Education in Pakistan

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Education in Pakistan starts from the age 5 to 10 is called primary schooling and then 11 to 12 of age is called Middle Schooling. From the age 13 to 14 it is called High Schooling and then from age 15 to 16 it is called Intermediate or Higher Secondary School Certificate which is equal to 'A' Levels or Secondary Education. Until the year 2002 a Bachelors Degree consisted of two years education. Since then onward it is a four years degree and it is equivalent to Graduation. Then Masters Degree consist on two years education provided by the Universities.

Some Masters Degrees also consist of 1.5 years. Then there are PhD Education as well in selected areas. One has to choose specific field and the suitable university doing research work in that field. PhD in Pakistan consists of minimum 3-5 years. Some universities doing contributions in research fields are Quaid-e-Azam University (QAU), University of Karachi (KU), Aga Khan University (AKU), Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS),University of Engineering and Technology (Lahore) (UET), National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST), National University of Computer and Emerging Sciences (FAST - NU), Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute (GIKI), Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Institute of Science and Technology (SZABIST), N.E.D. University of Engineering and Technology (N.E.D.),UMT King Edward Medical College (KE), etc.

One notable aspect of education in Pakistan is the system of Madrassahs. Madrassahs, Islamic schools which operate out of the control of the state, generally have a two course system. The first course, the hifz, focuses on the memorization of the Qur'an, while the second course, the alim, which focuses on training potential candidates for scholars and imams. A regular curriculum also usually includes courses in Arabic, Qur'anic interpretation, Islamic law, Hadith, logic, and Islamic history. Many Madrassahs also have expanded their educational system to include the sciences, Arabic literature, foreign languages, and world history. Madrassahs are particularly prevalent in the mountainous north west, where the government is less established, exist throughout Pakistan. Demographically, they generally draw attendance from the poor, who generally hold more traditionalist views of Islam, and who might lack the opportunities to partake in the state run system.

Despite their prominence in the media, little is known about just how much influence madrassahs have in Pakistan. The Pakistani government has released censuses which suggest that in 1998, only about 150,000 students actually attended madrassahs. These figures are open to criticism, though, with the governments presence weakest where madrassah attendance is strongest, and the possibility that the statistic were distorted to cover up short falls in the state educational system always remaining plausible. None the less, few have suggested that attendance exceeds 1.5 million students, a definite minority of all Pakistani children. However, with many world newspapers like "The independent" noting that many of the first responders to the earth quakes of the fall of 2005 were attendants of traditionalist madrassahs, it may be that students at these madarsahs are normally taught selflessness and they learn means to resolve the problems of society.

In the late Eighties, Pakistani economists successfully developed the theory of Human Development Index in line with Islamic principles of a just society.

Pakistani universities churn out almost 1.2 million skilled graduates annually. The government has announced a $1 billion spending plan over the next decade to build 6 state-of-the-art science and engineering universities. The scheme would be overseen by the Higher Education Commission. [1]

Over 1,081 patent applications were filed by non-resident Pakistanis in 2004 revealing a new found confidence.[2]

[edit] See also

College of home economics
Education policies of Pakistan
Language Policies of Pakistan

[edit] Further reading

K.K. Aziz. (2004) The Murder of History : A Critique of History Textbooks used in Pakistan. Vanguard. ISBN 969-402-126-X
Nayyar, A.H. & Salim, Ahmad. (2003) The Subtle Subversion: The State of Curricula and Text-books in Pakistan - Urdu, English, Social Studies and Civics. Sustainable Development Policy Institute.
Pervez Hoodbhoy and A. H. Nayyar. Rewriting the history of Pakistan, in Islam, Politics and the state: The Pakistan Experience, Ed. Mohammad Asghar Khan, Zed Books, London, 1985.
Mubarak Ali. In the Shadow of history, Nigarshat, Lahore; History on Trial, Fiction House, Lahore, 1999; Tareekh Aur Nisabi Kutub, Fiction House, Lahore, 2003.
Rubina Saigol. Knowledge and Identity - Articulation of Gender in Educational Discourse in Pakistan, ASR, Lahore 1995
Tariq Rahman, Denizens of Alien Worlds: A Study of Education, Inequality and Polarization in Pakistan Karachi, Oxford University Press, 2004. Reprint. 2006.
Tariq Rahman, Language, Ideology and Power: Language learning among the Muslims of Pakistan and North India Karachi, Oxford UP, 2002.
Tariq Rahman, Language and Politics in Pakistan Karachi: Oxford UP, 1996. Rept. several times. see 2006 edition.