Introduction
a. Education is a living system that gets impacted by the environment within
which it exists. These environmental factors can be domestic as well as
international. Changes in technology, business systems and general global
environment, all require the response from change in the education system. The
element of continuity and change remains perpetual and it is up to a society to
determine its pace and direction to remain in phase with the global environment.
b. The loss of uniformity in our educational system is best evidenced in the
lack of beneficial and synergetic linkages between the Technical, Vocational,
Professional and scientific education sub sectors. If Pakistan has to become a
talent rich country, it needs to integrate and get all the four with the
national educational system, which is adversely lacking. Although Govt.
endeavored but instead of blending they made four Iceland, which had not only
hampered the optimum educational benefits but also slow down the demographic
transition.
c. The unity of objectives of our educational efforts - is it in the public or
private sector - is spelt through the over-arching principles of access,
quality, affordability and relevance. The educational system should have been
used as a tool of social progress and of all round development in an
increasingly globalized and competitive world.
d. English is an international language, and important for competition in a
globalized world order. Urdu is our national language that connects people all
across Pakistan and is a symbol of national cohesion and integration. In
addition, there are mother tongues / local vernaculars in the country that are
markers of ethnic and cultural richness and diversity. The challenge is that a
child is able to carry forward the cultural assets and be at the same time able
to compete nationally and internationally. Our labour force is constantly
becoming victim to European, USA, Canada & UK policies in-spite of shouldering
against the War of Terrorism. Demographic transition to these countries is
drastically reduced, which will affect economical stability of Pakistan in near
future. While considering Globalization and Competitiveness, we do forget Arabic
which is a language of Arabian Peninsula where most of the Pakistani labours are
employed since last four decades & still it is largest market for us.
e. There are solid reasons for the reaffirmation. New research provides
convincing evidence of education’s contribution to both economic and social
development, which can be achieved simultaneously because the processes of
economic growth and social development are interlinked. There are close links
between equity in educational opportunities and equitable income distribution
and income growth. If the education system is constructed on a divisive basis
the divisions it creates can endanger long run economic growth as well as
stability of society. An unjust society creates an unstable society and an
unstable society cannot sustain stable long term growth.
OBJECTIVES:
Our OBJECTIVES are:
COHERENCE IN EDUCATION The objective of the unity of Education (Technical,
Vocational and Professional, scientific or general education) is the preparation
of a self reliant individual, capable of analytical and original thinking, a
responsible member of his community and, in the present era, a global citizen.
It is imperative to identify and, possibly define, the touchstone for
development of the child as a member of society. Each culture has its own ethos
that bears relevance for its individual constituents. The challenge today is to
secure values without regressing into unnecessary anachronism and parochial
insularity. The other relevance of education is its ability to provide an
opportunity to earn a living. Education should be able to increase the earning
potential of the individual who is literate; irrespective of the eventual
vocation opted for. Almost 60% to 70% students leave school due to examination
drop-out or economical reason at Secondary School level. Our teaching at the
primary, secondary and higher secondary level shall become more relevant to the
needs of the labour market in order to better prepare those students not
continuing further studies. This could involve short assignments with the local
enterprises and institutions or “job shadowing’ approaches to familiarize
students with the work environment. A career guidance and service shall be
introduced at primary & secondary level.
RECUPERATION OF LITERACY Literacy leads to lifelong learning process and thus
contributes significantly for sustainable human development. It empowers
individuals, groups and nations to participate effectively and positively in the
development of the society and the economy. The progress of a country largely
depends on the number and quality of its literate population. . There are
multiple causes of low literacy: social taboos, poverty, child labour, and
illiteracy of the parents/families and institutional weaknesses. Efforts to
combat illiteracy have been half hearted, disjointed and not suited to local
conditions and requirements. Pakistan like many other developing countries is in
dire need to educate and train its human capital on urgent basis. This is the
only mean to develop and expand the potential capacity of its economy. It is
strongly felt that the needs and consequent learning process for youth and
adults are different from those who study in formal system. The consideration
necessitates
Development of a specific curriculum.
A different set of learning material.
Teaching methodology for Non-Formal Education.
Adult literacy progrmames.
EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION
Early Childhood Education (ECE) confers benefits to the child’s cognitive
development and better social and emotional adaptation. Neurological studies
have found that children’s brain development has particularly high potential
around age-3, when appropriate stimulating learning environment, which can just
as well be playing activity, can increase the physical size of the brain itself.
In economic terms, there are long-term positive effects of ECE on employment,
labour force participation and earnings. The broader social impacts include
better health, lower incidence of antisocial behaviour and greater civic
participation.
Improvements in quality of ECE shall be based on a concept of holistic
development of the child that provides a stimulating, interactive environment,
including play, rather than a focus on regimes that require rote learning rigid
achievement standards. The ECE age group shall be recognized as comprising 3 to
5 years. At least one year pre-primary education shall be provided to ECE shall
be ensured within the next ten years.
Assessment system currently suffers from several deficiencies in promoting
quality education. The one with more sinister outcomes is the practice of rote
learning which stops the mental growth of the child and blocks innovative
learning. Efforts have to be made to address this issue and need for inculcating
critical and analytical thinking skills for producing life-long independent
learners have to be emphasized. These can be used to measure overall system
efficiency as well as individual students’ performance for movement in the
education system. Assessment mechanism should be such that analytical thinking
and critical reflections are tapped and encouraged. Multiple assessment tools in
addition to traditional examinations shall be explored, to ensure the right
balance between the uses of formative assessment approaches combined with the
collective approach of high-stakes examinations.
EDUCATION IN EMERGENCIES Pakistan has endured large scale emergencies in recent
years and along with other aspects of life, education has suffered greatly
through inadequate planning. Pakistan’s education system has not recognized the
need for preparation of individuals and groups to grapple with the demands of
emergencies through organized and effective responses. Credible rehabilitation
and disaster management plans need to be put in place to ensure early
restoration of education service. School education must prepare pupils for
organized, ameliorative responses.
QUALITY OF EDUCATION Defining quality is elusive but some parameters will need
to be drawn. There is an impending need to debate and agree on what constitutes
quality at each stage of education and the system overall. Improving quality
requires action in the areas of teacher quality, curriculum, textbooks,
assessment approaches, and in learning environment and facilities. It is
experienced that close to 2/3rd of children’s performance in early schooling
depends on factors outside the school, namely on the home environment, the
socio-economic status of parents, parents education particularly the mother’s,
and the learning resources available at home, of the remaining 1/3rd, teacher
quality and leadership at school are believed to be the more important factors.
Most of the inputs in the system have an impact on quality. However, there are
five- six basic pillars that have the major contribution. These are curriculum,
textbooks, assessments, teachers, the learning environment in an institution and
relevance of education to practical life/labour market. The reform of teaching
quality is of the highest priority.
QUALITY OF TEACHERS There is a consensus that the quality of teachers in the
public sector is unsatisfactory. Teaching has become the employment of last
resort of most educated young people specially females. We have to select
exceptionally good teachers who have teaching aptitude with ability to handle
maximum subjects of a class and can speak English fluently. So we should
preferably have one teacher one class for Primary Section.
CURRICULUM Curriculum is the guide that delineates the learning path of a
student. Normally a curriculum should have the teacher as the centre but
textbooks development appears to be the only activity flowing from the
curriculum. Curriculum development shall be objective driven and outcome based.
It shall focus on learning outcomes rather than content. It shall closely
reflect important social issues; provide more room for developing the capacity
for self-directed learning, the spirit of inquiry, critical thinking,
problem-solving and team-work; and local contextual material. Curriculum shall
emphasize the fundamental rights guaranteed to the citizens of Pakistan, so that
each individual shall develop within himself/herself and the society at large, a
civic culture be strong enough to withstand any extra constitutional
interference which threatens those rights. Environmental education shall be made
an integral part of early education. Curriculum shall include health education.
English, Urdu, Islamiat and Social Study like subjects should have stories of
great people who had dedicated their life for the social, environmental,
technical, medical and educational betterment for humanity, in order to initiate
psychological inspiration of our students. Practical learning has more weightage
over theory. To improve the curriculum consultations with teachers,
administrators, educationists, curriculum experts and students; field visits to
collect feedback from teachers and students and preparation of a uniform
curriculum format consisting of standards, benchmarks and learning outcomes are
the vital parts.
LINGUISTIC AMALGAMATION Urdu being National Language could not get its right
place due to its non-acceptance as scientific and technological language, not
only at world forum but also as official language of Pakistan. Regional
languages also hampered the developments of National Language. This eccentric
situation adversely affected our educational progress. The upper class preferred
English as educational language and flourished in all walk of life. Thus an
inherent barrier took place between two (Urdu & English) educational systems.
Though Educationists proclaim that education must be imparted in mother tongue.
On the other hand they forget that it is only pertinent for developed countries,
under-develop countries had to get education in an internationally recognized
language in which scientific and technological development is taking place. Urdu
being the language of soldier of past has ist marvelous ability like English to
amalgamate others languages, i.e glass, barrel, railway station. Loudspeaker,
oxygen, carbon dioxide, factory, flour-mill etc. So it seems possible to use
maximum English words in educational teaching so that communication gap between
the two languages is bridged. Spoken language hurdles can easily be jumped
through vocabulary.
"And among His Signs, Is the creation of the Heavens, and the Earth, and the
differences in your languages and your complexion are the signs for those who
have knowledge. (Al-Kitab, Al-Rum-22)".
REMOVAL OF STRUCTURAL DIVIDES
(1). Pakistan’s education system manifests parallel systems of public and
private provision and within the private sector there is an English medium
provision. These systems are largely divided on the basis of income status of
parents and language of instruction. Performance in two sectors differs
significantly in quality. Within the private sector are the English medium
schools, generally of better quality but expensive and not well regulated. These
divisions are in large measure a failure of governance of the system.
Altogether, they are sowing the seeds of long run fissures that bode ill for
both economic growth and social cohesion in the future.
(2). Every parent, desire that his child should rise to the Zenith of his
profession. To achieve this they admit their child in a School. The parents who
are well-aware of the importance of quality education they admit their child
into top graded School according to the standard of teaching (not building).
School (irrespective of medium of language) can be classified into various
grades.
Grade-A Schools. Where teaching is based on modern and scientific principles.
Students are guided and taught according to their physical, social, emotional
and mental age. These schools provide adequate adjustment of children to the
learning environment at every level of education. These types of school never
completely restrict to the syllabus oriented education. Educationists devise new
methods to widen the student's horizon according to their interest. The rate of
success of students in to the Entrance Tests for various Professional Colleges
is 80% to 100% .
Grade-B School. These types of Schools restrict to the syllabus, compel students
to learn every chapter by heart and also provide some understanding to the
students. Though these types of school try to generate some influx of activities
in students to widen their horizon through controlled co-curricular activities.
However the rate of success of students in to the Entrance Tests for various
Professional Colleges is 40% to 60%
Grade – C School. These types of school totally restrict to the syllabus
oriented education. Students are required to learn every chapter, lesson and
formulae by heart without any understanding or logic. Teachers are only bothered
to read-out the lessons to students, in order to show their activities. They
over burden students with Home Tasks. The only responsibility regarding checking
of Home Tasks toward teacher is to just place a tick( ) with red pen on every
page, without correcting the mistakes. The rate of success of students in to the
Entrance Tests for various Professional Colleges are is 10% to 30%.
Grade-D School. These schools are govt. sponsored village schools where the sole
aim to construct the school is just to provide employment to politically
affiliated people. Mostly these are Urdu medium schools. The rate of success of
students in to the Entrance Tests for various Professional Colleges depends upon
the interest of influenced persons/Quota System which never crosses 5%
TALENT’S POOL In Pakistan the best jobs, whether in the public or the private
sector, are beyond the reach of those who lack proficiency in the English
language beside requisite education. Inspite of this bitter fact, the selection
of school for their child by the parents depends upon sociological development
of the parents. If parents are aware of the importance of quality education and
contribution of schools, then economical adjustments are made by the family
within their means and they admit their children in to Grade-A or B Schools.
Since English is an internationally recognized educational language, therefore
parents go for English Medium Schools. Where as, in the past most of the parents
were not aware of the importance of English medium of teaching, or were not
economically well off to bare the expenditure of English Medium Schools, or
their children were not able to get admission due to less seats in Grade-A on B
Schools, Now desire to convert their Talented Children (who are giving 70% or
above results in Annual Examinations) from “Urdu Medium of Teaching” to “English
Medium of Teaching”, find it difficult. These Talented Students, if be given
chance then there are possibilities that they would certainly excel in future.
Can, we provide chance to these Talented Students and when? Yes why not! It can
be done through dedicated efforts. But Question arise that which is the ideal
class from where one must start conversion? I believe it is class 6th. Since all
cadet college select “The Talents”.
QUALITY IN TEXTBOOKS AND LEARNING MATERIALS Basing on our objectives we can do
Improvement in the quality education at all levels through easily understandable
subject of better quality and other learning materials according to our
environments, at affordable prices.
Aims : The aim of YES (Youth Educational Society) is to suggest the Development
of:
Comprehensive Educational Renaissance System (CERS), in which the term
education should include Technical, Vocational, Professional, scientific and
general education.
Curriculum for (CERS), which in a way segregate the students of various fields
considering their aptitude.
The syllabus, specially designed from class-1 to 8th to cover Secondary School
Certificate Exam of Science & Technical Education Boards. In 9th & 10th specific
Technical Training in Electrical, Civil, Paramedical, Electronics & other
subject to provide skilled labour for industries, hospitals & other fields.
The syllabus, specially designed from class-6th to 10th to cover Secondary
School Certificate Exam of the talented students, transforming from “Urdu Medium
of Teaching” to “English Medium Technical Teaching”, for preparing the students
in development countries for advance studies.
“EDUCATION PROVIDES JOB, BUT TECHNICAL EDUCATION ENSURES BEST JOB WHICH ENHANCES
THROUH EXPERIENCE.
STOP using word “VOCATIONAL” for EDUCATION call “TEHNICAL” EDUCATION.
Join YES (Youth Educational Society) after understanding our Methodology to
build future Pakistan. So that Technically Educated midline force is developed
to alleviate poverty level.