Pakistan: Education policy

[Harold Schiffman]

Education policy



REHANA IFTIKHAR, JEHLUM

The objectives of higher education can only be achieved if the first
focus is on elementary, secondary and undergraduate education, using a
bottom-up approach. It is here that future scholarship is identified
and it is therefore critical that the teachers at these levels are
sufficiently qualified to impart the type of well-rounded education
that lays the ground for potential PhDs. For this reason alone, if not
the added advantages a rounded education provides society, the first
area of fiscal attention must be teacher training centres, where
trainees are familiarised with modern methods of teaching. These
training centres must persuade teachers to revamp the prevailing
system of rote learning, which has only limited value. Teachers must
be taught to encourage young minds to ask questions from the very
outset for by so doing they would have persuaded the more inquisitive
to explore new avenues of knowledge.

Regarding textbooks and the medium of instruction, the Urdu language
is as yet not sufficiently advanced to encompass the whole spectrum of
education, especially higher education. Thus, there is no choice for
moment for the textbook board but to avail and translate the required
material from foreign language texts whenever so required, and run
parallel courses to familiarise students more fully with English. By
no means does this mean that mother tongues or the national language
be neglected, for it is equally important that sufficient funds be
allocated for their further development.

http://thepost.com.pk/LetNews.aspx?dtlid=185976&catid=4

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