Comment by Riaz Haq on November 29, 2016 at 10:37am

US Charter School Model Goes Global In Pakistan
Several education nonprofits have started to adopt public schools in Pakistan, introducing new books, hiring new teachers and upgrading facilities.

https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/news/education-news/201...


Three years ago, Bushra Nasim left her public school in Karachi and switched to a private school with low tuition.
She didn’t like how teachers treated her and classmates.
“There was a physical and verbal abuse and now it doesn’t happen here anymore,” she said through a translator.
That’s because new managers run her campus, called the Pakistani Railway School.
A nonprofit known as The Citizens Foundation, or TCF, took it over from the government last year. Now dozens of students are coming back, like Bushra. She’s ready for eighth grade, dressed in her sky-blue uniform with a cream shawl across her shoulders.
Bushra said that she was excited to return because of new course books and polite teachers. Her father was so excited about the new management from TCF that he also enrolled three of her six siblings.

This is part of a larger experiment in Pakistan to reform education. Several nonprofits like The Citizens Foundation, Developments in Literacy and CARE have adopted hundreds of public schools in all.
Some of the nonprofits also operate their own schools and collect donations around the world – including more than $1 million a year from Houston.
But with the government schools, they take over management and often replace or retrain teachers. Some have long waiting lists or lotteries to win a seat.
If this sounds like charter schools in the United States — where independent management groups operate public schools — it’s because it’s fairly similar. One difference is that U.S. charters are free. The Pakistani groups can charge a nominal tuition, such as a couple of dollars or less per month.
“They have more experience,” said Fazlullah Pechucho, the Education Secretary in the Sindh province. He said he’s eager to partner.
“A lot of elements are being executed with the EMOS, education management organizers, who are the private partners,” he said.
Groups like TCF are also excited because they see a faster route to improve both the quality and access to education in Pakistan, a country with a booming population and a dismal public education system. TCF’s strategic director said that adopting a public school and revamping the building saves them time and money, instead of building a new brick-and-mortar campus from scratch.

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That’s why there’s another strategy at play at the Fatimah Jinnah Government School in Karachi. Here seventh grade girls compete in dodge ball in the courtyard.
The Zindagi Trust adopted the girls-only school nine years ago. It offers chess, soccer, a library and art classes. The trust has invested almost 100 million Pakistani rupees in the school, including upgrades to the campus so drinking water didn’t mix with sewage lines.
The trust’s director Shehzad Roy calls it a success for other reasons.
“The most important thing why we’re turning around government schools is (to) change the system,” he said.
Roy is a Pakistani pop singer turned activist. He said that the campus acts as a model to change education laws. So far, he counts half a dozen reforms. They include a ban on corporal punishment and allowing non-government textbooks in the classroom.
“And as an institution yes, the school is doing really well. But more importantly, are we impacting the system or not,” Roy said.

Comment by Riaz Haq on December 26, 2016 at 8:14am

Joint #US-#Pakistan #energy collaboration at #ASU energizes entrepreneurial aspirations 4 #Pakistani scholars

https://asunow.asu.edu/20161223-project-energizes-entrepreneurial-a...

A second cohort of Pakistani engineering scholars has completed their entrepreneurship course of study at Arizona State University as part of the USPCAS-E program. In addition to entrepreneurship, the students are also studying engineering and policy in an effort to improve their country’s energy prospects.

U.S.-Pakistan Centers for Advanced Studies in Energy is a U.S. Agency for International Development project focused on applied research relevant to Pakistan’s energy needs. The project, which is a partnership between Arizona State University and two leading Pakistani universities, aims to produce skilled graduates in the field of energy.

ASU entrepreneurship professor Kenneth Mulligan said: “The intention of the program is to improve availability of clean, reliable power in Pakistan. Strategic innovation and entrepreneurship provides a pathway for widespread implementation of their innovative technical solutions.

“Pakistan is subject to rolling blackouts that impede stability, progress and business. The problems faced in Pakistan are not easy problems, which is why coming up with solutions that reside outside the box are so critical,” said Mulligan, who has taught and mentored both cohorts so far.

“They get to use causative thinking, systems analysis and technical feasibility to solve complex technical problems in energy generation and distribution. However, this problem-solving approach and skillset is insufficient in the development of innovative and disruptive products and technologies.”

Comment by Riaz Haq on September 6, 2021 at 9:30am

Pakistan's educational attainment progress from 2010 to 2020:

Education Attainment 2010 to 2020

No schooling 16.3% to 21.75%

Below Primary 38% to 18.3%

Primary 19.3% to 30.14%

Secondary 22.5% to 23.85%

College 3.9% to 5.96%



Sources:

Barro-Lee Educational Achievement Dataset

http://www.barrolee.com/

Pakistan Bureau of Statistics

https://www.pbs.gov.pk/sites/default/files//tables/EDUCATED%20POPUL...

Comment by Riaz Haq on September 6, 2021 at 9:58am

Only 4.5% Population in India is Graduate or Above: Census

https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/only-4-5-population-in-india-is-graduate-or-above-c...


Only 4.5 per cent of the population in the country is educated up to the level of graduate or above while a majority of 32.6 per cent population is not even educated up to the primary school level.

According to the census data for 2011 on literacy, workers and educational levels, released by the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India, literate population who are presently attending any educational institution in the country, below primary occupies the major share of 32.6 per cent.

It was followed by primary (25.2 per cent), middle (15.7 per cent), matric (11.1 per cent), higher secondary (8.6 per cent) and Graduate and above (4.5 per cent).

During the decade 2001-11, improvement is observed at middle and above educational levels and decline in percentage share at lower levels (below-primary and primary).

The improvements at higher educational levels are indication of educational advancement in the country during the decade 2001-11.

The data on workers by five categories of literates namely literate but below matric/secondary, matric/secondary but below graduate, technical diploma or certificate not equal to degree, graduate and above other than technical degree and technical degree or diploma equal to degree or post-graduate degree have also been released.

The data that distributes the population, main workers, marginal workers, non-workers, marginal and non-workers seeking/available for work by literacy status and educational levels separately for total, scheduled castes and scheduled tribes population is also released.

The data reveals that during the decade 2001-2011, there is an overall improvement in literacy status and educational levels of various types of workers and non-workers among total and SC/ST population.

Census 2011 has further exhibited that out of about 55.5 million Marginal workers seeking/available for work in India, the majority of 21.9 million (39.4 per cent) are illiterates followed by 20.9 million (37.6 per cent) literates but below matric/secondary and 8.0 million (14.5 per cent) matric/secondary but below graduate.

Comment by Riaz Haq on September 13, 2021 at 10:28pm

The missing third: An out-of-school children study of Pakistani 5-16 year-olds

https://www.dawn.com/news/1643918

The proportion of out-of-school children at the district, provincial and national level has been extracted from the Pakistan Social and Living Measurements Standards survey 2019-20 (PSLM). PSLM is conducted every two years by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, with data collection at the provincial and at the district levels in each alternate iteration.

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Out of all children in Pakistan between the ages of five to 16 years, 32 per cent, i.e. one third, are out of school (Note: 49% of these never enroll while 51% drop out by the age 16). This amounts to an estimated total of over 20 million. Balochistan has the highest proportion of OOSC at 47 per cent followed by Sindh at 44 per cent.

In absolute terms, Punjab has the largest total population of OOSC roughly estimated at 7.7 million followed by Sindh at 6.5 million.

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There are two types of OOSC (Out of School Children):

• Children who have never attended school

• Children who have attended school in the past but have since dropped out

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https://mathsandscience.pk/

Comment by Riaz Haq on September 15, 2021 at 11:15am

Project OoSC Launched To Empower India’s 17.8 Million Out Of School Children, The Highest Total Number Of Children Out Of School In South Asia

https://indiaeducationdiary.in/project-oosc-launched-empower-indias...

Gorakhpur: Gorakhpur local and the multi-award-wining, international educationalist Amreesh Chandra, has announced the launch of Project OoSC (Out of School Children), a breakthrough initiative with a mission to enrol, educate and empower 127 million children out of school in the Commonwealth nations with a special focus on India’s 17.8 million Out of School Children between in ages 5-13 years, the highest number amongst other South Asian countries.

The project will establish 50 container schools across four states in India in its very first year, with the first container school is being established in the Gorakhpur District of Uttar Pradesh. Gorakhpur will soon see the light of the day as the work on the development of the container school has already begun with the laying down of the foundation stone to commence proposed construction. The container school upon its establishment will benefit hundreds of children in the village who had to discontinue their education for lack of resources and other infrastructural constraints.

The project that is based on the premise that “education is a basic right” goes a step further to ensure education through investing in better infrastructure and resources, such as the use of shipping container classrooms. Thanks to swift assembly and the ability to transport easily, Project OoSC’s use of shipping container classrooms helps to install infrastructure for education and enables more children to attend school. In addition, the project will help to ensure high standards of training to educators to enable the spread of quality education and to spark a literacy movement in remote communities across the commonwealth.

Project OoSC lays a strong emphasis on training teachers to ensure quality instruction in the classroom. Another broad objective of the project is to start a literacy movement amongst communities that are widely ignored. This will be achieved by way of establishing container literacy homes or libraries inspiring young people learn more through providing access to reading material. The project is strongly banking on community participation for its success and the enthusiasm of the people during the launch of the first container school bears a testimony to the potential benefits that it will generate for people in the region.

Comment by Riaz Haq on January 22, 2022 at 6:37pm

#Pakistani convicted murderer takes top #school score, wins #scholarship. Shah is one of 1,200 inmates studying in Central #Prison #Karachi, but his success is unparalleled, said Saeed Soomro -- deputy superintendent of the prison. #convict #education https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/22/asia/pakistani-murder-scholarship-wi...

A Pakistani inmate serving a life sentence for murder in an overcrowded Karachi prison has won a scholarship for further study after taking one of the highest scores in the city's higher secondary school exams last year.

Syed Naeem Shah, 35, scored the highest in the general high school exams among private candidates - that is, among non-traditional students -- last year in Pakistan's largest city, winning a scholarship for further studies from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Pakistan (ICAP).
"What I have achieved while languishing in jail is not possible if one does not have conviction," Shah told Reuters in an interview in Central Prison Karachi, built by the British in 1899 in the port city in southeastern Pakistan.
The prison, like many others in the country, is notorious for being overcrowded, holding nearly 6,000 inmates in space meant for 2,400. Pakistan prisons overall are at 130% of capacity and are poorly ventilated, with insufficient beds and limited access to medicines, safe water and bathing facilities, according to Amnesty International.

Speaking in a classroom inside the prison grounds, Shah said he enjoyed school as a child but that his family could not afford to continue his education. In jail, older inmates who were also taking classes motivated him and helped him prepare for exams.
Shah is one of 1,200 inmates studying in Central Prison Karachi, but his success is unparalleled, said Saeed Soomro -- deputy superintendent of the prison.
"His results are (also) tantamount to our success," Soomro said, in giving him the opportunity to study and providing him with books and materials.
Shah was sentenced to life -- 25 years in Pakistan -- in 2018 for the shooting and killing of another man in a personal disagreement in 2010. Years spent as a prisoner on trial, plus time off for academic achievements, good behavior and blood donations, leaves him with about six years to serve.
Shah still has to pass an entrance exam to formally take up the scholarship, an ICAP official said, requesting anonymity as he is not authorized to talk to media.
The scholarships -- of 1 million rupees or about $5,700 -- are offered to students earning the top four scores in intermediate exams, regardless of whether "they are in jail or outside," the ICAP official said.
"I feel it will be very difficult for me to pursue this scholarship from prison," Shah said, given the technical and specialized subjects he will be pursuing.
Even before his exam success, Shah said he had filed an appeal against his conviction that is pending in a high court in the southern province of Sindh.
"I appeal to the president of Pakistan, prime minister and chief executive of Sindh province to consider my case for remission."

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