Freedom of the Press: The War on Words (1977-1978)

Journalism in Pakistan has passed through successive phases of trials and tribulations. The crises journalism had to undergo since independence had their origin both in the state policies as well as the authoritarianism embedded in the society. The book under review does not claim to divulge into the societal challenges which have emerged more visibly in the last three or four decades, especially, in the context of the spread of religious extremism and ethnic and other types of militancy in the society. Studies need to be done on these aspects as well as the external factors that have had impact on the growth and the content of media. The latter has come in the garb of globalization that has greatly affected the local environment and has come to strongly affect, if not directly dictate, what the media should encompass and present. Leaving the societal and global aspects aside, the role of the state and the successive governments has a lot to offer to be written about by way of what the media has endured in the last seventy plus years. It doesn’t need too much of pondering to conclude that the major pressures over media have come from the governments who, by and large, had been quite at unease with independent flow of information, and criticism of their policies. And, unfortunately, this process had begun right after Independence when newspapers’ and periodicals’ independent voice was tried to be silenced, and they were pressurized to toe the official line with respect to domestic and foreign policies. Pakistan’s independent journey, unfortunately, began with the imposition of black laws which prohibited dissent and curtailed freedom of expression in the strongest possible manner.

Understanding the Sustainability and Institutionalization of Change Initiatives for School Improvement

The sustainability and institutionalization of change initiatives for school improvement dependent on a number of inter-related factors and many of which are cultivated through leadership. The focus of this study was to understand how school leadership sustains and institutionalizes change initiatives for school improvement. The study design was qualitative in nature. Two schools from each public and private educational system were selected, to understand the continuation of the innovations from two diverse outlooks and contexts. The focused, sustained change initiatives in this study were the initiation of the English medium section and school-based teacher professional development in the case study schools, respectively. The headteacher, professional development teacher, and two senior subject teachers from each school were the direct source of data collection for this study. Data were generated through multiple methods such as interview, observation, and document analysis. The findings of the study reported that despite working in a limited framework and resources, school leadership play crucial role as robust contributor in fostering educational changes and school improvement. It was also found that the close association and ongoing interaction of both the school leadership with the stakeholders stimulated and created a culture of collegial relationship in the schools. The involvement of stakeholders in decision-making, shared leadership, and provision of ongoing professional development opportunities created a sense of ownership, commitment, and determination among the staff members. As a result, they put their efforts collaboratively for the sustainability of the change initiatives and school improvement.