STEP – Science, Technology, and Education in Pakistan

In this article, I make the case that grade I-XII textbooks, prescribed by the provincial and federal textbook boards, should be made available on the Internet for free. I discuss the reasons why this is necessary and the benefits that will accrue from such an effort.

Outdated and Incorrect Curriculum

In a household survey conducted by Gallup Pakistan in May 2009, 70% of the respondents said that they send their children to government-run schools. These schools are often faulted for imparting incomplete, incorrect, and rot education to children. The school textbooks prescribed by the provincial and federal textbook boards are part of the problem. The description of the relevant material in science and math textbooks is at times inadequate whereas the social sciences, religious, and Pakistan studies textbooks have been used by the successive governments to further their political agendas.

Making textbooks available online will allow educational experts both inside and outside Pakistan to easily scrutinize their content for clarity, correctness, and completeness. The feedback received from educational experts will greatly help to improve the quality of these textbooks. Read the rest of this entry »

On the History of the Fund

STEP Editors: Let’s start with the history of the Fund, if you can tell us a little bit about it. We understand that it was in a dormant state before it was revitalized.

Dr. Qasim Shaikh, CEO, National ICT R&D Fund:

Yes, it was in a dormant state but, as I tell my team, I don’t think that we are the opening batsmen of this team.  Actually, the Fund was created when PTCL was the only telecom operator (in the country). I think, and somebody has to correct me, that the key person who pushed (that) some of the PCTL’s earnings should go into research and development in Pakistan, like Bell Labs at ATT, was Dr. Atta-ur-Rahman. Then the Deregulation Act was passed and in the Deregulation Act it was mandatory that every telecom operator will have to contribute 0.5% of their revenue to the Fund. That included internet service providers as well, not just the large service providers. Since there were more contributors to the Fund than just PTCL, it didn’t make sense for it to stay within PTCL. So, it was taken out of PTCL and created as National ICT R&D Fund.

Read the rest of this entry »

Nature’s recent article on higher education in Pakistan has re-ignited the debate on higher education reform, evoking strong responses from both supporters and critics of the HEC. Recently, we interviewed the lead author Dr. Athar Osama, to learn more about his wider conclusions, and his response to some of the criticisms of the methodology used in the Nature article.

To seed this discussion, we present commentary from Dr. Pervez Hoodbhoy and Dr. Atta-ur-Rehman. Dr. Hoodbhoy presents his opposing point of view, arguing that the measures presented in the article were inadequate, and further that the conclusions drawn from the metrics were flawed. Dr. Atta-ur-Rehman, founding (and former) chairman of the HEC, who led the higher education reform effort during his tenure, responds by pointing to data that, in his view, shows the depth and breadth of the reform’s success.

We invite our readers to contribute their thoughts on what metrics are appropriate for measuring the success of higher education within the context of Pakistan.

NOTE: Both commentators have significantly shaped the landscape of Pakistani education over the last few decades. We request our discussants to avoid personalizing the discussion and to maintain a civil and constructive tone.

Read the rest of this entry »

Dr. Pervez Hoodbhoy has reproduced his email but not my subsequent response to it.

There are four aspects of the comments of Dr. Pervez Hoodbhoy that need to be considered:

1. Firstly, Dr. Hoodbhoy himself admits that there has been a huge increase in international publications at QAU after HEC came into existence when he mentions the number of international publications in the two time periods. Strangely, he picks a six year period, 1998-2003, and then compares it with the subsequent 4.5 years (?) , 2004 to mid 2008, (the correspondence occurred in August 2008, so he could not possibly have had access to the figures for the entire year) I can only assume that he has mentioned 2003 by mistake in the second “5 year” period as there is no reason to include the publications of the year 2003 in both time periods, which he has done. It is clearly unfair to take two time periods of different durations and compare them.

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This communication is concerned with “Pakistan’s Reform Experiment” (Nature, V461, page 38, 3 September 2009), and the response to my critique by its lead author.

Unfortunately, I find the response as unsatisfying as the original article. Since Nature is unwilling to accord me a chance for a satisfactory reply on its pages, I shall clarify the basis of my criticism in some detail here.

In the said article, strong conclusions have been derived from weak data. The authors have not dared to ask the basic questions whose answers are essential for ascertaining whether there has been actual progress in Pakistan’s higher education system and, if so, by how much. Instead, in giving a thumbs-up, numbers have been quoted that have doubtful significance. Take, for instance, the claim that:

“In mathematics, for example, an average paper by a Pakistani author is cited around 20% more than the worldwide average for the discipline”.

Read the rest of this entry »

Dr. Athar Osama is a public policy researcher with specialization in science and innovation policy and a visiting fellow at Pardee Centre for the Study of Long Range Global Future at Boston University. He is the lead author of the article “Pakistan’s Reform Experiment” in this week’s issue of Nature (Sept. 3, 2009), which is raising quite a bit of debate (and controversy) on whether the Higher Education Commission has delivered the aspired results and what can other countries contemplating the reforms learn from this experience. STEP contacted him to seek his views on the article. Read the rest of this entry »

President Asif Ali Zardari has proposed setting up a high-level National Literacy Council “to ensure the launching of a well-coordinated and effective literacy drive throughout the country”, APP is reporting. Read the rest of this entry »

For the motivated student wanting to follow an academic career, the standard plan of action is: work hard to get good SAT scores, get admitted into a good college, work hard to maximize overall GPA, work hard to get good GRE scores, and then hope to get admitted into a good graduate school. Unfortunately, there is a subtle flaw in this scheme of things which limits the potential academic accomplishments of the student: the negative effects of working hard.

Specifically, working hard for extended periods of time on things mainly as means to some other end – in this case admission into graduate school – can seriously harm the long-term ability to enjoy research work. This begs two questions: what are the harmful effects of such hard work, and how do they limit one’s academic career.

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The Daily Times reports:

The National Assembly (NA) Standing Committee on Education on Friday recommended that the government formulate a national admission policy to facilitate the students in admission process in different educational institutions of the country.
The meeting held with Abid Sher Ali in the chair discussed the problems of students in getting admission in educational institutions. It observed that there were many ambiguities in the admission policy of Karachi University. The committee asked for its thorough review.
Education Minister Mir Hazar Khan Bijarani informed the committee that the admission policy of Karachi University would be discussed in the parliament to take members input for formulating the policy.

This is a step in the right direction. A standard and transparent national admission policy will not only lessen the confusion among students, who currently may have to go though a different set of entrance exams for each university, but will also help in reducing the cases of illegal admissions in universities.

Editor’s Note: We would like to thank Mr. Salman Naveed Khan for bringing this important news item to the editorial board’s attention.

“Massive funding for Pakistan’s ailing universities holds many lessons for other developing nations”, states the editorial of this week’s edition of Nature, published today. Nature, which is one of the most respected scientific journal, highlights the successes of Pakistan’s higher education reforms initiated in 2002, citing the free national digital library, high-speed internet access for universities and the foreign scholarship program as examples of successes. The editorial, which accompanies an opinion article by lead author Athar Osama, however calls for more accountability and oversight of these reforms by a  body comprising of academics and parliamentarians not affiliated with Higher Education Commission (HEC). While not accusing the HEC of any serious mismanagement, the editorial points out to lack of investment in the social sciences as an example of a ‘blind spot’ that public oversight may have been able to avoid. Read the rest of this entry »