Pakistan education report | Boycott in universities
62pc of third graders can't read an Urdu sentence
Karachi, Feb 14: A report has identified serious shortcomings in the quality of education,
as it shows over 62 percent of Class-III children could not read a
single sentence of Urdu/Sindhi of the Class-II level, while more than 85
percent of them failed to read a story text. Details of the
Annual Status of Education Report (ASER)-2011, a large scale citizen-led
household survey conducted in Sindh, were presented at the Aga Khan
Auditorium on Monday. The report assesses the results of education of
school-going (5-16 years) children in 17 rural districts and Karachi.
The survey collected information from 558 schools – of which 484 were
government and the remaining 74 were private. The children's
learning levels in English reading and comprehension are, according to
the report, even worse. A massive 94 percent of children enrolled in
Class-III failed to pass the reading test for Class-II. "Of the six
percent of children who could read sentences, some 32.1 percent children
could do so without actually understanding what it is that they were
reading," claims the report. Student knowledge of arithmetic is
also shockingly low, with almost 57 percent of Class-IV students being
unable to complete Class-III level double-digit subtractions, while a
staggering 86 percent of the children unable to complete triple-digit
divisions. The survey has been conducted by the South Asia Forum
for the Education Development (SAFED) managed by the
Idara-e-Taleem-o-Aagahi (ITA), in collaboration with the Foundation Open
Society Institute (FOSI), the Department for International Development
(DFID), the National Commission for Human Development (NCHD) and
Oxfam/Novib. The ASER's trained volunteer citizens' teams have
surveyed 10,016 households in 506 villages and collected detailed
information on 31,934 children between the ages of three and 16 (59
percent male and 41 percent female). Additionally, children between the
ages of 5-16 years of age were tested for competency in both language
and arithmetic. The news
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KU classes to resume
Karachi: Academic activities at Karachi University
will resume on Tuesday after two days of university teachers' protest
over the sacking and suspension of Sindh University teachers by the
Sindh government. The call for suspending teaching
activities on Saturday and Monday was given by the Karachi University
Teachers' Society (Kuts) to express their solidarity with the SU
teachers who had been protesting against the assassination of their
colleague, Prof Bashir Ahmed Channar, last month. The KU teachers
on Monday took out a rally from the university administration block to
the silver jubilee gate in support of SU teachers. The SU teachers
had been urging authorities concerned to order a judicial inquiry into
the murder of Prof Channar so that the culprits behind the murder could
be exposed and given exemplary punishment. The participants in the
rally were carrying placards inscribed with slogans such as "Suspended
and sacked teachers of the SU be reinstated immediately", "Prof
Channar's killers be arrested without any delay", etc. Earlier,
speaking to the participants in the rally, Kuts president Prof Mutahir
Ahmed urged the Sindh government to hold negotiations with protesting
teachers and their representatives.
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Admit cards to have scanned photos
Karachi: The Board of Intermediate Education Karachi
(BIEK) has decided to have scanned photographs, instead of attaching
photos, on the admit cards of all candidates appearing in the Higher
Secondary School Certificate (Part-I) annual examinations-2012. A
press release of the BIEK issued on Monday said that the decision was
taken at a meeting of the board to eliminate chances of tampering with
documents.
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Boycott of classes to continue in govt universities
Nawabshah: The Sindh chapter of the Federation of All Pakistan Universities Academic Staff
Association on Monday decided to continue boycott of classes in all
public sector universities in the province till Saturday. During
a meeting at the Quaid-i-Awam University of Engineering and Technology
(QUEST) in Nawabshah, the federation leaders said the federation would
decide a future course of action on Sunday if their demands were not met
by then. Academic activities in all public sector universities, including Sindh, Mehran, Sindh Agriculture, Quaid-i-Awam and Shah Latif universities remained suspended on Monday. Liaquat
Tunio, president of the QUEST Teachers Association said that the
meeting, attended by teachers' representatives from all government
universities of Sindh, decided to boycott functions where the Sindh
education minister would be invited. The meeting condemned raids
by police on the houses of Sindh University teachers and vowed to
continue protests and hunger strikes. In the event of arrest of any
teacher of Sindh University, teachers of all universities would court
arrests in phases, it warned. The head of the Sindh University
Teachers Association, Dr Azhar Shah, said the meeting expressed surprise
over silence of Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah over the
"illegal intervention" by the education minister in the varsity's
affairs. He urged the governor to dissociate himself from the
stand taken by the education minister and implement the agreement his
team reached with teachers on Jan 31. Teachers
and employees of Sindh University took out a procession and observed a
token hunger strike outside the university's Institute of Sindhology. The
teachers also observed a hunger strike outside the press club in
Hyderabad while a large number of students associated with nationalist
parities staged a 72-hour hunger strike outside the press club in
Jamshoro. The teachers association has boycotted classes since the
assassination of Prof Basheer Ahmed Channar, director of student
affairs, at the campus on Jan 2. Students of the Liaquat
University of Medical and Health Sciences also boycotted classes and
staged a demonstration in support of the professor.
Inquiry:
Additional District and Session Judge of Kotri Khalid Hussain Shahani on Monday
visited the place where Prof Channar was gunned down. The late
professor's relatives and university officials were also present during
the inspection. The judge would start recording statements of witnesses
in the court from Tuesday (today) at 2pm on daily basis.
Semester Exams:
The semester examinations in private and government colleges affiliated
with the University of Sindh for BCS, BCIT, BBA (Honours and Pass), MBA,
ADE and BEd will begin from Feb 21, according to a notification issued
by the controller of examinations (semester). Dawn
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Sindh University employees demand VC's removal
Hyderabad: Teachers and employees of the University of Sindh (US) continued to
stage demonstrations and sit-ins on Monday in protest against the
suspension of its teachers, while demanding dismissal of the vice
chancellor from his post Outside the local press club, members of the
Sindh University of Teachers Association (SUTA) said that they would
widen the protest, if VC Dr Nazir Mughal was not dismissed from his
post. They said that their demands consisted of removal of the VC,
reinstatement of terminated teachers, restoration of student union,
improvement of law and order situation in the varsity. The news
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