OVERBURDENED STUDENTS

By:Dr Faisal Bari Tests, tests, exams, and more tests

Whenever I visit a friend’s house, who has four school-going children, I always find, apart from the summer holidays period, inevitably, that all of his children have either just finished giving tests or examinations, are preparing for them, or are in the middle of them. And given there are four children, one of them is always in the middle of tests, and so the household is always ensuring that at least that child, and in general all the children, are always preparing for these tests and keep up with their studies.

I asked the children how many tests/examinations they got. They reported that they had term finals and midterms, and in addition monthly assessments as well as weekly ones. And then sometimes they would get surprise tests as well. So with 6-8 subjects to contend with for every student, it means every week they had some exam or test to worry about. And a lot of teachers took tests at the start of the week giving students the weekend for preparation. Which means the weekends are usually spent studying for more than one test coming up. I checked with some other children in other ‘good’ private schools too, and the pattern was similar.

The story of homework assignments is in addition to the test/examination issue. But it does add to the time children have to spend studying every evening. Again with 6-8 subjects, and no coordination between teachers on homework assignments, students get homework for every subject almost every day.

Parents and schools want good results from students, and clearly quality of education is linked to effort as well, but what is an appropriate level of effort that we want our students to make? Should they be spending all or almost all of their time away from school studying, and should this continue all the time? One can understand more work in key years and at key times, like closer to finals and so on, but such an effort cannot and should not be expected all the time. This will not lead to better quality.

Children, like adults, need time to internalise what they read. They need to play, mentally and physically, with what they learn so that they can make it a part of their conceptual framework. If children are always cramming for exams and working on their homework, when do they get time to reflect on and play with what they are learning and internalise the material? And if they do not do this, they will develop a tendency to cram and will make rather poor students, and more importantly, will end up going through the education system and even getting all the certificates and degrees, but without having the ability to use what they have learnt.

I was surprised to find that many students use ‘study guides’ even at O-Level or A-Level stages. How can this be good? The students feel they have to cram as quickly as possible, but if they are not taking the time to read their textbooks and original sources that have been put in their syllabi, they are shortchanging their learning process.

I have seen this in many students already. If you ask them to define or explain something they will rattle off the definitions and explanations immediately. But, at least in the case of economics, I can tell which books have they usually studied from because they use the same words that are in their books. If you ask them to explain, in their own words, what they have said, many of them are stumped and confused. Furthermore, if you ask them to give an example, from their life or from around them, to illustrate the principle they are talking of, many of them cannot do that. This is tragic. If children are not able to connect what they are learning with their lives while in schools, what are we teaching them and how are we teaching them?

Are private schools, and almost all of the top private ones seem to be quite similar in their approach to education, pushing students too much to cram and reproduce rather than study, understand, and reflect on what they have studied? And are they also over-testing the students and giving them too much homework? The world is competitive and we have to prepare our youth well, but we should not take things to the point where the preparation we give them kills their creativity and hampers their development and competitiveness. This would be counterproductive at so many levels.

A connected issue, but one that I have been asked to raise by a number of parents, is about the physical load we put our children under. One of my friends tells me that his child, in grade one, weighs less than how much his school bag weighs. The school bag has six text books and six notebooks apart from stationary, lunch box and so on. The child drags this bag to school everyday and drags it back in the afternoon. In higher grades the bags might not outweigh the children but they do remain very heavy. This is another indicator of the load on children, quite literally. Why can’t schools, who can afford it, have lockers for children, or desks that have a drawer in them where children can leave some of the books/notebooks they do not need to bring home on any particular day? But if they have class periods for each subject everyday and get homework for all subjects too, and have tests happening too frequently as well, it will not be possible to leave the books home or at school overnight. The connection with workload is clear.

Educational quality should be a concern for everyone: the parents, the school, and the society. There is an ‘optimal’ way of doing things and we should know that time spent on a task and developing understanding of the task is not linearly related: quality of education does not keep improving as we put more and more pressure on children. At some point additional effort can lead to reduced understanding. In some schools, as a pedagogic tool, it seems there is just too much pressure on students. The parents, feeling that this is good, are going along with it. But it is counterproductive. It is forcing children to take sub-optimal routes such as cramming and/or resorting to study guides and so on. Parents and school administrations need to look into the issue in more detail.

From Pakistan Today, Pakistan, Tuesday 3rd January, 2012

National Commission for Human Development (NCHD) in post 18th Amendment Scenario

NCHD in post 18th Amendment Scenario

16,000 of NCHD’s employees are at the risk of losing their jobs by 30^th June. Its employees from across Pakistan are demonstrating protests infront of the Parliament House and have given ‘dharna’ for past many days.

National Commission for Human Development was established in the 2003 in follow up to the recommendations of the Task Force on Human Development. The objective of NCHD was to support the efforts of GoP to achieve the Millennium Development Goals which Pakistan has committed to the international community. Initially NCHD established its Human Development Support Units (HDSUs) in 14 districts of Pakistan. Based on its innovative and successful approach, it was eventually expanded to in three phases to 140 districts, covering entire Pakistan.

Its model was focused on increasing and deepening access to education and health facilities and empowering women. The model of feeder schools in far flung areas with strong community ownership is very cost effective with strong community ownership, and has promoted swift achievement of Universal Primary Education (UPE) targets. Adult literacy centers across Pakistan, with their strong and modern curriculum, benefited a significant number of illiterate people. NCHD’s unique program of School Health Program, in partnership with UNESCO, was a great success and is being massively replicated. Integrated Healthcare Model Program in 12 districts of Punjab was a an immense success in provision and strengthening of critical health services. NCHD’s Community Technology Learning Centers (CTLCs) for women in rural areas of 16 districts successfully empowered the graduated women through imparting ICT and employability skills, and contributing to gender equity. The highlight of CTLC project is NCHD’s partnership with Microsoft Corp for highest quality curriculum specifically designed and translated to better serve rural women.

NCHD’s robust model and deep penetration was greatly effective in progress towards achieving many of the MDGs. This is evident from the international and national acclaim that NCHD received. NCHD was even awarded the 2006 Literacy Award by UNESCO.

In 2008, funding to this organization was curtailed, operations halted, and eventually overwhelming number of its employees lost their jobs. In 2009, a 3-year PC-I was approved by the PC. 2-years down the road, the 18^th Amendment again hits the organization. It is maintained that with devolution process, NCHD’s subject areas are no more on federal list, while not all provinces are willing to take NCHD in their fold. Consequently, 16,000 households face catastrophic results. The ongoing protests and continued dharna for many days aim for redressal to this situation. This last Wednesday these protests turned violent, and shelling, beatings and arrests were enforced by the police.

The point to emphasize here is that the enormous numbers of resources and efforts have been made to build such a widespread and in-depth structure. Staff trainings, development of detailed SoPs, crucial partnerships, and other systems take a great deal of efforts and time, and now face complete and abrupt closure, rendering thousands unemployed. With effective restructuring, these systems can be utilized for a greater common good. Learning and resources of NCHD should not simply be let wasted so ruthlessly. Also, while 18^th Amendment is duly respected, a clear process is necessary to     smooth out the transition.

Pakistan's Biggest Development Challenge in my opinion

Pakistan today faces a plethora of development problems, which are all intricately interlinked. In my opinion, the biggest development challenge in Pakistan is the lack of employment opportunities.