Tuesday, February 10, 2009

People question donation collection by private schools

By Khalid Khattak

LAHORE: AS more and more people have been opting to send their kids to private sector schools in the wake of low quality education and deteriorating standard of public schools, many are getting upset because of certain “unwanted” practices of these private institutions. Besides complaining about heavy amount charged at the time of admission, people have been expressing concern over heavy fee structure and collection of extra funds under various heads on regular basis.The compulsory purchase of books, uniform and other stationery items from prescribed stores by some of the elite schools are some of the other practices, which have been inviting stakeholders’ criticism over the years.However, there are different opinions over collection of donations on part of private schools by students for various noble causes such as helping flood or quake affectees.There are those who favour the move saying such practices motivate the young minds to help people caught in trouble. “It teaches students that how to contribute for rehabilitation and welfare of fellow human beings,” believes Aleem whose son goes to a leading private school.He further said the school management, where his child was studying, used to ask students to bring donations in case the country faced a catastrophe like recent earthquake in Balochistan and floods in various parts of the country. He added, “Though most of the students do not donate from their own pocket yet they learn how to help those caught in trouble.”Nevertheless, there are those who are against the collection of donations by students saying no one should be forced to contribute. “It is unfortunate that most of the schools make it mandatory for students to bring donations, which is totally wrong,” believes Ali whose children go to an elite school too.He said schools must not make it compulsory for students to bring donations, adding in case someone donates less than others he/she is faced with inferiority complex. “This may put students into an embarrassing situation if they cannot arrange money because of one reason or the other,” he added.“I don’t mean that one should not help those who are in trouble but the point is no one should be compelled rather one should be let to share as he/she likes to,” he further added.He said, “The elite schools generate huge funds then why their management do not donate themselves.” Academic circles are also critical of unbridled working of the private schools. Referring to the Punjab government’s ongoing efforts to amend the Punjab Private Educational Institutions (Promotion and Regulation) Ordinance 1984, they have urged the government to take into account all the factors in this connection.At the same time, they have also urged the government to uplift standard of government schools. They believe it is unfortunate that at present the competition is among private schools only as far as quality education is concerned, saying efforts should be made to ensure a comeback of government schools in this competition.

Source: The News International
Monday, January 26, 2009

HRM a challenge to education dept

By Khalid Khattak

LAHORE: HUMAN resource management is one of the major challenges to the authorities of Education Department in Punjab.Despite the fact that the department has been bifurcated into the School Education Department and the Higher Education Department, there is no proper management of the human resource by the authorities concerned. That is why a shortage of teachers and heads of schools and colleges and other staff is frequently reported, especially in institutions situated in far-flung areas. Another important factor related to this ‘mismanagement’ is reluctance of those teachers to teach in schools and colleges for teaching who have served on administrative posts. It is generally observed that most of teachers who are posted against such posts on deputation reluctantly join teaching later and always wait to be posted on coveted managerial posts.Political influence and teacher’s connections in power corridors are believed to be the main hurdles in proper human resource management as the teachers manipulate the authorities to avail the best opportunities. This is quite evident from the fact that dozens of administrators have been awaiting posting for the last many months after their services were placed at the Education department’s disposal for further posting when the PML-N government came into power in the province in 2008. According to sources in both the departments there are 500 high schools in the province, which are functioning without regular heads. Besides, around 100 colleges are working without regular principals.It is important to mention here that after revival of the divisional commissioners in the province, the Higher Education Department and the School Education Department have been working to revive the divisional directorate of colleges and schools. Under the revived system, directors would be appointed at each division. The sources further said a number of senior teachers who had been awaiting posting for the last many months have “succeeded” in getting their names cleared for posting against the new administrative posts. “The department high-ups could not post these senior teachers in schools despite the fact there was a dire need at various institutions,” the sources said, adding: “The use of political influence cannot be ruled out in this regard.”The academic circles are critical of human resource ‘mismanagement’ at the Education department and they are of the opinion that the government should evolve a comprehensive and transparent policy for the department. Meanwhile, a meeting of the National Curriculum Revision Committee (NCRC) of the Higher Education Commission was held at the commission’s regional centre here last week, which reviewed the existing syllabus of the discipline of Social Work being taught at the institutions of higher learning of the country.The committee reviewed the existing syllabus of the discipline and, after having detailed discussion, developed a new curriculum comprising compulsory, foundation, major and elective courses. The committee members were advised to discuss the developed curriculum within their faculty and send the recommendations to the HEC to finalise the same in the forthcoming meeting. The committee unanimously decided now the degree programme of BS Social Work would be of four years and the subjects of modern day importance like environment, disaster management, poverty, financial management, health hygiene, human rights, gender development, social mobilization and participatory development would be included in the revised curriculum. For effective implementation of BS 4-year programme, the committee recommended that the departments of Social Work at all public sector universities of the country would be equipped with facilities like highly qualified faculties, teachers training, research, computer labs, modern libraries and sufficient infrastructure.The committee recommended that a National Council of Social Work should be established under the umbrella of the HEC to enable students of social work to face new challenges of the modern world. It was also decided that the committee would again meet after two months to finalise the draft of the curriculum.—- lachvee@gmail.com

Source: The News International
Monday, February 09, 2009

Public schools to offer vocational training

By Khalid Khattak

LAHORE: THE Punjab government has decided to introduce vocational training courses in selected schools of the province in a bid to train schoolchildren in employable skills.The plan envisages imparting vocational training to students of Class 6 and above by providing them with hands-on experience in electronics, woodwork and plumbing etc. In institutions for girls, courses in stitching and dress designing would be offered.At present, technical education and vocational training courses are being offered only at institutions running under the administrative control of the Technical Education & Vocational Training Authority (TEVTA) and the Punjab Vocational Training Council (PVTC).Senior officials of the Punjab Schools Education Department told The News that representatives of the department and the TEVTA were meeting to discuss the launch of vocational training in public sector schools. They said in the first phase, the programme would be launched in 100 schools in each district of the province and this programme would be extended with the passage of time.They said the TEVTA had agreed in principle that it would train schoolteachers. They said the initiative was being taken on special directions of Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif.They said funding issues were being discussed these days and according to estimates, Rs 100,000 would be allocated for each school to ensure availability of necessary equipment needed to launch the programme.A senior official of the department requesting anonymity said the basic idea behind the initiative was to impart vocational training to students in addition to general education so that in case if a student fails to continue general education, he/she might be able to have employable skills needed for technical jobs.Talking to The News, Schools Education Department Secretary Nadeem Ashraf said efforts would be made to introduce vocational training courses in maximum schools from new academic session starting from March 2009.He said special classes of vocational training would be organised in schools and students of Class 6 and above would be offered these courses. He said the department had set a target to introduce vocational courses in 3,500 schools across the province by 2010 academic session.

Source: The News International
Saturday, January 31, 2009

PPSC for transparent system of hiring at universities

By Khalid Khattak

LAHORE: THE Punjab Public Service Commission’s proposals to ensure fair and transparent hiring at public universities were presented before the Punjab Assembly on Wednesday.These proposals were submitted to the Chancellor/ Punjab Governor in PPSC Annual Report 2007. The PPSC had said that it had received complaints about favouritism and nepotism in the hiring process at public universities.According to the report, the acts/ordinances of the universities in the province required presence of a member of the Punjab Public Service Commission in the Selection Boards. The provision was incorporated to ensure neutrality, transparency and equity in the selection process, it said.“Most of universities have failed to frame rules, regulations and procedures for a fair and transparent selection,” it said and added that “the participating members of the PPSC are constrained to perform their duties effectively because of either lack of information or not supplying it altogether for proper examination and scrutiny.”The report read that an inquiry had revealed that universities invariably did not even send agenda and minutes of the meeting of the Selection Boards to the Commission for the purpose of checking their veracity. Unfortunately universities even do not have a mechanism to redress maladministration, it added.The PPSC has proposed the Governor/ Chancellor to circulate these instructions to universities. It said all universities should submit their laws, rules and regulations and procedures for selection to the PPSC for scrutiny and examination inviting proposals/ comments for their improvement/ amendments.It proposed that scrutiny of applications should be conducted by a neutral committee of a university headed by the registrar in accordance with conditions of eligibility advertised. It also proposed that rejection letters should be issued to ineligible candidates giving opportunity of appeal within 10 days to the vice-chancellor. The commission report also proposed that only approved minutes by the members of the Selection Boards be submitted to the Syndicate for approval and after its approval the results be declared and issued to the press, displayed on the notice board and websites of universities.The PPSC report also highlights that the standard of professional competence and general awareness of the candidates is continuously on the slide.Maintaining that the PPSC is a statutory body designed to assist the provincial government in selecting human resources for its smooth functioning, the report states the Commission has observed that education standard of the applicants has been on the decline. It reveals that the percentage of failure is the highest in the subject of English. “Mushroom growth of private educational institutions, affiliated with universities without due diligence and adherence to minimum norms and standards, have resulted in the low quality pass outs”, the Commission observes.The report says that educational system was neither need-based nor demand driven resulting in wastage of financial as well as human resources adding graduate pass outs appear to be a perpetual drag on the society. “The impressive academic credentials do not match with the performance both in written exam and interview, with the result that 1,179 posts remained unfilled during 2007 despite high rates of educated unemployed”, the reports claims.The PPSC has underscored the need of quality education at universities, colleges and schools. It has also recommended a uniform system of evaluation for examinations at universities and colleges awarding degrees with a view to reduce the disproportionate edge candidates have owing to marking standards.

Source: The News International
Friday, February 06, 2009