Category Archives: Children and Youth

Educating Orangi

Archive Edition, Children and Youth, Development and Poverty, Education, Social Issues, Women

By Zubeida Mustafa

“Punishment should be reformist in its goal. It should make the child realise his mistake…But punishing a child unnecessarily and aimlessly will not inculcate good habits in him nor will it reform him … Corporal punishment creates hatred in a child for his teacher… It should be avoided. (Translated from Urdu)

These and many more practical suggestions are contained in the Teacher’s Guide published recently by the Orangi Educational Project. The guidelines do not reflect anything radically innovative. But the move to publish a 31-page guide of this nature is definitely an unprecedented step. Some of the trained teachers say they had never been taught many of th42-21-04-1989ese norms in the course of their training.

The publication of the guide speaks of the collective efforts of a handful of schools to upgrade themselves and improve their quality of education. It is not strange that it should be schools in Orangi which should have decided to opt for a self-improvement process. According to Dr Akhter Hameed Khan, the Director of Orangi Pilot Project and the driving force behind the education programme, Orangi is a new settlement and its people have the pioneering spirit of settlers. Hence they are willing to shed old conventions and inhibitions and experiment with new ideas. Continue reading Educating Orangi →

Government and private schools compared: elitist versus plebian

Archive Edition, Children and Youth, Development and Poverty, Economy, Education

By Zubeida Mustafa

Why don’t parents boycott private schools? This question was posed to me by a senior bureaucrat in the government’s education department. He was speaking in the context of the countless complaints parents, educationists and students voice against private educational institutions.

Any parent would tell him that private schools are the lesser of the two evils: the other being the schools managed by the government.

When parents have a choice between the two, the private institutions are invariably their first priority. It is understandable. Inefficiency, corruption and lack of resources have taken their toll in the schools in the public sector. Their standard of education and academic environment have deteriorated to an appalling extent over the years. Continue reading Government and private schools compared: elitist versus plebian →

Fight against illiteracy: an uphill task

Administration, Archive Edition, Books, Children and Youth, Development and Poverty, Education

By Nafisa Hoodbhoy and Zubeida Mustafa

“Bina parhayjo waqt gunwaya”, the powerful TV jingle, came to mind as we walked one after-‘ noon through a long dusty corridor of a government school in Korangi. We (were on a surprise visit to one of the Nai Roshni schools.

Going up a flight of stairs in the school building, we came upon a classroom without window panes. Seated on dusty wooden benches, with books open before them on rickety desks .were 24 boys in dishevelled shalwar-kameez and chappals. They listened intently as their young bearded teacher taught numerals on the blackboard with almost religious devotion.

This was a maths class in progress at the Nai Roshni school. After the teacher had finished he called upon one of the children to come and recite the tables. The boy did so with great zeal in a sing-song tone and the class repeated the lesson after him. Even when the child made a mistake the class did not falter. It was the teacher who would intervene. Obviously the emphasis was on the rote method so common in the schools here. Continue reading Fight against illiteracy: an uphill task →

Budget and health sector: low allocations, poor achievement

Archive Edition, Children and Youth, Health

By Zubeida Mustafa

IT IS a measure of the government’s poor commitment to public health that one of the largest cuts instituted in the revised Federal ADP now announced is for this sector.

From Rs 810 million, the allocation for health has been scaled down to Rs 736 million, which is considerably less than what was spent in 1986-87. The health sector will receive less this year in the Sind ADP too, the allocation having been reduced from Rs 364.6 million in 1986-87 to Rs 360.6 million in 1987-88. Continue reading Budget and health sector: low allocations, poor achievement →

Liaquat National Library Periodicals in need of preservation

Archive Edition, Books, Children and Youth, Education, Information, Library

By Zubeida Mustafa

AFTER what one hears of the poor reading habits of Pakistanis and their lack of interest in books, one would expect a library to be a deserted place. But a casual visit to the Liaquat Memorial Library on Stadium Road should be enough to convince anyone that there are quite a few people in the city who do like to read. It can, however, be presumed that people read only if they can get books, newspapers and magazines conveniently and free of cost. Continue reading Liaquat National Library Periodicals in need of preservation →