The Issue of Human Cloning: A Review in Semitic Religions’ Context

Human cloning has emerged as a new and innovative technology in the reproductive and therapeutic science in the recent past. So far it has not been practiced over human beings but owing to its huge potential and possible scope, it has attracted the attention of not only the masses (particularly the infertile couples and LGBTQs etc) but the other stakeholders including the religious scholars from worlds’ prominent religions have given their views on this technology in order to guide their followers. This paper examines and reviews the religious points of view on human cloning. For this purpose, three Semitic religions in the world i-e Judaism, Christianity, and Islām have been examined. As far as Islam is concerned, this portion has been divided into two broad sections elaborating the Shī‘ah and Sunnī schools’ opinions. Being an innovative topic, the religious teachings do not address it directly hence the injunctions related to the reproduction are most relevant to it. Three Semitic religions have been examined from the perspective of admissibility or non-admissibility of human cloning, the rationale behind the verdict on human cloning and the possible solutions to the issues and problems faced by the followers in the case of acceptance or rejection of this biomedical technology. Most of the religions emphasize over adaptability of the natural mode of reproduction only, where male and female genders contribute to the reproductive cycle. The Semitic religions reject the reproductive cloning generally. The religious experts need to conduct more focused and updated research before coming to any conclusion about the permissibility or non-permissibility of this technique.

Exploring Mothers Perceptions of the Role of Play in Early Childhood Development 4 to 6 Years Old in the Context of Upper Chitral, Pakistan

This study intended to explore mothers’ perceptions regarding the role of play in early childhood (4-6 years old) in the context of upper Chitral, Pakistan. A cross-sectional survey design was employed within the quantitative paradigm and 8 ECD centers from a private organization were selected through simple random sampling. A total of 152 mothers participated in the study. A contextually relevant tool was developed and was validated by three experts, covering areas related general perceptions of play and its contributions to different domains in child development. SPSS 20 was used to analyze the data. Descriptive analysis was employed and Kruskal-Wallis H test was applied along with the pair-wise comparison to examine the statistically significant differences among mothers with different education levels in their views regarding play. The major findings of the study show that generally the sampled mothers had positive views regarding the importance of play and its contributions in early years. However, they were less likely in favor of their children spending a lot of time in playing, and preferred their children to finish their homework before play. Mothers also recognized the positive impact of play on different developmental domains i.e., social and emotional, cognitive, physical, language and literacy development of a child. The results of the Kruskal-Wallis H test and pair-wise comparison indicated that as compared to mothers with lower education degrees, the mothers with higher education degrees perceived play to be more helpful in some of the developmental domains: the general function of play, play in social and emotional development, and play in cognitive development. On the basis of the findings, it is recommended that this study can be further conducted on a larger scale and include other stakeholders e.g. fathers, teacher, grandparents etc. A qualitative research aspect can be added to obtain in-depth insights of mothers’ views regarding the contributions of play in early years. Furthermore, awareness sessions could be conducted especially for the mothers with lower education degrees. The policy makers and curriculum developers could ensure the involvement of parents in development and implementation of play based content and activities.