Proposing Sociological Research on Children Health Problems in Pakistan

Like many low-income countries, Pakistan is facing children’s health problems. The major health problems affecting children in the country are Pneumonia, Diarrhoea, Measles, Malaria and malnutrition. There is much research has already been conducted on biomedical and epidemiological aspects of these health problems, but little is known about the social and cultural dimensions of children’s health issues. This paper attempts to propose the sociological research on children’s health problems in Pakistan with the emic focus on local context. The proposed future research may mainly be situated in the interpretivist paradigm of qualitative inquiry. Thus, it will contribute in up-scaling the very basic understanding of the meaning formed by people about social determinants of prevailing children health problems and their potential hazardous consequences in Pakistan.

A St Tudy O the Effec of E Ctiven Ness O of P Public Priva C Ate Pa Artner Rship in Sch Hool Edu Ucatio in P on Punjab

This research study was designed to access the effectiveness of Public Private Partnership in school education. The objectives of the study were, 1) to find out the availability and utilization of the physical facilities in schools established under public private partnership, 2) to investigate the opinion of different stakeholders about the current situation of public private partnership, 3) to assess the effectiveness of public-private partnership in the development of school education in Punjab, and 4) to compare the views of teachers working in schools established under public private partnership in different regions of the Punjab regarding Community Participation Project. Multistage cluster sampling technique was adopted. Punjab province was divided into three regions i.e. Northern Region, Central Region and Southern Region, having three districts from the northern region, four districts from the central region and four districts from the southern region for the purpose of data collection. The study was delimited to Community Model Schools (CMS) functioning under Community Participation Project (CPP) scheme. Study was also delimited to Board of Intermediate & Secondary Education (BISE), Rawalpindi for the purpose of results comparison. Three questionnaires were developed for teachers, heads of CMS, and for managers/ administrators of the Education Department, Punjab. Structured interviews were also conducted to get the opinion of experts/ educationists regarding the current situation of Public Private Partnership in school education in Punjab. 332 CMS were functioning in the entire Punjab. Responses of 124 heads, 248 teachers of CMS and 32 managers/ administrators were collected personally and by mail. A pro-forma was developed to obtain the results of CMS from The Board’s Result Gazettes for the years 2005- 06, 2006-07 and 2007-08 for Secondary School Certificate (SSC) and Higher Secondary School Certificate (HSSC) examinations. Chi Square and percentages were applied for data analysis. On the basis of findings, it was concluded that, a) majority of the CMS were functioning as girl’s institutions, b) number of CMS was decreasing on a large scale, c) functioning of CMS was according to process/ procedure given in CPP scheme, d) a number of objectives of The CPP scheme could not be achieved in the entire practice, e) majority of the CMS were closed due to electricity bills, Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (BISE) affiliation fee, charging of 10% as Farogh e Taleem Fund (FTF) from afternoon school and disputes with morning school management, f) teachers and heads of Community Model Schools were of the opinion that Department of Education has lack of interest in CPP scheme, g) there were no incentives for the students of CMS, h) there were no incentives for the teachers of CMS, i) old fee tariff was still in practice , and j) some of the institutions were collecting additional fee from their students. The recommendations of the study were, (a) implementation strategy may be redesigned in consultation with local administration, (b) 5% of the gross income of CMS may be charged as FTF instead of 10%, (c) there should be separate meters or morning school may be charged for utility bills according to their consumption, (d) provision of Community Model School to head of the same morning school should be banned, (e) students of afternoon school may also be facilitated with provision of free books from the Punjab government, (f) fee structure for the students of CMS may be revised, and (g) CMS may be either exempted from BISE affiliation/ recognition fee or fee may be minimized to affordable cost.