Mazhar Kaleem

 مظہر کلیم: پھر کب ملیں گے

"اس روز میں رات گئے اپنے ہوٹل کے کمرے میں پہنچا۔ کھڑکی کے پردے ہٹائے۔ اب ملتان شہر کی روشنیاں میرے سامنے تھیں۔ انہی روشنیوں میں ایک روشنی مظہر کلیم کے گھر کی بھی ہو گی۔ مجھے مظہر کلیم کی کتابوں کے ساتھ بتائے ہوئے دن یاد آ گئے۔ وہ بھی کیسے عجیب دن تھے۔ ہم گرمیوں کی طویل نہ ختم ہونے والی شاموں میں اپنے نصاب کی کتابوں کے علاوہ دنیا جہاں کی کتابیں پڑھا کرتے تھے۔۔۔"مکمل کالم پڑھنے کے لیے اس لنک پر کلک کریں:https://dunya.com.pk/.../shahid.../2018-05-29/23448/43192822

The challenge of implementation

"In Pakistan, since its inception, we have been confronted with some serious educational challenges and a shortage of qualified teachers is one of them. This problem was more serious in case of female teachers. In all education policies of

Pakistan, the need for effective teacher education has been underlined with some ambitious plans to improve the teacher education programmes. We do see quantitative expansion in teacher education programmes but the dream of quality teacher education programmes, in the public sector, is still not realized..."  

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Education Policies in Pakistan: Politics, Projections, and Practices (2015) By Dr. Shahid Siddiqui

Education Policies in Pakistan: Politics, Projections, and Practices (2015) By Dr. Shahid Siddiqui

 Reviewed by Sajda Kausar, Iqra University, Karachi sajda_pk@yahoo.com 

The author Dr. Shahid Siddiqui holds an exhaustive experience of teaching, teacher education, research and educational administration and currently holds the post of Vice Chancellor of Allama Iqbal Open University, Islamabad. His other works include Rethinking Education in Pakistan: Perceptions, Practices and Possibilities (2007); Adhe Adhoore Khawab(2010); Education, Inequalities, and Freedom: A Sociopolitical Critique (2010); and Language, Gender and Power: The Politics of Representation and Hegemony in South Asia (2014). To read complete review pl click here

استاد، تعلیم اور تبدیلی

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ہڑپہ: یہ خزانے تجھے ممکن ہے خرابوں میں ملیں

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معاشرہ، تعلیم اور تبدیلی

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سرکاری سکول: کیا تھے، کیا ہو گئے

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طارق ملک: اے اہلِ زمانہ قدر کرو

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تعلیمی حکمت عملی: معیار کا مسئلہ

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Ayesha Farooq: First Pakistani Fighter Pilot

Ayeah Farooq, who belongs to Bahawalpur, Punjab, is the first Pakistani fighter pilot. Congrats Ayesha. She  is one of 19 women who have become pilots in the Pakistan Air Force over the last decade - there are five other female fighter pilots, but they have yet to take the final tests to qualify for combat.

Economic Survey of Paksitan 2012-13

http://www.finance.gov.pk/survey_1213.html

Rereleased on 11 June, 2013

Review of Education, Inequalities, and Freedom

By

Dr. Azhar Hassan Nadeem

               It goes without saying that no society can make any progress without a vibrant, progressive, forward looking, research oriented, accountable and  dynamic system of education which not only disseminates knowledge but also helps create citizens who make a positive contribution in a developing and modernizing economy in various fields. Dr.Shahid Siddiqui, an expert on education, has in his recent book titled ‘Education, Inequalities and Reforms’  presented a socio-political critique of education in Pakistan with reference to politics, inequalities, stratification, development, teachers, control, freedom, language, power, educational reforms, hegemony myths, slogans and possible alternatives.

       Based on a critique of inequalities nourished and perpetuated by our system of education, Dr. Siddiqui’s book gives us food for thought and presents a strategy and design for reshaping education in Pakistan. The crux of the observations made and conclusions drawn by him are as under: -

           Based on a critique of inequalities nourished and perpetuated by our system of education, Dr. Siddiqui’s book gives us food for thought and presents a strategy and design for reshaping education in Pakistan

We need to strive for an assessment system which requires the students to think critically and apply knowledge in diverse contexts. For all these changes in learning, pedagogy, and assessment it is important that we revisit our ideology about the very aim of education. We need to challenge the transmission mode of education that supports the existing power structures and move to the transformation mode where the main objective of education is to reduce the socioeconomic gaps in society and empower the have-nots by maximizing their prospects in life.

The assessment system which encourages just memory has a direct impact on teaching and learning interaction in the classroom. In such a system, where competence and efficiency through recall-based assessment system, the teacher is encouraged to teach with the sole objective of facilitating the students to get better grades.

Education, which used to be considered a mission, has been conveniently turned into a money-making venture where the maximization of profit acts as the guiding principle. Emerging as a lucrative industry, education attracted the attention of businessmen who invested in this industry and found it to be profitable experience.

On the contrary, the state, which, according to the Constitution of Pakistan is responsible for provision of initial education, has given up on public sector education. A number of public sector schools were up for grabs by the NGOs. Using the corporate term, these schools were considered sick units which should either be closed down or handed over to the private sector. The state, which claims to have plans for the improvement of education, should realize that qualitative improvement cannot come unless public sector education is encouraged, empowered, and respected by the state.

 The other extreme is the mainstream public schools where physical facilities are lacking, curricula are outdated, textbooks are boring and are printed in an unattractive manner on poor quality paper. The faculty members are underpaid and thus lack motivation. Proper system of monitoring and accountability are lacking. The classes are overcrowded. Most of the students who come to public schools come from modest socioeconomic backgrounds. One can find a huge difference in the quality of education between public and elite schools. Thus our schools are engaged in not only preserving the sociopolitical power structure based on inequalities but they are further widening the chasm between the haves and have-nots.

The class difference, the boundaries, the categories are constructed and perpetuated by the educational system in an effective manner. The market value of ‘A’ level exam system students is far greater than the students from local intermediate exam system. Similarly, the private educational institutions are in more demand than the public sector institutions.

There is serious need to reduce the artificial differences which are being constructed and perpetuated by education and our social practices. This, however, is a challenging task. Every government announces that it would have a uniform system of education in Pakistan with identical curriculum. But, like many other political statements, this statement also fades away. The reason is that we cannot plan effective strategies in a small sphere of education unless we are cognizant of the sociopolitical practices taking place in society. Education cannot be improved in isolation unless there is support available from the sociopolitical set up of a country. This fact must be kept in view while planning projects for the qualitative improvement of education.

Book Launch, "Education, Inequalities, and Freedom"

Book Launch of Education, Inequalities, and Freedom by Dr Siddiqui Siddiqui

Critical Thinking Forum of the International Islamic University, Islamabad (IIUI) organized book launching ceremony of book titled “ Education, Inequalities and Freedom: A Sociopolitical Critique by Dr. Shahid Siddiqui, an eminent educationist and Linguist in collaboration with Iqbal International Institute for Research & Dialogue (IRD) at Allama Iqbal Auditorium, Faisal Masjid Campus of the University. Prof. Dr. Mumtaz Ahmad, Acting President IIUI presided over the ceremony while Dr. Noor Amna Malik, Learning Innovation Project Director, HEC was chief guest on the occasion. Dr. Samina Amin Qadir, Vice Chancellor, Fatima Jinnah Women University, Rawalpindi, Dr. Afshan Huma, University of Michigan, U.S.A, and Dr. Munazza Yaqoob, Incharge Dept. of English, IIUI expressed their views about the book on this occasion. Faculty members and a large number of male and female students attended the ceremony. Dr. Samina Qadir while reviewing the book was on the view that the said book focused on the teachers training and answered several questions related to education and education system of our country. She hoped that this book shall add to the knowledge of readers and will help them not only to identify the problems of our education system but also to find out the ways to resolve those problems. Dr. Mumtaz Ahmad said that Dr. Shahid Siddiqui has excellently illustrated our education system in this book and figured unmatchable analysis with profound strengths. He said that the purpose of education should be to empower the peoples to establish strong living society and I am happy to say that Dr. Siddiqui has effectively work on this phenomenon in the form of a book. Dr. Mumtaz was of the view that our country should have integrated education system to equalize the education opportunities for all the classes of the society. Dr. Noor Amna Malik said that the book talks about issues and realities of our education system. She viewed that the book had excellently focused on teachers to deliver more effectively towards the quality education which is essential for development of any society. Source:   Protocol and Public Relation Department (P&PR), IIUI. Email: iiuipublicrelations@iiu.edu.pk

THE SINKING PARADISE OF GOJAL BY DR SHAHID SIDDIQUI

Daily Times 7 March, 2010 (Sunday)

VIEW: The Sinking Paradise of Gojal —Dr Shahid Siddiqui

The government needs to act fast. Gojal should be declared a calamity-hit area, extending rightful facilities to its residents. The debris removal work should be expedited by extending the shifts to 24 hours and increasing the labour and number of machines

         “But at my back I always hear
          Time’s winged chariot hurrying near;
          And yonder all before us lie
          Deserts of vast eternity” 
                                        — Andrew Marvell: ‘To His Coy Mistress’.

The inhabitants of Gojal can hear, feel, and dread the nimble footfalls of water that is rising, extending, and seeping into newly found tracks, obliterating everything on its way. Their days are obsessed with the fear of fast approaching water. Their night’s sleep is marred by the nightmares of ferocious waves of the Hunza River. Will it catch us unawares? Is it a matter of weeks, or days or hours? Among them are also young girls and boys whose schools are either damaged or on the list of potential targets of brutal water, gushing out and gulping whatever comes in its way.

It started with the landslide at Atta Abad on January 4 this year when 20 people died and a number of houses caved in. The calamity did not stop here; rather it acted as a precursor to a tragedy of much greater magnitude. The debris, as a result of landslides, obstructed the flow of River Hunza and formed an artificial lake whose level is rising by the minute. The length of the barrier is 3,000 meters, width 550 meters, and height 135 meters. The artificial lake is around 11 km long. The reservoir is 171 million cubic meters. Until now (first week of March), the water has played havoc, damaging a three kilometre piece of Karakoram highway and is beginning to enter the low-lying areas of Kishkat, Gulmit, Hussaini and Passu. The longest bridge between Shishkat and Gulmit has already been submerged, severing Gojal’s link with the outer world.

Gojal (upper Hunza) borders China and Afghanistan and because of its picturesque beauty, fruit orchards, glistening glaciers and beautiful people is considered as heaven on earth. The most remarkable part of this distant part of our country is its literacy rate, i.e. 77 percent, which is higher than the national average. It is this same Gojal that is sinking. It is sinking each moment, hour, and day in front of our eyes. A large number of houses are either damaged or in the danger zone. These houses include 19 in Aeenabad, 62 in Shishkat, 60 in Gulmit, nine in Hussaini, and seven in Passu.

Besides houses, a number of schools are either damaged or potential targets. In Atta Abad, Diamond Jubilee (DJ) School was damaged, where 115 students were studying. The SAP school building was also affected, where 25 students were studying. In Aeenabad, the building of DJ School was affected, where 48 students were receiving education. In Shishkat, a primary school building has been vacated and students have been shifted to the middle school to receive education in a much more trying and challenging environment.

The calamity has hit the educational system of Gojal in multiple ways. Cultivated lands are affected as the lack of transportation has made it difficult to transport seeds and fertilisers. All this has resulted in an economic crunch for farmers. The principal of Al-Ameen School, one of the biggest community schools in Gulmit, shared that in his school there were about 242 children whose parents were farmers. These students are finding it difficult to pay the fees. A similar situation can be seen in other community and private schools.

The efforts to remove the debris are underway. The Frontier Works Organisation (FWO) has managed to remove 15,000 cubic metres of debris. The job is not easy keeping in view the slippery clay. Almost 100,000 cubic metres of debris is still to be removed. According to an estimate, work at this speed will take a couple of months to complete. Until that time, should we keep on waiting and watch the water rising, engulfing houses, people, cattle, and trees? Time is of great essence. In Gojal, the water level, as a result of melting of glaciers, rises after mid-March. This could further aggravate the crisis. The water-bound Gojal is hit with a number of problems including scarcity of gas, fuel, and other amenities of life. Prices have gone up. Schools are disturbed. Health centres are running out of medicine.

The government needs to act fast. Gojal should be declared a calamity-hit area, extending rightful facilities to its residents. The debris removal work should be expedited by extending the shifts to 24 hours and increasing the labour and number of machines. Food and medicine supply should be ensured for 25,000 stranded people of the valleys. Special arrangements should be made to facilitate the cultivation of crops.

The silver lining in this depressing situation, however, is the positive role of the community. The people of Gojal, especially the youth, came out enthusiastically to help the victims of the catastrophe. The role of FOCUS, a partner of the Aga Khan Development Network, is commendable. The Ismaili Local Council is also actively engaged in helping people to meet the challenge. The young boys and girls of Gojal, living in other cities of Pakistan, are trying hard to create awareness of the issue through peaceful rallies. Let us do our best to save our paradise that has started sinking beneath the water.

The writer is Director of Centre for Humanities and Social Sciences at Lahore School of Economics and author of Rethinking Education in Pakistan. He can be reached at shahidksiddiqui@yahoo.com

New Education Policy

By Dr Shahid Siddiqui
Monday, 14 Sep, 2009

The central issue that needed to be tackled in the policy is the educational apartheid: elite and poor education. So the problem will not be solved by declaring free education up to matriculation. The issue involves the opportunities a public-sector school gives to a matriculate as compared to a student who gets an ‘O’ level certificate from an elite English-medium school. -Flickr photo

THE minister of education has announced the National Education Policy (NEP) for the next decade. It is interesting that the previous education policy, for the period of 1998 to 2010, had still not expired.

The justification for a new policy given by the minister is that the last one was not producing the required results. But this could be said about all earlier policies which were a lot of rhetoric and always fell short of reality. Even a layperson would know that the problem was at the implementation level.

This was the case with the previous education policy. The goals were quite noble but there was no political will to realise those goals. Instead of tidying up the implementation process, the government opted for an easy solution — a new policy. By offering this, every government gets an opportunity to make attractive promises and sellable declarations.

The worth of an education policy is no more than a political ploy as one can see a ‘disconnect’ between policies and practices in Pakistan. For instance, the education policy which now declares that English should be a compulsory subject is not new as this decision was taken in Musharraf’s regime and was announced by the then education minister, Zobaida Jalal. Similarly there is a ‘disconnect’ between policy declarations and budget allocations. NEP 2010 however, is different from previous education policies on the count that its process of designing started almost three years before. A number of seminars and meetings were organised apparently to draw the consensus of different groups of stakeholders.

The NEP looks like a long wish list. It’s replete with promises ranging from allocation to achievement of ambitious goals. Those who are familiar with the fate of previous policies consider the new policy as ‘too good to be true’. Let us look at some salient features of the document. The most important announcement is that the allocation for education would be seven per cent of the national GDP by 2015.

Can we trust this statement? Despite our desire, there are problems. If we look at the trend in the allocation to education in the last three years, we realise the reason for the reluctance to believe in the promise made by NEP 2010. In 2006-7 the allocation was 2.5 per cent of GDP and in 2007-8 this was reduced to 2.47 per cent. This year (2008-9) the amount further came down to 2.1 per cent of GDP.

These declining figures allude to ground realities where one can see a gaping chasm between professed ideas and actual deeds. Similar good news was shared by Mr Shaukat Aziz, the then prime minister, who promised that the allocation to education would be raised to four per cent of GDP. Instead of catching up with the raised figure, we sadly saw a decline.

Without suspecting the intentions of the minister of education, one can identify practical difficulties in releasing the promised amount by the ministry of finance. Speaking on a TV show, the minister of education admitted that the dynamics pertaining to the release of funds have not been sorted out. This aspect becomes all the more important as, in the past, actual release/spending was far less than the allocated amount.

Another ‘too good to be true’ announcement is that the level of public-sector schools will be lifted to match the levels of good private schools. And the deadline for this humongous task is 2010. Such statements tend to backfire. A natural response to the statement is, ‘how’.

Is there a magic wand which can turn sick units of public schools into private-sector schools? What does it take to improve the quality? Is it just buildings, or books, or teachers, or administration, or assessment or school milieu or a blend of all that constitute the notion of quality? How can this be done in a year?

Another very ambitious declaration is that, 'a common curricular framework in general as well as professional education will be applied to educational institutions in both the public and private sectors.' The question remains the same: how? There is no strategy mentioned in the policy document that could make us believe that this goal is attainable.

The NEP claims that the literacy rate will be enhanced to 86 per cent by 2015. This seems to be another promise which looks good on paper but its implementation is not that easy. Besides quantitative expansion, i.e. increase in the literacy rate, it is important to have a specific strategy for qualitative improvement of education in the country. The policy fails to provide a vision on the most important issue — social injustice and economic disparity. How can education be used to reduce gaps between the haves and the have-nots? How can it prepare thinking human beings? How can it challenge some of the taboos, fixed mindsets, and intolerance in society? Unfortunately the existing education system is widening the gap between the rich and the poor.

The central issue that needed to be tackled in the policy is the educational apartheid: elite and poor education. So the problem will not be solved by declaring free education up to matriculation. The issue involves the opportunities a public-sector school gives to a matriculate as compared to a student who gets an ‘O’ level certificate from an elite English-medium school.

The state seems to have given up on its responsibility to provide education and is thus relying too much on the private sector. This has turned public-sector schools into sick units. The policy does not talk about any strategy to bring qualitative improvement in public-sector educational institutions. On the whole, the policy focuses on the whys and whats but skilfully ignores the real issues of who and how. One wonders why such a significant document was not presented in parliament. A thorough discussion in parliament on the document could have enhanced its ownership and credibility.

The writer is a director at Lahore School of Economics and author of Rethinking Education in Pakistan.

shahidksiddiqui@yahoo.com

Review: Adhe Adhoore Khawab

Adhe Adhoore Khawab
Review by Fawaz Niaz

Dr Shahid Siddiqui is widely known in the academic circles for his writings on interrelationship of language, education and politics. His recent book is a socio-political novel in Urdu with a contemporary story narrated in a gripping style. The novel has already started creating ripples in the literary world and received rich tribute form eminent critics of Urdu literature. Professor Fateh Muhammad Malik, considers this novel as “a trend setter in Urdu literature”. Asif Farrukhi, a famous short story writer looks at this novel as a blend of “scholarship and literature where a social scientist has derived his narrative from his own experience.” The themes of the novel range from love, politics, inequality, coercion of state and education. The novel uses dramatic technique by making use of dialogue to portray and expose characters. The novel is simply “unputdownable” and this characteristic of the novel is acknowledged by the famous short story writer Dr Rasheed Amjad who writes in his review that the story of the novel is so compelling that it makes us read it. According to him, “there is a fascinating harmony among story, expression, and style.”

The story of the novel is set in two major cities of Pakistan during the turbulent times of lawyers’ movement. The plot revolves around the protagonist Professor Saharan Rae who is a competent, committed, and caring professor. Because of his radical views and his humanistic approach to education Professor Rae is adored by his students. This adoration travels from one generation of students to another. There are a large number of students who haven’t met or seen Prof Rae in person but who have heard about him and have become his fans. Among them is a young, creative, and enthusiastic girl Imtisal Agha who joins the college at the time when Prof Rae has already left the college. She believes in the radical role of education and becomes curious about the personality of Prof Rae who used to teach in this college and was an advocate of critical role of education for the socio-political change.

The story takes a turn when Prof Rae returns to his old city of work after a decade in connection with a seminar at a community centre and stays in the same hostel where Imtisal is residing. Their first meeting is unplanned, dramatic, and significant in terms of identifying shared dreams of using education for socio-political change.

The character of Professor Saharan Rae emerges as a charismatic figure who is an unassuming person but a committed professional who is extremely popular among his students. He takes part in the lawyers’ movement and pays heavy price for indulging in political activism. Imtisa’sl character is that of a girl who is sensitive, creative, and a believer in change. The novel makes use of some interesting structuring and narrative techniques. Some major characters of the novel narrate their part in first person singular and story moves forward exposing the readers to multiple perspectives. This technique makes the story more lifelike, convincing and believable.

The novel comes to a closure with a note of hope for the promised good times. This novel would attract a large number of audiences from different walks of life. I would highly recommend this novel to those who look for creative craftsmanship. The novel relates to the members of civil society, practicing teachers, teacher educators, students of literature and education, as a piece of fiction that focuses on some significant education, political and human relationship issues in an engaging way.

Book: Aadhay Adhooray Khwab

Author: Dr Shahid Siddiqui
Published by Jahangir Books
Enterprise: 2009
Page: 176
Price: 250\
Buy online: http://jbdpress.com