Perspective - Page 2

Insights From the 2023 Census Report

The 2023 Census conducted by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics released its complete report in July 2024 indicates that the total population of Pakistan is 240 million out of which the population of children under 18 is 112 Million (47% of the total population). Children Population (under 18) Population under 18 Total Male Female Transgender Pakistan 112,472,700 58,099,978 54,370,121 2,601…

Juvenile Offenders in Punjab

The total number of convicted and undertrial juveniles imprisoned in various borstal institutes and jails of Punjab province was 645 as on 15 March 2022 (Prisons Department, Govt. of Punjab). Out of the total number of juvenile offenders, 81% (523) juveniles were on trial (under trial) and 19% were convicted…

Grace Marks by Sindh Government

In a move as surprising as it is contentious, the Sindh provincial…

deficiencies in Pakistan's education system

The Impact of Pakistan’s Education System

What PM Shehbaz Sharif blurted out recently isn’t quite a national secret.…

Violating Right to Free Education

Poverty, food insecurity, gender inequality, and funding – all of these reasons have been used by the government on various occasions to explain why there are 26.2 million children aged 5-16 out of school. A country that has the world’s second-highest number of out-of-school children is apparently so steeped in…

Between Play and Pixels: Children Growing up in Modern Times

A digital transformation has been introduced to the quiet, bustling homes everywhere, replacing the sounds of children playing on the streets. If you visit a typical household today, it is likely to observe a child bent over a phone with headphones in, completely lost in a digital world. At times,…

Chaotic Exams

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 on students…

Educating the Poor

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 auto-repair workshop…

New Teaching Practices

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 comprehension, and…

Education Last

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 2021–22 by…

Risky Experiment

The SBP’s recent decision to allow teenagers as young as 13 to open and operate bank accounts entirely on their own is meant to create an opportunity for children to gain financial literacy early and through hands-on experience. The new child account category is a fully functional digital wallet with…

Schools in Suspension

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 conserve fuel…

Education Paradox

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, inquiry and…

Education Interrupted

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 holidays and…