Shrinking Civic Space in Pakistan: Response and Strategies of the Civil Society

This paper focuses the issue of shrinking civic space in Pakistan. The study presents civil society activists’ responses on this issue, highlights their perception, present and future strategies to address this issue, and their effectiveness, as such, as well. Pakistan presents a unique case due to its involvement in the ‘war on terror’ and the consequences being faced by both the state and society at large. Present shrinking of civil society action is directly linked with it. In an attempt to grapple with the problems emerging from ‘war on terror’, the overgrown state is encroaching upon citizens’ space, thus denying the civil society to play its due role which can provide safety for the state as well. The preferred strategies of the NGOs include lobbying with parliamentarians and mobilizing the citizenry about the situation.

A Study of How English is Taught in Government Schools in Karachi

English is considered to be one of the core subjects in secondary schools in Pakistan. But it is observed that the way it is taught is through the cascading approach rather than the development of language as a whole. Teachers provide few opportunities to students to relate their learning with their experiences in daily life. Students are mostly asked to copy down the answers from the chalkboard or from the textbooks and memorize the grammatical rules and reproduce them as it is, in the examination. However English is seen as an international language and a very powerful means of global communications and a sign of personal and national development in the society. This study is aimed to understand how English is taught in our secondary schools in Pakistan. It also identifies the challenges related to teaching English as a foreign language in government secondary schools in Pakistan. The study is divided into five chapters. Chapter one highlights the background and rationale, context, significance and purpose of the study, while chapter two offers a critical review of some relevant literature available in the area of the importance of English language teaching. Chapter three explains the research methodology and data collection. Chapter four presents an analysis of the data and research findings. Finally chapter five outlines some recommendations, implications, lessons learnt and possibilities for further research.