perspective-education - Page 4

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…

Take School To The Child

PAKISTAN is in the midst of a critical education crisis, with over 22.8 million children aged five to 16 years out of school, placing it second only to Nigeria in this context. The situation is especially dire for girls, with 53 percent out of school as compared to 43pc of…

Ghost Employees

The Sindh government has stopped the salaries of almost 1,400 absent teachers, and other employees in the education department. Such employees are referred to as ghost employees – a euphemism for the absentees. The issue is chronic in the province’s education department, in particular. According to the District Education Performance…

Teachers’ Needs

AT the launching ceremony of the Continuing Professional Development (CPD) project to be implemented in Sindh a couple of years ago, I asked the then leader of the initiative whether they had conducted any assessment of teachers’ needs. His response was typical: “We know their needs.” This has been a…

Classroom Change

AS the world gets smaller, with knowledge-sharing across borders, the growth of AI and easy access to free learning platforms, teachers find newer ways of teaching. Many schools have addressed the need for change, collaborating within their teams to design better lesson plans, cater to students’ changing learning styles, and…

Educational Divide

WHILE basic education is a constitutional right of every child in Pakistan, millions of children and youth remain deprived of this fundamental means of living a quality life. The recently launched District Education Performance Index (DEPI) by the Ministry of Planning and Development represents a significant step towards comparing the…

Subpar Schooling

Delhi Government Boys School, Karimabad, tops Karachi’s Matric exams after 28 years, ongoing education issues. After a gap of 28 years, a government school – Delhi Government Boys School, Karimabad – has secured the top position in the recent secondary board examinations in Karachi. The last time a government-run school…

EDUCATION: THE STATE OF SCHOOLING IN PAKISTAN

With nearly 67 percent of its population below the age of 30, Pakistan stands as one of the youngest nations in the world. This vast youth bulge presents us with a golden opportunity to capitalise on a potential “demographic dividend,” while also presenting the challenge of providing adequate services, jobs…

Schools And Climate

AS a mother of two school-going children, the record-breaking heatwave experienced in Karachi this year has heightened my concern about the growing impact of climate change on our children’s health, safety, and education. According to the Asian Development Bank, heatwave days in Pakistan increased by 31 days annually between 1980…

Climate-driven Child Marriages

The prevalence of child marriages in certain parts of Pakistan, as exemplified by the recent reports of 45 underage girls being married off in Khan Muhammad Mallah village of Dadu in Sindh province, is utterly unacceptable. The directive issued by Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah to launch a thorough investigation…

Skills and Success

Someweeks ago, the Federal Directorate of Education and Professional Training organised a wonderful summer fiesta for schoolchildren, with a wide range of skill-based workshops, seminars, lectures and activities. This kind of immersive experience with creative writing, financial literacy, digital technology, and so forth, is the urgent need for students who…