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KU MBBS supple forms | National Education Policy
KU exam form submission dates
Karachi, May 28, 2008: The examinations department, University of Karachi (KU)
has notified the students of all medical Colleges affiliated with it that the
examination forms and fee of third professional MBBS supplementary
examination-2008 will be accepted from May 30 to June 6, 2008. Furthermore, the
examination forms and fee for Bachelor of Physical Education (B.P.Ed.) annual
examination -2008 will be accepted at the respective colleges from June 2 to
June 14, 2008 without late fee. The News
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National Education Policy seeks free primary schooling
Karachi: The deadline for input on the National Education Policy is May 31, Saturday, after which the
government is supposed to announce the plan. Approval may take a while as the
Federal Education Minister, the PML-N's Ahsan Iqbal, resigned.
The
provinces have been asked to give their suggestions on the policy so they can
affirm the goal of achieving universal and free primary education by 2015 and up
to class 10 by 2025. Provincial and area governments are meant to develop plans
to achieve these targets, including intermediate enrolment targets and estimates
of the required financial, technical, human and organizational resources.
A National Education Standards Authority shall also be established. The
standards shall not prevent a provincial and area government from having its own
standards above the prescribed minimum.
In the proposed NEP, it has been
said that analysis reveals that Pakistan has made progress on a number of
education indicators in recent years. Notwithstanding the progress, education in
Pakistan suffers from two key deficiencies at all levels of education, access to
educational opportunities remains low and the quality of education is weak, not
only in relation to Pakistan's goals themselves but also in international
comparisons with the reference countries.
The proposed policy says that
on the Education Development Index, which combines all educational access
measures, Pakistan lies at the bottom with Bangladesh and is considerably below
in comparison to Sri Lanka. A similar picture is painted by the gross enrolment
ratios that combine all education sectors, and by the adult literacy rate
measures.
"The overall Human Development Index (HDI) for Pakistan stands
at 0.55, which is marginally better than that of Bangladesh and Nepal but poorer
than other countries in the region," the document says.
The report also
shows that while Pakistan's HDI has improved over the years the rate of progress
in other countries has been higher. Bangladesh, starting at a lower base has
caught up, while other countries have further improved upon their relative
advantage. These developments do not augur well for Pakistan's competitive
position in the international economy. As the Global Competitiveness Index (GCI)
shows, Pakistan's performance is weak, on the health- and education-related
elements of competitiveness, when compared with its major competitors such as
India, China, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Malaysia.
The NEP says that the
accent was on education for the few, basically to fill public service jobs. The
prevailing objective was service to the administration rather than service to
the students and learners. This assessment is echoed by the Economist's
Intelligence Unit's assessment in its latest review of education, in which it
observes that, "Pakistan's education system is among the most deficient and
backward in Asia, reflecting the traditional determination of feudal ruling
elite to preserve its hegemony". Second, the economic structure of Pakistan at
its inception was almost entirely agrarian, with little manufacturing and a
small services sector. The skill needs of the economy did not influence the
structure of educational provisions. The tradition of British education, which
Pakistan inherited, emphasized academic skills, to serve the administration,
rather than skills and competence for use in the production sector.
The
NEP said that one piece of evidence relates to the amount of development funds
allocated to the sector that remains unspent. Estimates range from 10% to 30% of
allocated funds remaining un-utilized. The underlying causes may lie in the lack
of a planning culture, planning capacity and weaknesses in the accountability
mechanisms.
Another type of implementation problem surfaces in the
corruption that is believed to pervade the system. Anecdotes abound of
education allocations systematically diverted to personal use at most
levels of the allocation chain. Political influence and favoritism are believed
to interfere in the allocation of resources to the districts and schools, in
recruitment, training and posting of teachers and school administrators that are
not based on merit, in the awarding of textbook contracts, and in the conduct of
examinations and assessments.
The NEP added that the plans shall also
promote equity in education with the aim of eliminating social exclusion and
promoting national cohesion. Greater opportunities shall be provided to
marginalized groups of society, particularly girls. Governments shall improve
quality of educational provision at all levels of education. National standards
for educational institutions and learning outcomes shall be determined. Steps
shall be taken to make educational provisions relevant for the labor market and
for promoting innovation in the economy, by giving greater emphasis to
vocational and technical education and by restructuring study programmes and
curricula to offer more applied learning options. Daily Times
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