Voice Of Children

Mansehra—Nazriya Pakistan Council (Trust) Islamabad opened its new chapter in Mansehra on Monday to rally the people around a noble cause for fortifying the foundation of Pakistan. The Hazara division was always rich in spirit of patriotism and love for Islam and this new chapter which was close to their hearts was welcomed by the intellectuals, educationists, scholars, professionals and other people from different segments of society in the area. Zahid Malik, Chairman Nazriya Pakistan Council and Editor-in-Chief, Pakistan Observer while addressing the ceremony held in a Mansehra Public School and College expressed his faith that the youth of Pakistan are bestowed with unparalleled qualities of head and heart. No doubt Pakistan is passing through its difficult period but the resilience of the nation will take it forward soon as Pakistan has blessing of Almighty Allah. The NPC is a non-political body with an aim to serve the people and the country irrespective of political affiliations, colour, creed or caste. The purpose of opening chapters is to rally the like-minded people for the noblest cause. Focus is on young generation as the youths are future builders of Pakistan. They should be armed with ideology of Pakistan. On NPC’s initiative, Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani has approved to hold 5-minute morning assembly in all educational institutions on Quaid-i-Azam, Allama Iqbal and Islam. Books are also being published to highlight messages of such towering personalities. Umer Gul Swati, Principal of Mansehra Public School and College was appointed convener of Mansehra Chapter by the Chairman NPC Zahid Malik. In his remarks he said Ideology of Pakistan can not be ignored at any stage especially when some unscrupulous elements are trying to create divisions and conflicts in the nation. It is this Nazriya which can defeat all negative forces in the country. He said the new NPC chapter will promote cause of Pakistan in this part of the country. Shah Jahan Khan Swati, President of Mansehra District Bar said Hazara has very important role in creation of Pakistan as people of this area during referendum in the then NWFP overwhelmingly voted in support of Pakistan. He said there is a need to work in rural areas and among women in spreading message of Pakistan. Kanwar Dilshad, Executive Secretary of NPC said Nazriya Pakistan is actually continuation of concepts already floated by Muslim leaders of South Asia. Lord Minto accepted demand of Muslims of India in 1911 for separate electorate. He said NPC has initiated several projects for promotion of Nazriya Pakistan. Dr. Ayub Sabir, an expert on Iqbaliat said Iqbal presented concept of Pakistan in his Allahabad Khutba which formed a base for new state of Muslims in India. Allama Iqbal through his poetry and essays awakened Muslims. A large number of students, lawyers, intellectuals and scholars of Mansehra attended the ceremony. Later in the afternoon, a seminar was held on Nazriya Pakistan at Modernage Public School and College in Abbottabad where thought- provoking speeches were delivered to highlight the very concept of Pakistan. Zahid Malik said in his speech that he always foresaw a multi-dimensional bright future of Pakistan and that was primarily because of the unmatched God given talent of youngsters of Pakistan. Two- nation theory took its hold when the last Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him) left Makkah for Madina. Then a journey was set off from “Sabz Gunband to Sabz Parcham”. It is also a fact during his stay in UK, Quaid-i-Azam was given a special message by the last Prophet to go to India and serve the Muslims. Pakistan is an extension of holy city of Madina, he said. Besides publishing books, the NPC is trying to rallying leaders of public opinion in this mission. Message is being spread in a simple way. More chapters will be opened in other cities. He appealed to the wealthy persons and business houses to sponsor a poor child either in a Tat school or a foreign standard school till the student does his matriculation at least. “NPC is going to launch a countrywide campaign in this regard”, he said. He complimented the Pakistan Bait-ul-Mal for launching its Sweet Homes in the country where the marginalized children, mostly orphans, are being looked after and educated by various philanthropists. Zahid Malik advised the participants to work hard and shun despondency and do not get trapped by foreign-funded anti-Pakistan propaganda. Pakistan, he expressed his faith, has the blessing of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and it was bound to stand on its own feet and play a befitting role in the comity of nations. Dr. Ghulam Qasim Marwat, an educationist in his long lecture proved that the concept of Pakistan has its long history supported by civilizations and traditions. This concept cannot be undermined at all. Abdul Wahid Mir Siraj, a foreign educated Principal of Modernage Public School and College who is also convener of Abbottabad NPC chapter said Pakistan has bright future, its people are talented and it is bound to enter into a new phase of progress and peace. Later, a delegation of NPC visited Abbottabad Golf and Country Club where rare photographs of Quaid-i-Azam were placed in a room.

LAHORE: The built-in inequality in classrooms is stopping children from learning well. This dilemma has put India in a “big stuck” and the situation in Pakistan is no different when looked through the lens of the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER). This was stated by ASER Centre, India, director Dr Rukmani Banerji during her presentation on “Every child in school and … learning well? Evidence and experience from India” at the opening session of a two-day international conference on “Quality – Inequality Quandary – Transacting Learning Relevance & Teacher Education in South Asia” organised by the South Asia Forum for Education Development (SAFED) and Idara-i-Taleem-o-Aagahi (ITA) in collaboration with the Education Testing Service (ETS), Princeton; UK aid and Foundation Open Society Institute at a hotel here on Wednesday. Dr Banerji said survey reports in rural India showed that classes’ composition was complex in terms of students’ age, language and learning levels, resulting in huge implications for instruction and equity. Quoting ASER survey results, she said students of different learning levels and capacities were sitting in a classroom and teachers were teaching all of them on a par. Resultantly, students’ learning levels were found far less than the desired levels. At least, she said, fifth standard students must be fluent in reading Grade-II text and solve similar level arithmetic questions. She regretted that textbook level for a specific grade was too difficult for most children and classrooms were not friendly at all. Still, Dr Banerji said, “big change can happen if governments make strategic moves based on evidence and reality”. In India, she said, close to 200 million children (97 per cent) aged 6-14 were enrolled in schools. There was a need for India as well as Pakistan to move from ensuring schooling to guaranteeing learning for all children. ANP vice-president Bushra Gohar said children should be more important to any government and stressed the need to invest more in education from country’s own resources instead of looking toward the World Bank and other donor agencies. She said only “political will” could help bring about a change in the depressing education scene in the country. Calling for strict accountability process, Ms Gohar stressed the need for improving village schools as well as strengthening public-private partnership. She said there was a lot of political pressure for posting and transfers of teachers and “teachers have been lost somewhere in the system”. Punjab Planning and Development Department Secretary Tahir Ali said the Punjab government was spending one-third of its budget on education, but not getting the value for money. He said available resources needed to be used efficiently and more focus should be on service delivery. Stating that equity in education was as big challenge as Education for All, Mr Ali stressed the need for providing equal opportunities and level playing field to children of all segments of the society to expect impact. At present, he said, there was a two-fold discrimination in terms of educational opportunities for all — public and private schooling as well as rural and urban divide. He said there was a need to continuously invest in education to transform 59 per cent of country’s youth into quality human resource. With the 18th Amendment to the Constitution, he said, it was now responsibility of the state to provide education to all and this would not be possible without private sector’s support. ITA Programmes Director Baela Raza Jamil said it was quite a journey since 2000 to address sub-optimal functioning of public schools through a sector-wide approach to bring quality education to Pakistani children. She said this regional seminar would hopefully serve as a platform for several policy dialogues on key themes. Speaking through a video link, ETS senior vice-president Dr Michael said ETS would take ideas from this seminar to educate children at their early age.

ISLAMABAD - PML-Q Secretary General, Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed, has said that education for all is the key to Pakistan’s progress and removal of poverty. He made these remarks as chief guest at the annual function of a special school for the underprivileged in one of Islamabad’s suburbs, the House of Light. The function held at Pind Baghwal, was attended by large number of students as well as their parents. In his speech, Senator Mushahid Hussain said that educational initiatives of Sir Syed Ahmed Khan through Aligarh Muslim University which educated generations of Muslims through modern educational means, there would have been no Pakistan Movement and no independent state of Pakistan. He said that education does not just mean getting degrees or diplomas, it also means inculcating the right values of vision, and, in this regard, he uplauded the vision of the House of Light, which says, “Education should result in tolerance”. Criticising the current value system in Pakistan where people with big houses and big cars were respected while those whose vision was high and had lofty ideals but no bank balance were not given due respect. He appreciated the fact that the House of Light was providing free education services to the children of the poorest section of society. Senator Mushaid Hussain lauded this educational initiative as reflecting the self-starter citizens’ activism and positive philanthropic approach of middle class Pakistanis who had launched this initiative without any help from the government or any big investor but was running it through contribution on a self-help basis.

By Asghar Azad KARACHI: Has the Sindh government taken proper steps for providing education to every child of five to 16 years of age in order to fulfill its constitutional responsibility under the 18th Constitutional Amendment’s Article 25-A, question was raised in a constitutional petition submitted in the Sindh High Court (SHC) by nine non-governmental organisations (NGOs) through Advocate Faisal Siddiqi. The SHC’s division bench, comprising Justice Maqbool Baqar and Justice Shafi Muhammad Siddiqi on Tuesday issued notice to the secretary Sindh Education Department for appearing in-person before the court on May 2. In the submitted petition, Advocate Siddiqi stated, “The provision of free and compulsory education at primary and secondary level is an inevitable requirement of the entire country and one of every ten children not going to school in the world lives in Pakistan”. He further stated in the petition that according to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Institute of Statistics Report 2011, as many as 3,108,413 boys and 4,191,384 girls could not join schools at primary level. The petition also cited an observation of the World Bank which stated that access, equity and quality primary and secondary education keeps-on a challenge in Sindh province. “About 11 million five to 14-year-old children could not join schools in the year 2007. Only 53 percent of individuals of 17 to 21 years of age had completed their secondary schooling”, claimed the cited observation report. According to the Pakistan Living Standard Measurement Survey (PLSMS) 2007-8, the primary enrollment across Pakistan is 35 percent (in private schools) and out of it in 27 percent is for Sindh province and only five percent for Sindh rural areas. Talking to Daily Times outside the courtroom Advocate Siddiqi said the education’s situation in our country especially in Sindh province was deteriorating rapidly and they approached with the SHC for bringing some betterment in the sector. Advocate Siddiqi further said “We submitted the right of education is enshrined under Article 9, of the Constitution of 1973, because right to life includes a right to respectable education”. “One of the principle of policies for the governance of the State as enshrined under Article 37 (b), of constitution belongs to removal of illiteracy and provision of free and compulsory secondary education within a minimum possible period”, Advocate Siddiqi said. Replying to a query he said, after the passage of 18th Amendment Act, 2010, there are two fundamental changes, one the responsibility for education has devolved to the province which have made respondent in the petition; secondly, in addition to the Article 9 and Article 37, of the Constitution of 1973, Article 25-A grants a fundamental right for free education to all children of less than 5 to 16 years of age.