Professor Dr. Sirajuddin Ahmed is a former Principal of Khyber Medical College, Peshawar, with 31 years of teaching experience. He has also been a WHO fellow on medical education, provincial coordinator of medical education, and Director of the Center for Educational Development KMC for 24 years. He proposed the objective entry test for admission to medical colleges of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The Author is a Medical Doctor who has made valuable contributions to medicine and medical education. He has deep concerns regarding the downfall of education in our country. He believes that only quality education can better serve our society and take it to the top of the list of nations.
There are two main parts in the book, i.e., formal education and informal education. Formal education refers to what takes place in a country's education and training system. It is official, structured, and organized by public organizations or recognized private institutions and results in formal certification and a formal level of qualification recognized by relevant national educational authorities. Formal education is usually organized as complete–time education, a continuous process with defined stages, and within boundaries with rules and regulations. Formal education includes primary and secondary education, as well as higher education. Higher education culminates in a degree or a professional qualification.
Last but not least, informal learning occurs when someone performs activities in everyday situations and interacts with others in those settings, whether or not there is a conscious choice; in other words, it is not institutionalized and occurs without outside assistance. Therefore, soft factors like teaching methods and contact management come into play in the educational process. These factors help people, particularly those without access to resources, enabling them to be active and capable participants and use knowledge to accomplish their goals. Furthermore, this weakens or strengthens social hierarchization, discrimination, inclusion and exclusion practices, expectancies, intentions, and self-representations.
In the initial pages, the Author highlighted corruption in the field of education and briefly discussed the downfall of education in Pakistan due to poor planning and incompetent leaders. The Author Also described different statistics about ghost schools and corruption in Pakistan. Teacher should be hired on a contract basis for 3 to 5 years, and their contracts should be extended based on performance. The Author also proposed the Author's salaries to them.
The Author detailed literacy and, using statistics, pointed out its main hurdles, such as socio-cultural barriers, economic factors, the increase in population, and corruption.
The Author encourages part-time teachers on a remuneration basis to promote quality education among poor and needy students.
The Author believes that education is the only solution to overcoming terrorism in developing countries like Pakistan and Afghanistan. Prof. Siraj wrote that education is like a tree with numerous branches that bear leaves, flowers, and fruit. The number and quality of fruit it bears depends on how well this tree is nourished from its roots. According to the Author, punishment in educational institutions should be stopped because it can lead to minor to major injuries. Teachers should treat mentally slow students with extra attention to lift their confidence. A good teacher creates interest, trust, confidence, etc. A sensible teacher avoids laughing, ridiculing, humiliating, embarrassing or insulting any student over the commission of mistakes.
The Author's primary concern Is the Falling standard of education. In this regard, he made a valuable contribution by deriving instructional objectives from national goals and accepting Bloom's classification of educational objectives. He also quoted Quran verses in three domains of Bloom's taxonomy.
The Author wrote that formal authorization ends with an examination system, and the student enters practical life.
The Author supported the entry test because it benefits students, teachers, and the community. Students get high marks on boards by cheating and other UFMs.
The Author explained concurrently with an example: if the results of the entry test and board examination correlate, these examinations will possess concurrent validity. He has the concept of concurrent validity, but both examinations differ in purpose. In the board examination, all the students appear (below average, average, or above average), and their summative evaluation is performed. In contrast, only the first-division students appear in the entry test examination, and their placement evaluation is performed.
This book also contains some units about informal education. The Author wrote that students should continue their studies after completing formal education. They must learn skills and technologies because education goes from cradle to grave (Lifelong Learning). He quoted the Chinese saying: "If you give a man a fish, he will eat it for a day, but if you teach him how to grow a fish, he will eat it for his whole life."
Prof. Sirajuddin Ahmed made valuable suggestions regarding planning after retirement life. He made suggestions about a few things, which are as follows:
1. Planning after retirement life.
2. How to make progress in professional life.
3. When to marriage.
4. How to manage diseases
5. How to prevent ageing of the brain.
The Author emphasized the concept of family physicians for cost-effective healthcare and easy availability.
The Author discussed acquired Authority Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) and its causes (modes of transmission), symptoms, and preventive measures. The Author also suggested that education should be part of the curriculum in religious schools.
The Author mentioned medical imposters with special reference to quacks in this regard and included Homeopaths, Hakeems, trained and untrained medical practitioners and faith healers. Although there is some reality in his analysis, we cannot deny the fact that the number of Homeopaths and Hakeems and even faith healers are well qualified, well equipped, playing a vital role in providing medical facilities to a poor and low-income portion of society who cannot afford the expenses of the modern Allopathic doctors. The Author ended the book with a positive message in the form of giving remedies and how to quit smoking, which is triple murder, in his opinion.
This book contains excellent quality content. The Author explains everything regarding quality education concisely, effectively, and quickly so readers can easily understand different aspects of quality education. All the topics are very well correlated with each other. In straightforward language, the Author describes formal and informal education.