Social Media and Cyber-Jihad in Pakistan

The Internet and social media are part of today’s battlefield between the forces of liberalism and those of extremism, at least in Pakistan. Both forces are jostling for using—and controlling—the Internet and social media to make themselves heard and silence the opposition. This paper looks into how extremist forces appropriate the Internet and social media to get their message out, sway public opinion in their favor and seek new recruits. It also examines the potentials of social media for civic activism in Pakistan and how the misuse of blasphemy laws in Pakistan’s constitution stifles liberal voices on the Internet and social media. This paper discusses the concept of blasphemy in Islam, their incorporation in the legal system of Pakistan and their impact on the freedom of expression. This paper concludes that an effective use of social media is contingent on at least three things: 1) Literacy 2) access to the Internet and social media tools and 3) media laws and policies that guarantee freedom of expression and access to information. These are essential for the creation of a vibrant public sphere, which can then be strengthened by using social media as a long-term tool. Without freedom of expression, liberal forces cannot make full use of social media for promoting democracy and rights of minority groups.

To Analyze Teachers Competencies and Teaching Practices of Physics Teachers at Higher Secondary Level in Sindh

Knowledge of science produce a great impact on our life style, way of thinking, and our behavior etc. a great change occurs in our outlook because of the influences, of scientific knowledge. Science has revolutionized the civilization. Science teaching is a most difficult task and everybody is not fit to be teacher, some person may have a flair for teaching and such person have the ability to awaken interest and catch the attention of the students. Hence teaching of science is an art of assisting another person to learn. The aims of teaching of science at the college level is to develop scientific attitude ,enhance the scientific and technological competence, encourage creativity and solve the problems confronted by the students in their day to day life both within and outside the college premises. Therefore the science teacher needs to know about the variety of learning approaches and use technology while teaching. The overall purpose of the study was to analyze teachers ‘competencies and teaching practices of Physics subject teachers at higher secondary level in Sindh. The study specifically analyzed the knowledge, skills, and behaviors of the Physics teachers with relation to subject command and implementation. The scope of study was limited to the college principals, teachers, students, and curriculum experts in the province of Sindh. Eight hypotheses were formulated and mixed research technique was adopted. All the principals’ Physics teachers and science students, were part of population .The population is large and heterogeneous therefore the stratified random sampling design was used. The questionnaires, interview protocols and observation checklist were the major instrument. Data was collected through the personal visits and analyzed by using inferential statistical technique along with the content analysis of the data. Concrete recommendations were made on the basis of findings.