Every year, as examinations begin under the Board of Secondary Education Karachi, the same pattern of disruption and disorder resurfaces, exposing an examination system that appears incapable of learning from its own repetition. What should be a routine, well-oiled operation instead descends into confusion, placing an unfair burden
JAVED is enrolled in Grade 6 in a government school in his village. Akhtar, Javed’s father, is wondering whether or not he should pull Javed out of school. Akhtar feels Javed is not learning much at school, and that if he is put to work at the nearby
The education sector in Pakistan is notable for its overreliance on archaic methods of teaching, especially the technique of rote memorisation which has produced countless mnemonists but not many thinkers. Students are encouraged to fill in pages upon pages of information without meaningful assessments to back up their
THERE is one question that has been bothering me these days: what message are we sending to our children when their education is the first thing we suspend in times of crisis? We are a country with 26.2 million children out of school, according to data collected in
When schools closed early last month, Arsala Ali was as happy as any child can be at the thought of having no lessons. On March 9, Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz had announced the closure of all educational institutions until the end of the month in order to
A NATIONAL summit organised by the National Curriculum Council and the Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training should serve as the required catalyst to redefine Pakistan’s educational priorities amid rapidly evolving geopolitical and technological transformations. The summit’s goals comprised a transition from memorisation to critical thinking, creativity,
THE war in the Middle East has had several unanticipated consequences, among them one which requires a little more concern from the authorities than has been shown. Anticipating fuel shortages from the jolts to the global energy supply chain, Pakistan had moved to suspend regular schooling, announced extended
The federal government’s ambitious target to enrol 25,000 out-of-school children in Islamabad within three months will hopefully serve as an example for the rest of the country as we persevere to raise nationwide enrollment rates, which are currently among the lowest in the world. The success of the
The credibility of public examinations in Sindh has long been fragile, with cheating common across centres and enforcement often uneven. The government is now introducing a novel system of watermarking examination papers to curb cheating, an intervention that acknowledges the scale of the problem but will ultimately be
CHILDREN need education, physical activity, family and relaxation as well as adequate time for sleep (around nine to 12 hours depending on their age). This has become harder to manage as screen time has been increasing a lot in recent decades. A typical day for me —before the
The wide-ranging scandal emerging from the Mirpurkhas Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (BISE) is an indictment of the country’s failure to improve the education system or introduce meritocracy. News reports credit a “whistleblower” who gave up the scam after being arrested — though his own wrongdoing technically makes
THE federal government has embarked upon the welcome initiative to enrol 25,000 out-of-school children in Islamabad within three months. With Pakistan home to roughly 26m out-of-school children, a serious effort to get them into classrooms is essential and long overdue. The campaign’s structure suggests that the authorities recognise