39. Al-Zumar/The Companions
I/We begin by the Blessed Name of Allah
The Immensely Merciful to all, The Infinitely Compassionate to everyone.
39:01
a. The sending down of The Book - The Qur’an - with meticulous care has been arranged by Allah - The One and Only God.
b. The Almighty, The All-Wise.
39:02
a. Indeed, WE have sent down to you, O The Prophet, The Book with the purpose of making it a decisive authority.
b. So submit to Allah in awe and worship,
c. sincere in your Faith in HIM alone.
39:03
a. Indeed the True Faith is for Allah alone.
b. Yet those who take up other entities as their protectors instead of HIM, argue:
c. ‘We do not worship them except that they may bring us close to Allah.’
d. Allah will certainly judge between them concerning their differences.
e. For sure, Allah does not guide anyone who is a liar and is ungrateful/disbelieving.
39:04
a. If Allah had ever wanted to take a son to HIMSELF,
b. HE could have certainly chosen whoever HE Willed from those whom HE created.
c. Glory be to HIM!
d. HE is Allah, The One and Only, The Prevailing.
39:05
a. HE created the celestial realm and the terrestrial world for a purpose and without a precedent.
b. HE wraps the nighttime around the daytime, and
c. wraps the daytime around the nighttime.
d. HE made the sun and the moon subservient to HIS laws to serve you, each running on a
fixed course in their respective orbits for an appointed term set by HIM.
e. Indeed, HE is The Almighty, The Ever-Forgiving.
The Government of Pakistan has a primary obligation to establish and maintain quality public schools for its citizens. The education policies and documents of the government of Pakistan (see 1973 constitution of Pakistan) not only recognizes education as a public good, but also expresses commitment to establish an equitable education system. Nonetheless, the element of conceptualized ‘equality’ looks a far cry in real sense. This paper, hence, realizing on-ground situation, examines empirically the contradictions that exist between government rhetoric of egalitarianism in education and the extent to which the gap exists between policy intention and policy implementation. Drawing on qualitative interviews with 28 educationists, this article asserts that the government’s dual policy towards education (ignoring public education and encouraging private education) has tacitly legitimized the sale and purchase of education as commodity. This shift, in the perception of education from a public good to a private commodity, seriously brings disadvantages to working class pupils in the competition for earning valuable educational credentials and trading upon them. Treating education as private good contributes to perpetuation of class hierarchies in Pakistan.
The purpose of this study was to explore the practices of implementing AKU-EB skill-focused English syllabus of Grade XII at two private higher secondary schools in Gilgit Baltistan. The major areas of investigation were the perceptions of the teachers and students about their understanding of the syllabus, teaching and assessment strategies, resources used in the language classroom, students' attitudes and the challenges encountered during the syllabus implementation. The study was conducted through the case study method within the qualitative paradigm. The data was collected through semi-structured interviews from four teachers and focus group interview from 12 students. Classroom observations were also conducted to triangulate the data. The research participants were selected through purposive sampling. The findings revealed that while implementing the AKU-EB English syllabus in grade XII, the teachers mainly focus on the four language skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing). While teaching, integration of these skills is productive for developing the language skills. All the strategies and activities are aimed at developing communicative competence in the students. For this purpose, Communicative Language teaching (CLT) approach is practiced to enhance language skills. The teachers encourage students-centered approach by conducting role plays, speech and debate competitions and dialogues so that the students get more chance to participate. Moreover, various resources and materials are used for practicing the four language skills. For instance, recommended books and library, online material, newspaper articles, magazines, novels, audio and visual aid are used for practicing the four skills. The data indicates that collaborative learning environment is encouraged through group and pair work. Furthermore it is identified that contrastive feedback is vital for enhancing the language skills. However, there were certain challenges for implementing the syllabus effectively such as difficulty in understanding the SLOs, the large number of students, students with weak English, and the lack of time. This study provides some recommendations for the system administration and examination wing that appropriate professional development training should be arranged for better implementation of the syllabus. Overall, English syllabus of AKU-EB is identified as productive towards developing communicative competence.