Citizen’s Trust in Political Leadership and Parliament of Pakistan: A ComparativeStudy of Punjab and Sindh

Present study compares the level of public trust in political leadership and the parliament in two provinces of Pakistan: Punjab and Sindh. By applying ordinal logistic regression models, study finds that respondents from Punjab had significantly more trust in their leader and parliament of the country as compared to the participants from Sindh. The variable, government performance, was observed to be the major predictor of public trust in political leadership and parliament between Punjab and Sindh. Additionally, people’s interest in political affairs and conflict resolving behavior of leadership were two other variables which significantly predict public level of trust. The study suggests that respondents who were more interested in the political affairs revealed a high degree of trust in leadership and parliament. Conversely, participants who suffered from the lack of leadership interest in conflict resolving behavior showed low level of trust in both leadership and parliament in both provinces. It is concluded that public trust and distrust are significantly associated with the socio-economic development of the country. Present study may help to understand the factors that may cause public distrust in leadership and parliament of the country. ______

Understanding and Developing Students Academic Resilience Ar in Secondary Schools of Karachi: the Case of Grade 9 Biology Students

Individual's ability to effectively cope with setbacks, persist, and overcome challenges and adversities is known as resilience. In the context of education, academic resilience among secondary school students of grade 9 Biology group can be developed through strategies, resources and supportive conditions that students, teachers, and parents can use to help reduce dropout rate and enhance motivation of students to attend schools. The study employed a qualitative research design, and a case study method to explore the perspectives of the participants. In depth, semi-structured interviews, field notes, observation checklist, snapshot of scenarios, local words (such as ta’lim-e quwwat-e bardasht) and pictures were used to engage in conversation to draw information from the respondents, regarding AR. The challenges to develop AR included, classroom size, and students own attitudes, their alienation from the academics, lack of innovation and novelty in teacher’s classroom pedagogies, and English language proficiency. Additionally, cultural and societal pressures included struggles affecting the students’ drive to become resilient both academically and generally. To cope with these multifaceted challenges faced by students, support and guidance are required to help students gain confidence and gradually improve their resilience. Without addressing these challenges, the problem of student’s dropout or staying in school without motivation to achieve, appear as an uphill battle. The implications for teachers, for parents, teacher educators, policy-makers and school leaders are many and suggest that developing students’ genuine academic resilience is a part of their overall resilience. Lastly, listening and involving students’ voices in developing their academic resilience is a central message of this study. The study presents some recommendations for future research to further explore this unexplored but vital for successful learning and living field.