perspective-education - Page 3

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…

The Case for Teaching Punjabi in Schools

THE chief minister of Punjab, Ms Maryam Nawaz, has said that Punjabi will be taught across schools in the province. This was announced at the Punjab Culture Day ceremony last week. It is a welcome announcement. Some 80 million people speak Punjabi in Pakistan and, worldwide, Punjabi speakers number around…

Ghost Schools

KARACHI: Apropos the letter “Ghost Teachers” published on September 19, 2024, the…

A solution for millions of out-of-school children?

According to a UNICEF report, around 22.8 million children between the ages of…

Madrassa Bill

The rift over the assent for the madrassa bill has come to a pass. The President of the Republic has finally signed it into law after a hiatus, which apparently was aimed at arm-twisting an ally of the coalition government. The JUIF, which was part of the controversial 26th amendment…

Courts Must Prioritise Best Interests Of Child: SC

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court has held that as the custodians of justice, the courts must adopt a child justice approach that prioritizes the best interests of the child, recognizing their vulnerabilities, developmental needs, and potential. A two-member bench of the apex court – comprising Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah and…

CAN MADRESSAHS BE MAINSTREAMED?

Madressah reform continues to be a major challenge. Since the state is not in a position to outrightly ban madressahs and immediately replace them with regular schools, attempts to mainstream them by encouraging them to incorporate worldly subjects are widely considered the only other alternative. However, actual enrolment trends seem…

Beyond Schools

IN 2019, when I was teaching full time, our institute collaborated with a university in Canada in their Global Reporting Programme where three of our students, along with students in Kenya and the US, were selected to work on an academic year-long project. The three students and I would log…

Reforming Seminaries

Religious schools, or madrasas, have been integral to the cultural and educational landscape of the subcontinent and the broader Muslim world for centuries. At the time of the independence, around 250 madrasas existed in Pakistan. Since then, these religious institutions have experienced exponential growth, with tens of thousands of them…

Transport For Schooling

A JUDGE at the Lahore High Court recently ordered that schools should arrange for and organise transport for schoolchildren by the end of the winter break. The order came in the hearings on the case about smog in Lahore. The use of public transport for schooling is expected to reduce vehicular traffic…

Smog and Schooling

WHETHER schools are open or closed, it is not going to have much of an impact on smog levels across Punjab. The decision about closing schools has more to do with some notion that children will be less exposed to the smog if they stay at home than if they…

Water, Sanitation A Dream For Public School Students

LAHORE. Despite a billion-rupee budget, schools across the province have no clean bathrooms or drinking water available for students For students spending nearly six to seven hours away from home each day, the school premises become almost like a second home. Yet for the hapless students stuck in public schools,…

Importance of Classroom

The child learning in the classroom is a subject of great importance. While some argue that traditional classroom settings are outdated and ineffective, others firmly believe that they remain primary for a child’s intellectual, social, and emotional development. Let’s examine how. One of the primary advantages of child learning in…

Mastung Bombing

INSTABILITY continues to haunt Balochistan, as Friday morning’s bombing in Mastung has shown. At least nine fatalities have been confirmed — mostly children — while at the time of writing no group had claimed responsibility for this atrocity. Considering Balochistan’s complex vortex of violence, both separatist militants or religiously inspired…