DIfferences between schools in Pakistan and America?

Question

does any one know a website or just have information? i need to know a couple differences between the two. Like age of teachers or what the buildings are like...or even what kind of materals they use...please anything will help! Thanks

Answer 1

In Pakistan private schools are better than government schools
In US govt schools are better than private schools.
In Pakistan children are abstrained from using foul languages.
There is a punishment for not working in Pak school.
Lack of recreational facilities in Pak Schools.

Answer 2

What was the difference between Imperial Japan and Nazi Germany? It didn't much matter did it, seeing as how both were oppressing, murdering and abusing people and both we set on global domination. They had to be stopped and so do extreme religious muslim zealots. I don't care what they call themselves or what country they camp out in.

Answer 3

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Answer 4

Be a kid again! When eating out, order some sort of child’s sandwich, pizza or cheese pizza. Then you can have the treats you're keen on, while reducing your portions and lowering your calorie intake.

Answer 5

It is possible, although I am not 100% certain

Answer 6

I was wondering the same thing too yesterday

Answer 7

in american schools the kids shoot eachother and in pakistanian schools they blow eachother up.

Answer 8

http://web.mit.edu/bilal/www/education/hoodbhoy1.html

What are they Teaching in Pakistani Schools Today?
by Pervez Hoodbhoy

posted: December 12, 2001

Having now crossed into the new millennium, let us look back to see how Pakistan has been educating its young. The facts speak for themselves: an international comparative test placed the science and mathematical skills of 11th class Pakistani students equivalent to that of 6th class Japanese students, a shocking gap of 5 years in learning achievement. One survey discovered that 60% of class-V students, and 40% of their teachers, could not divide one simple number by another. Other surveys have found that many government schools add little value ? out of school children, who work in shops and factories, were found to be somewhat better in mental arithmetic than in-school children. The quantitative aspects are no less dismal: school enrollments have dropped from a pathetic 60% in 1991 to 58% in 1997, and nearly half of these students drop out before the end of high-school.

While the above figures are damning enough, they understate the seriousness of the situation. They merely convey that the present delivery mechanism is dysfunctional, but say nothing about yet more serious and difficult problems, whose reduction to numbers is impossible. However unless they are attacked head-on, the dumbing down of Pakistan's future citizenry appears inevitable.

Frustrated by having to teach university-level science and mathematics to students who are almost unteachable, my colleagues and I have long agonized over the causes. Opinions differ but most, including our students, agree that the birdcages, which we call public schools, destroy all love of learning expeditiously and efficiently. Student attitudes towards their work are even more disturbing than poor levels of scholastic attainment, the latter being more forgivable and easier to improve. Most university students have little curiosity about their subject, no feeling of excitement, and no desire to explore. Most have never read a serious book in their entire life, other than a textbook or a religious book.

Campus discussions of philosophical, social, or intellectual issues are rare. While there are no quick fixes to a problem that has compounded over 5 decades, not a moment should be lost in beginning the slow process of rehabilitation and reform of the system.

There are four areas that cry for immediate and expeditious change: curriculum, textbooks, examinations, and teacher training. Each has been the subject of numerous costly studies by specialist teams, international and national. Some have been excellently done, others are only fair. Yet no study has been of the slightest use in reversing the decline. The problem is not that of insufficient data or lack of sound recommendations, but the fear of authorities to take unpopular but critical decisions. Let me consider each area in turn.

A school curriculum is the basic road-map of education, and it is here where the most fundamental problem lies. Pakistan has yet to decide whether it wishes to live in the 21st century of modern education or return to the days of Nizam-ul-Mulk and the madrassa system of the 11th century. In trying to seek the happy mean it has ended up with something near to 16th century pre-Renaissance and pre-Frobelian education. Public school education today is premised on a belief that repeated sermonizing, and strict regimentation of the school environment, will produce moral and patriotic Pakistanis. This should be evident from the following excerpts from the currently enforced official curriculum, duly authorized by the Curriculum Wing of the Ministry of Education, Government of Pakistan. According to this document, at the completion of Class-V, the child should be able to:

Understand Hindu-Muslim differences and the resultant need for Pakistan.? [pg154] Acknowledge and identify forces that may be working against Pakistan.? [pg154] Demonstrate by actions a belief in the fear of Allah.? [pg154] India's evil designs against Pakistan.? [pg154] Make speeches on Jehad and Shahadat? [pg154] Be safe from rumour mongers who spread false news? [pg158] Learn the national anthem by heart and recite it in class? [pg158] Visit police stations? [pg158] Collect pictures of policemen, soldiers, and National Guards? [pg158] Demonstrate respect for the leaders of Pakistan? [pg153]

One presumes that on the morning of 12 October 1999, a model student had to present evidence of respect for Nawaz Sharif, and in the evening for Pervez Musharraf.

The present school curriculum enforced by the Curriculum Wing (CW) of the Federal Ministry of Education -- makes little effort to link Pakistani patriotism, or Islam, with:

Civic responsibilities such as growing and nurturing trees, Preserving the environment, Acceptance of Pakistan's diversity of religions, languages, and cultures, Paying one's fair share of taxes, Assurance of social justice, etc.

Instead, passivity, blind obedience, and indoctrination are the goals. The pharaohs of the Curriculum Wing insist that Pakistani children must learn in at least three languages -- Urdu, English, Arabic - and often the mother tongue, if different, as well. This linguistic burden alone is sufficient to cripple tender minds.

To rescue curriculum development from the clutches of the Education Ministry is essential. One possibility is to entrust this to certain of the country's universities. In doing so, Pakistan will not be doing anything out of the way. In Britain, universities such as Cambridge, Oxford, and London, define the curricula for school-leaving examinations. There are numerous other models: in the United States, every school is free to have its own curricula but college entrance examinations (the Scholastic Aptitude Test) enforce some standardization of learning. India and Iran also have no national curriculum. If so many countries have demonstrated that they can exist and prosper without a national curriculum, there is no reason why Pakistan must be fixated upon having one.

Textbooks is the second area needing radical reform. A comparison of Matric and O-level physics and mathematics books reveals a world of difference in the clarity of explanations, quality of questions and exercises, and choice of examples. Sadly, vested interests have successfully appealed to nationalist feelings and thus prevented a wider use of internationally available books. I have yet to understand what "Pakistani physics" or "Pakistani mathematics" means, unless this is meant to denote something shoddy and sub-standard.

Not surprisingly it is the Textbook Boards, together with their favoured authors, which promote his fake nationalism. In fact many individuals make huge profits by producing substandard and badly written books filled with conceptual, pedagogical, and printing mistakes. That their monopoly, under the protection of the state, should have been tolerated for so long is tragic. Under intense pressure from international education experts there had once been some movement on this issue -- in principle the Government had agreed to let private publishers compete and allow multiple textbooks to be used. Subsequently the Education Ministry manipulated matters so as to empower the Curriculum Wing to select books. Back to square one!

Examination reform is the third critical area. Exams drive the entire education system, but widespread cheating and mismanagement have made their results unreliable indicators of student performance and learning. As the solution, many voices call for the army and police to supervise examination centres and to crack down on the so-called ?booti mafias? who make available exam papers, as well as their solutions, for the right price. While enforcement of discipline and cracking down on the mafiosi is unquestionably necessary, calling in the army or police is not a panacea. Even if cheating is eliminated entirely, the net improvement will be marginal. Therefore, instead of seeking such quick fixes, it will be necessary to get to the roots of the problem.

In a modern education system, properly designed examinations are vital component of the learning process because they serve to enhance analytical and problem-solving abilities. They serve to challenge a student, test the degree to which knowledge has been successfully internalized, and act as benchmarks of progress.

Pakistani public school examinations serve this purpose poorly. Rote-learning is rewarded, analytical ability is not. Mis-marking of student exam scripts by poorly paid and poorly qualified examiners, and badly crafted exam papers discourage many good students. For example, the matric Physics paper set by the Federal Board in 1994 set a record by having no less than 44 mistakes on a single sheet of paper! I had the dubious pleasure of showing this particular paper on a Pakistan Television program almost 6 years ago, but subsequent papers are scarcely better. Not surprisingly, private employers, as well as autonomous and semi-autonomous institutions are being increasingly forced to devise other means to select applicants.

The Boards of Intermediate and Secondary Education (BISE's) are directly responsible for this disastrous state of affairs. Apart from a Federal Board, controlled by the federal ministry of education, there are 20 provincial boards. The BISE's have substantial assets and income. For example, in 1989-90 the combined official declared income of the BISE's was Rs.28.5 crore with a net saving of Rs.5.7 crore. What certain individuals make as cuts for leaking papers to tuition centres and individuals is anybody's guess.

Elaborate plans for restructuring and improving the BISEs have existed for a decade, the result of careful studies by international teams of educational experts. They lie on the dusty shelves of the Ministry of Education, representing years of wasted effort and money. Huge vested interests seek to maintain the status quo.

The failure of examination reform has meant that the "A" and "O" level schools in Pakistan, linked to examination boards in Cambridge and London, are the only private schools that can be reasonably said to impart quality education. Hence the number of candidates appearing for the "O" level examinations has been increasing at 30% annually. Last year over 8000 students appeared for these examinations from Pakistan. Assurance of quality is provided by the fact that students must measure up to the yardstick that the overseas boards provide.

There have been failed attempts to create an indigenous "A" and "O" level system of similar quality but modified to suit Pakistani conditions. The problem is that this new system, which could continue in parallel with the present ones, would have to be recognized by the Government as better than, or at least equivalent to, the Matric certificate currently awarded by the 20 BISEs in the country. In previous years, for inexplicable reasons, the Ministry of Education has always shot down such proposals. The former head of the Curriculum Wing angrily told me that such an idea was "unconstitutional" and "anti-national".

Teacher training is another disaster area needing attention. Teachers are only barely more knowledgeable than their students, especially in rural areas. The only remedy is massive investment in teacher training by the government. However, government control and administration of teacher training institutions is bound to lead to familiar results. Therefore, teacher training should be done, with strong government subsidy, in private institutions. The Teachers Resource Centre, Ali Institute of Education, and Institute for Educational Development are fine examples showing that teachers can be trained well in institutions run by dedicated, professional people. But their efforts are but a drop in the bucket. Many more like them are needed.

Assuming that educational goals can be fundamentally re-oriented away from indoctrination towards the creation of critical, creative, and informed minds, the intelligent use of technology may well be the only way out of Pakistan's educational morass. While technology can never replace a teacher, it can act as a great force multiplier. Both for training teachers, as well as for direct instruction of students, one can imagine that distance-learning through specially developed video and multi-media learning materials could be extremely powerful tools.

Spanking new ideas and prescriptions for reform are easy to churn out. But their implementation does not come about so easily. We have still to see a demonstration of the military government's political will for a meaningful attack on educational problems. Indeed, plans for educational reform have yet to be formulated and announced. Implementation will be another matter.

from Chowk.com

Education Reform: Signs of Hope
Pervez Hoodbhoy
February 12, 2007



There is good news: the “White Paper” to “debate and finalize national education policy”, distributed in December 2006 by the Ministry of Education, though incomplete and flawed, is an enormous step forward. So is the new school curriculum – which somewhat mysteriously and improperly preceded the White Paper. These may persuade even hardened cynics that the country’s school education system still has a future. One is pleasantly surprised that this comes from a government ministry that has been in shambles for decades and is now headed, rather inauspiciously, by a former ISI general.

Of course, there are problems aplenty. The White Paper, among other things, is manifestly unfair to Pakistan’s minorities because it pretends that they do not exist; it contradicts itself in places; its multiple authors appear not to have communicated well with each other; and the treatment of the problems of higher education – as well as madrassa education – is unsatisfactory. But it is an accomplishment in spite of these failings.

First, a government document that aims to have a debate about policy in consultation with ordinary citizens is a welcome concept. Pakistanis have occasionally had political leaders who were elected, but never a bureaucracy soliciting people’s views on crucial public matters. The invitation given to intellectuals and civil society organizations is novel, as is the apparent willingness to incorporate suggestions which these debates may generate. A revised White Paper in March 2007 will hopefully contain important changes.

Second, the White Paper draws upon new statistical data recently collected in a National Education Census on enrolments, dropout rates, geographical distributions, private schools, etc. This provides a framework for conducting an informed and reasoned debate, rather than vacuous theorizing.

Third, the White Paper Team, headed by a respected retired civil servant, Javed Hasan Aly, starts from the premise that Pakistan seeks progress and prosperity: “Recognizing education as a right of the citizen, it is the aim of the state of Pakistan to provide equal and ample opportunity to all its citizens to realize their full potential as individuals….preparing them for life, livelihood, and nation-building”.

This is in stark contrast with earlier education policies – which saw Pakistani education as a tool to forcibly remake children’s minds. An official document, issued eleven years ago by the same ministry, had required that school children be taught to “make speeches on jihad and shahadat”; be aware of “India’s evil designs against Pakistan”; that they must “demonstrate by actions a belief in the fear of Allah”; go on field trips to “visit police stations”; and must “collect pictures of policemen, soldiers, and National Guards”. [These are direct quotes.]

This grim – if not terrifying – set of goals, has now been replaced with a relatively moderate vision of a Muslim Pakistan in which, “We have to unburden ourselves of the weight of centuries of nostalgia, suffocating our capacities to find our way out from the darkness of ignorance”.

Fine words, but surely real change will need more than vague hopes typed on white sheets of papers. The federal ministry of education and the four provincial education ministries are in a disastrous state. Their inefficiency, disorganization, and corrupt practices are legendary. Are there actually 12,737 non-functional “ghost” schools (as officially stated) or more like 30,000 in fact? Does the latest count of madrassas actually stand at 12,979 or is it closer to 22,000?

The management of educational institutions could not be poorer. The collapse of public schools comes from the inability of the state to deliver even half-decent education, or even to effectively monitor what is happening around it. This is what caused an explosion of private schools which, starting from near zero, now cover about 33% of Pakistan and as much as 70% of its cities.

This is bad news. Mere moralizing or proposing reforms and new curricula to the nation – but not knowing how to implement them – will make us despondent once again. Without reviving the public school system, education will become even more inaccessible to the poor and make it impossible to ever create a just society. Unfortunately, on this matter, the White Paper has no action plan that actually shows the way forward. We really should be told who will do the job. But even more importantly, what exactly needs to be done?

It is therefore time to construct workable plans and address real needs, albeit in ways never considered earlier. As one example, consider the issue of monitoring the country’s schools, without which successful management of a large system is simply impossible.

Imagine a situation where a real (not fictitious) data profile exists on every one of the 245,682 Pakistani schools. These would be public and private, rich and poor, located in the cities or in remote mountainous or desert areas. The more details one has the better, but anything is better than nothing. Individual school profiles could be used to rationally apportion the correct quantum of government and private resources, check wastages, improve school administration and teaching quality, etc.

Such a huge project is impossible by traditional means. But space-age technology is changing the world, and Pakistan can use it to clean up its educational mess. Effective school monitoring, a vital but unfulfilled task, has suddenly become possible.

How? One satellite in geosynchronous orbit over Pakistan can locate every single school and also determine certain crude parameters. Information sent down by its cameras can easily reveal when a certain school opened and closed on a particular day, roughly how many students entered and left, etc. School buildings used as warehouses or cattle sheds could be instantly identified; there would be fewer ghost schools. All information would be stored in that school’s dossier located in a computer system, accessible to the federal and provincial education ministries.

In most cases, school inspectors on the ground could supplement the satellite pictures. There is, of course, nothing new about school inspections. But what if an inspector is required to take pictures of the school he or she periodically visits, as well as to fill in required student and teacher attendance numbers, various assessment forms, the textbook and supplies situation, and then upload the information directly to the satellite above?

GPS technology allows the satellite to know exactly where the inspector is located. It is easy to make a report uploadable only from the school actually being inspected. Fictitious reports, which are the bane of the present system of school inspections, would become much harder. A report would instantly become part of that school’s dossier, accessible in a centralized location. Even for urban schools in posh areas, this form of direct inspection would provide a source of valuable information.

With this kind of technological assistance, the five education ministries could turn into effective watchdogs servicing the needs of schools. The legions of their listless employees, presently occupying vast amounts of building space but doing nothing, could be turned into professionals sitting in front of computers. They would have various data at their fingertips, and be constantly communicating electronically with colleagues, supervisors, and suppliers of books and materials. Surely, the time for new ideas has come.

For the reader who thinks this is utopian: please get yourself a computer, internet connection, and download “Google Earth” for free. A satellite in the sky above you will allow you to see your house, the car standing in front of it, and the general environs. One can, of course, have far clearer pictures by paying appropriate fees.

To be sure, technology must never be considered a panacea. Structural changes in the system of Pakistan’s educational management are essential. Massive teacher training and examination reform are obviously crucial, as is the need to decentralize school administration and turn it over to the town and zila level. These problems are also amenable to technological improvements, albeit to different degrees.

Clarity of purpose, political will, adequate financial resources for education, and willingness to appreciate and use modern technology – arranged in this order – can transform Pakistan’s school system. Should we dare to hope?


http://www.pakistan-facts.com/article.php?story=20030730131210453

Hatred springs from texts of Pakistani schools
Wednesday, July 30 2003 @ 01:12 PM CDT
Juliette Terzieff
Sohail Khan thinks he knows all he needs to know when it comes to Pakistan's larger, predominantly Hindu neighbor, India. "Hindus cannot be trusted," the 15-year-old said firmly. "Since the day Pakistan got independence, India has been trying to destroy us any way they can with the help of other infidel nations." Dismissing renewed efforts by both countries to reconcile their bitter and bloody 55-year-long rivalry, he insisted, "Talk of peace hides a different plan that only they know." Young Khan's harsh words - echoed widely in varying degrees by Pakistanis across the social and political spectrum - are hardly surprising, because they are the product of a government-endorsed curriculum taught in public schools around the country. Pakistan's madrassa (religious school) system, where ultra-conservative Muslim clerics dole out an excruciatingly narrow world view, has achieved global notoriety for producing thousands of young men dedicated to holy war. But the public school curriculum weaves in many similar concepts - including insensitivity to other religions, militancy and the glorification of war.

"Honestly speaking, there should be less fear of madrassa curricula, which is comparatively limited in scope, and more fear of the books being used in public schools," said Ahmed Salim, director of Urdu publications at Islamabad's Sustainable Policy Development Institute (SPDI). "While President (Pervez) Musharraf has spoken passionately about the goal of a modern, tolerant, progressive Pakistan, the curriculum used is serving exactly the opposite purpose and will reflect upon his policies badly," Salim said. Public school textbooks are replete with examples. A Muslim chauvinist view dominates the curriculum, and knowledge of Islam and the Koran is compulsory, even for non-Muslim students. Social studies teachers in grades 1 through 5 are ordered to include units each year that instruct students in the concept and importance of jihad (holy war), and even require youngsters to deliver speeches on the subject.

The 10th-grade Pakistan studies textbook minces no words in its endorsement of Islam:

"A good person is one who leads his life according to the teachings of Allah and the Holy Prophet. He is pious and virtuous. He follows the principles and teachings of Islam individually and collectively and makes an effort to promote them. According to the teachings of Islam, a person who follows the right path is distinguished from others." Intolerance toward other religions is often stated unequivocally. "Hindu has always been the enemy of Islam," according to the fifth-grade Urdu textbook. The sixth-grade social studies book, chapter 5, tells of how higher-caste Hindus have abused humanity by crushing the lower castes, and how Buddhism was eventually corrupted after it arose to challenge Hinduism. One sentence declares: "Islam preached equality, brotherhood and fraternity. The foundation of Hindu (society) was formed on injustice and cruelty." The curriculum also stresses male superiority over women, sometimes in subtle ways.

From the early grades, girls are depicted nearly exclusively in traditional roles - such as helping their mothers in the kitchen, taught in the pages of a third-grade Urdu textbook. Rarely are they described as playing sports or having professions - and when they are, they appear as foreigners or non-Muslims, like "Mrs. Brown," the airline hostess in the grade 8 English book. Even famous Pakistani and/or Muslim women are cast in stereotypical roles. Fatima Jinnah, one of only a handful of women to appear in Urdu textbooks, is cited only for serving as the nurse and fervent supporter of her brother Mohammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan. Fatima Jinnah, in fact, was a pioneer, beginning her adult life as a dentist who founded and ran her own clinic in Bombay before abandoning the profession in the 1930s to join her brother's political fight. She set up the All India Muslim Women Students Federation in 1941 in Delhi and then formed the Women's Relief Committee in 1947 (which eventually morphed into the All Pakistan Women's Association, still active today). She later ran for president against Mohammad Ayub Khan in 1965.

Warped accounts of history and reverence for Muslim or military figures are drilled into students' heads - a holdover from the need after the 1947 partition to create a vision of Pakistan as a nation separate from India. The vision was then further refined by successive governments for their own political goals - especially the military, which has ruled by force for 30 of Pakistan's 55 years of existence. Salim says: "Throughout the formative years, children are presented with pious glorious images of the military and given numerous glorified accounts of military heroics and the respect that gains. If a child learns that violence is a positive attribute, then that child is more likely to resort to violent means in situations that don't justify the action." Textbook depictions of the subcontinent's bloody partition, a time when 1 million people lost their lives through atrocities by both Hindu and Muslim militants, are one-sided. A passage in the fourth-grade social studies book stresses the agony of Muslims making their way to Pakistan while glossing over the price paid by others: "They came leaving their homes, shops, agricultural, goods and beasts in India. On their way to Pakistan, a large number of immigrants were killed by the Sikhs and Hindus. They suffered a lot during their journey. At that time Sikhs and Hindus as well left Pakistan for India."

There were, in fact, enough atrocities to go around, and the textbooks omit a two-month rampage in the Pakistani military city of Rawalpindi that saw thousands of non-Muslims beaten, killed or maimed. For most older Pakistanis, last year's riots in Gujarat, India, during which mobs of Hindus hunted down Muslims after militant Muslims torched a train carrying Hindu pilgrims, were a lamentable continuation of post-partition scarring. But students see the event as course work come to life. "It's plain to see the Hindus can murder women and children and go unpunished, but when the Muslims stand for themselves in India, they are called terrorists," said teenager Khan. School Principal Raifakat Hussein says that the curriculum's selective history prevents a proper understanding of events and does little to encourage self-criticism and analysis among the younger generations. "Children need to learn the truth about the history of their country, society and government - even if it's not all pretty and neat," said Hussein, who oversees the Montessori Primary School in the eastern city of Lahore. Educators, psychologists, lawyers and minority representatives joined with the SPDI to study the current curriculum after its revision this spring by the Musharraf government - which included improvements in English grammar sections, and the slight toning down of the glorification of holy war and dismissive references to non-Muslims.