia and Sunni communities, and a constant curfew paralyzed daily life in Gilgit for eleven months. I argue that the Shia mobilization against textbook Islam was not just a form of “sectarian” outrage; rather, it symbolized a broader political claim to inclusion in a context of long-standing regional subordination and religious …

Learning Mathematics In English Medium Classrooms In Pakistan: Implications For Policy And Practice, Anjum Halai

Institute for Educational Development, Karachi

This is an in-depth qualitative study of students learning mathematics in classrooms where the medium of instruction was English which was the second or third language of the learners i.e. they were multilingual classrooms. Moreover, to promote reasoning and learning with understanding, the teachers had introduced group work, mathematical discussion, and mathematics tasks employing everyday contexts and language. Focus of the paper is the complex relationship between the language of instruction and the process of learning mathematics. The study demonstrates that learning mathematics in multilingual classrooms brings added complexity because students moved back and forth from the language of instruction …

Challenges To Education In Tajikistan: The Need For Research-Based Solutions, Sarfaroz Niyozov, Stephen Bahry

Book Chapters / Conference Papers

Education in Tajikistan today is acknowledged by the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Tajikistan and by international agencies as facing many challenges. Infrastructure and materials need replacement or repair; curriculum needs to be adapted to changing conditions; professional development for teachers is required, while means to retain experienced teachers and attract new ones need to be found. At the same time, children's' meaningful access to education has been threatened by various factors that reduce their attendance and participation in education, keeping some youth out of school altogether. This chapter argues that research in education in Tajikistan and the …

Why Does Policy Fail? Understanding The Problems Of Policy Implementation In Pakistan - A Neuro-Cognitive Perspective, Sajid Ali

Institute for Educational Development, Karachi

Education policy in Pakistan, as in other developing countries, faces the challenge of poor implementation. The article explores the history of education policy in Pakistan and describes the conventional accounts of policy failures. It particularly highlights the issues of unclear goals, political commitment, governance, centralisation, resources and foreign aid. Generally, it is assumed that overcoming these conventional challenges will result in better policy outcomes. Although this is partially true, Spillane, Reiser and Reimer (2002) direct our attention to the cognitive factors that play a critical role in policy implementation. They argued that implementing agents try to make sense of policy …

A Personal Reflection On The Curriculum Development Process In Pakistan, Muhammad Memon

Institute for Educational Development, Karachi

No abstract provided.

Management Of Curriculum Changes: A Case Study Of United Kingdom And Pakistan, Muhammad Memon

Institute for Educational Development, Karachi

No abstract provided.