Pakistan National Education Policy 2009-10

Punjab literacy dept
Lahore, March 22: it was constantly going down -- 2.42 per cent in 2006-07, 2.49 per cent in 2007-08 and 1.25 per cent in 2008-09.

He said Unesco recommended a minimum of six per cent in order to be close to the target. He said the National Education Policy 2009-10 recommended four per cent of GDP allocation for education. In 2008, he said, a report on its EFA initiative placed Pakistan among the 10 worst performers like Eritrea, Mozambique, Ethiopia, Benin, Guinea, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger and Chad. "Quite a company to be in, really," he said.

The additional secretary explained limitations of the literacy department in meeting the goals. He gave a briefing about the ongoing projects.

Former literacy department secretary Haseeb Athar said the PLPP document was an outcome of an exercise carried out to devise a deliberated methodology to determine the way forward as well as a tool for all stakeholders for realising the gravity of state of illiteracy in Punjab. He said the document was prepared by the department without putting in any additional funds.

Answering a question, he said the department was working on use of mother tongue for basic education and he was hopeful that it would be implemented at a later stage. He said the proposal was to teach children in their mother tongue for one-and-a-half year and then in Urdu till Class-V. "We do not want that a child educated in his mother tongue faces problems in the development of his life," he added.

Punjab education minister Mujtaba Shujaur Rehman said in his written speech that illiteracy was one of the main causes of terrorism. With a view to curbing the menace of terrorism, he said, every segment of society should come forward and play a role for building a literate society.

In order to achieve the objectives of the PLPP, he said non-formal basic education centres would be established for out-of-school children under the age group of 15. "It has been planned that over the next 10 years some 5.8 million out-of-school children would be enrolled," he said.

PLPP project adviser Chiho Ohashi said JICA would cooperate with the Punjab government to make PLPP a success story. She said this programme would play a role to create opportunities for illiterate and out-of-school population of all ages in Punjab to access quality literacy and non-formal education.

She said the capacity and commitment of manager and implementer in the field of literacy and non-formal education was indispensable for the eradication of illiteracy. In order to build institutional capacities in its management competence, Ms Ohashi said, PLPP would provide a variety of capacity-building services like NFE management information systems, data analysis and police assessment and monitoring and evaluation mechanism. Dawn

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Future doctors
Lahore: The case of the Fatima Jinnah Medical College in Lahore and the Punjab government's decision to affiliate it with the University of Health Sciences continues. The students seek continued affiliation with the prestigious Punjab University, while the court has now also inquired as to why the college has not been given university status unlike the King Edward Medical University. The issue, in essence, goes beyond that of one college, to the matter of higher education in general. What we need is a review of the level of learning we offer at colleges and universities and the calibre of the graduates we turn out. In many ways, this is especially crucial as far as medical education goes. The young men and women emerging from these centres of learning are the doctors of the future. Recent cases of unethical practice or negligence are in part linked to the kind of education students receive and the values they imbibe along the way.

While assessing the issue of affiliation, there should also be a review of curricula and how updated they are. There has been concern over this for some time. The situation we have now, with more and more private colleges opening up by the day, is a disturbing one. There have been reports of medical 'colleges' set up in premises that consist of little more than a few rooms, with no proper labs or facilities for clinical training. What we need is an overhaul of medical education at several levels and an assessment of where we stand. There are some reports that the best students are no longer entering the field. There is also the question of female students who do not then practise the profession. These issues have to be taken into account so that we have a definite strategy and can move towards a solution of our problems. The news

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Safe recovery of VC demanded
Peshawar: Dr Shakila Begum, wife of the abducted Dr Lutfullah Kaka Khel (Vice-Chancellor of Kohat University of Sciences and Technology), appealed President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gillani, Governor Owais Ahmad Ghani, and Chief Minister Ameer Haider Khan Hoti for the safe recovery of her husband.

Dr Shakila, Principal, Scientific Officer, Peshawar, said that November 6, 2009 was a dark day for the sisters, brothers and family of Dr Lutfullah Kakakhel when he was abducted by unknown gunmen at Akhurwal area, of Dara AdamKhel while he was on his way back home from Kohat to Peshawar.

She added that the innocent Vice-Chancellor travelled at dusk time and the wisdom grabbed him, and his horrific and inexplicable disappearance has put his loved ones in dismay and despair. 'The government has assigned the matter to military, which keeps militants in a constant run. The fidgety and restless time and roving status have affected the health of the educationist who was already sick due to high blood pressure and impaired cholesterol, she lamented.

Dr Lutfullah is a brilliant scientist, she said who has done his PhD from abroad, and he is the one who introduced Computer Science in the Frontier province and eventually established the Department of Computer Science at the University of Peshawar in 1984. The nation

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