Reforms in education in any state is a continuous and life long process. There can be no education policy permanent and everlasting because as a result of evolutionary process, human beings are subjected to changes and challenges. In order to meet these challenges, the nation needs to reform its education system. Pakistan since its inception has been endeavoring to formulate educational policies which could enable it to energize its socio economic & politico developments. Right from 1947 till 1998, Pakistan has formulated about 8 educational policies. All these policies however did not demonstrate fully how to translate the ideology of Pakistan into national moral profile & the education system of the country. Successive governments since its inception have been interpreting and architecting their own brand of education system without disturbing their socio cultural foundations. Hence education could not yield the required results in the form of achieving their set targets. The Education Sector Reforms (2001-06) is an attempt from another direction. It should be borne in mind that any development or change to be brought about in the education system of any country or state should be in accordance with the main ideals of that state and that it can not be isolated from evolution of education in its historical perspective. Keeping the above two factors in consideration, all the educational policies and plans since 1947 till the introduction of ESR 2001-06 have been critically examined. Owing to the fact that almost all the past educational policies of Pakistan since 1947 till 1998, could not achieve the set targets and that they could not improve the socio-economic, politico-ideological conditions of Pakistan, new reforms titled Education Sector Reforms 2001-06 were introduced under special directives of General Pervez Musharraf the President of Pakistan. vii However the validity & relevance of the recent Education Sector Reforms was being questioned and under debate at various intellectual, political, social and academic levels. Few are projecting it as a need of the time, prerequisite for economic growth & maintain link with the west where as other critiques on the secularization of education are calling it as a betray to national foundations, delink Islamic ideology, subjugation to the western culture & saying good bye to Islamic moral values & code of life. They argue that ESR instead of secularizing the education system & depriving our youth from their ideological identity should aim at addressing the irritants, which are source of decay for the last five decades. Keeping the two schools of thought in consideration, an indepth and unbiased analysis of the arguments of the opposing factions about the reformation process in the education sector of Pakistan was conducted under the title “Education Sector Reforms in Pakistan 2001-06 Causes & Consequences.” The study is descriptive in nature. It deals with the causes & consequences of the Education Sector Reforms 2001-06. Inorder to know the real motives of these reforms and their after effects on Pakistan & its people, the opinion of the educationists, implementers & the teachers and students of secondary & higher secondary schools was asked through questionnaires & interviews. The data received as a result of these tools was tabulated, analyzed and interpreted accordingly in the form of findings & conclusion. The research has advanced certain recommendations for bringing improvement in the system of secondary education in Pakistan mostly related to S.Ed the main focus need for political stability, consistency in policies, relevance of the policies to national goals, abstaining from secularization of education, introducing culture of accountability, encouraging public private partnership, accessibility to basic education without any discrimination, mainstreaming Madaris, improving the quality of curricula offering attractive package to teachers, providing physical facilities .etc. The research study was conducted by the writer. The main tools adopted to culminate this work into fruitful manner, were questionnaires and interviews. Three separate questionnaires for Educationists, Implementers and Teachers and Students of Secondary and higher Secondary Schools were prepared. Prominent educationists, implementers & stakeholders were interviewed to know their view point on either sides of the issue. The study concluded in the form of summary, findings, conclusions & recommendations recorded in Chapter 5 of the study.
Aims Of Study: In Pakistan, the level of physical inactivity among adults is 26%. This survey aims to determine the participation in structured physical activity among young females and their perception and barriers towards SPA.
Methodology: Purposive sampling was used to gather data from young females aged 16-30 in Karachi. Demographics, perception, and barriers were analyzed using descriptive analysis. Pearson chi-square was used to draw associations between qualitative variables.
Results: According to a study of 319 participants, more than half did not participate in structured physical activity. Those who did found it beneficial for their health and happiness. Barriers to participation included transportation and gender-specific facilities, but these were not significantly associated with participation.
Limitations & Future Implications: The study did not explore variations in physical activity participation among different ethnic, educational, socioeconomic, or occupational groups. Future studies should investigate these factors among both genders to understand perceptions and barriers to structured physical activity across diverse populations.
Originality: To promote physical activity among young females and prevent health issues, it's crucial to recognize their understanding of SPA barriers and perceptions and develop appropriate strategies to overcome them.
Conclusion: The barriers to structured physical activity had no significant effect on participation among young females. Also, participation in structured physical activity was not affected by marital status, age, and education level.
A Comparative Study of Academic Achievement and Cognitive Development of Students of Public and Private Sector Educational Institutions of Islamabad
Education is the fundamental responsibility of the state, but in order to achieve the objectives of
Universalization of Primary Education (UPE) and Education for All (EFA) along with the objectives of access
and equity, government has allowed private sector to share the responsibility of the state. Presence of two
sectors has created discrepancy in educational quality, which is significant to be explored, as, such differences
may open doors for divide and inequalities in the society.
The objectives of the present study were to explore and compare academic achievement and cognitive
development of students of public and private sectors at primary level. Data were collected from 500 students
of grade V at the end of academic year from 10 public and 10 private sector educational institutions of
Islamabad city. Two research instruments were developed for data collection. For data analysis mean scores
were calculated, and t-test was applied to seek comparison in both sectors.
Findings showed that overall academic achievement of public sector students was better, their performance
remained better in the subject of Mathematics whereas, there was no significant difference in academic
achievement students of both sectors in the subjects of English and Urdu. There was no significant difference
between the cognitive developments of students of both sectors. It was further revealed that female students
outperformed their male counterparts in all subjects and in cognitive development.
Findings of the present study remained inconsistent with most of the previous studies, therefore the
researcher recommended, that all public sector educational institutions should be provided similar
educational facilities and teaching faculty as that in the Islamabad Model Colleges so that all public sector
institutions could perform well. Research work is needed to find out reasons of low performance of male
students, so that efforts could be planned to improve performance of male students in coming future.