Home > Educational Inequalities and Perceptions of Students’ Life Chances: A Critical Ethnographic Account of an Elite and a Non-Elite School in Gilgit-Baltistan
Educational Inequalities and Perceptions of Students’ Life Chances: A Critical Ethnographic Account of an Elite and a Non-Elite School in Gilgit-Baltistan
There is a growing intensity of educational inequality, as the credentials one holds plays an increasingly powerful role in determining one's life chances. While the socioeconomic backgrounds of students are considered crucial, very often schools are complicit in advantaging the already advantaged ones. The present study explores the nature and extent of educational inequalities existent in elite and non-elite schools in the context of Gilgit-Baltistan through critical ethnography and exploring the teachers', students' and parents' perceptions about the life chances of their students. Two research sites, an elite one referred as Research Site A (RSA) and a non-elite one referred as Research Site B (RSB) schools, were selected through purposive sampling, were studied for a period of 10 months. Carspecken's (1996) five non-linear stages of critical ethnography, incorporating periods of prolonged non-participant and participant observations, semi-structured individual and group interviews, and document review guided the data collection process. The theoretical framework of the study was developed drawing on the works of Pierre Bourdieu and Basil Bernstein and it guided the data analysis process. The study revealed some major inequalities between RSA and RSB in three different but interlinked and interdependent domains: context, processes and life chances. The study found inequalities in the endowment and possession of different forms of capitals, which are then lived in the day to day school practices and their production, and reproduction are facilitated by the schooling processes. The curriculum exposes students to a body and level of knowledge which appropriates their specific class positions in the society. The pedagogical processes promote, reward and reinforce the disposition of the upper middle class and distance the dispositions of the students coming from poorer families. The assessment system serves the purpose of continual learning in the case of RSB and the purpose of selection and exclusion in the case of RSA. The unequal socio-economic conditions and schooling processes are perceived to contribute to the unequal educational, occupational, civic and social life chances. The students of RSB are perceived to be more likely to complete their schooling, enter prestigious colleges/universities and choose professional fields for their further education, whereas the chances of school completion, getting into decent colleges and entering into professional fields for the students of RSA are seen as comparatively low. The students of RSB are believed to have a comparatively secure future in terms of their jobs and employability, whereas the students of RSA are believed
موسم موسم بنیادی طور پر خود نظر نہیں آتا لیکن یہ اپنی نشانیوں کی وجہ سے محسوس و معلوم ہوتا ہے۔ یہ وقت کے ساتھ ساتھ چلتے ہوئے، گردشِ ایام کی حدود و قیود کو خیالات اور اعمال احساسات کی نظریاتی تشکیل و ترکیب کا سبب بناتا رہتا ہے۔ یہ اسراری امکانات کے منکر ین سے چند سوالات رکھتا ہے ۔ پھر ثابت حیثیت کے زمان و مکان کی تشریح میں مہاجر پرندوں کی مثالیں سمو کر، اعتراضات کو جذبات میں تقسیم کر دیتا ہے۔ زمانی نظریات کو طبیعی فکر کے متوازی رکھتا ہے۔ کھلتے پھولوں میں سوچ جھنجھوڑ کر جگاتا ہے ۔ پھر عقل کل کے معانی کو فکر کل کے دائروں سے ملاتے ہوئے ، مرکز شعور تک لا کر ، پہلی پہچان سے اُبھرنے والی سرگوشیوں کو خواب زدہ بڑبڑاہٹ یا رویا کی حالت سے روشناس کرا دیتا ہے ۔ یہاں ذہنی کیفیت بدلتی رہتی ہیں ۔کچھ لوگ اسے ہزیان۔۔۔تو کچھ لوگ اسے ذہنی روشنی کے معیار میں ڈوبی زمانی خصوصیت قرار دے کر ، ظاہری مماثلت اور باطنی تغیرات کے حقیقی یقین کا ثبوت سمجھتے ہیں جو طرزِ بیان میں ، تعلقات شعور کے نظام احساسات میں شمسی جنوں، قمری فسوں کے آئینہ دار ہوتے ہیں۔ تعمیری عقیدتوں میں جن ستاروں کی نشان دہی ہوتی ہے وہ فطری ادراک کی تعریف میں درد کے صحیفوں کا ذکر کرتے ہوئے ، اُن پودوں سے بھی ملاقات کرواتے ہیں جن کی ایک ہی شاخ پر پھول اور زرد سبز پتے ہوتے ہیں، جبکہ پھولوں کا رنگ پتوں سے مختلف ہوتا ہے ۔ حالانکہ خوراک روشنی ،ہوا اور پانی دونوں کو ایک ہی زمین اور ماحول میں دستیاب ہوتی ہے۔ اُسی پودے کی جڑوں میں گھاس پھونس اور جڑی بوٹیاں بھی موجود ہوتی ہیں ۔ وہ بھی اُسی ماحول اور زمین سے اپنی ضروریات پوری کر...
The Muslim religious seminaries (Jameaat-i-diniyya/dini madaris) have become a theme of the global academic agenda, particularly in the wake of the rise of political Islam and the Afghan resistance against Soviet invasion. The theme continuously looms large and has attracted reputable scholars to address the issue in a critical manner. In the present article the author describes various aspects of madrassa education and suggests a number of workable solutions including a new curriculum under the auspices of the Madrassa Education Board and the Higher Education Commission (HEC) in consultation with the traditional madaris and university scholars.
Activity-Based Learning Skills (ABLS) strategy for the teaching of science creates an inquiry environment for a teacher’s professional development. It draws upon the perceptions and experiences of science teachers, who demonstrate their theories, and practices of science teaching and reflections. This is a mini-project in the classroom. Its pre-intervention involved three CPs as a team for data collection, and the data analysis was done individually. Findings from the situational analysis emerged and were backed by interviews held earlier with a science teacher, students and the principal who were the focus of the study. They all raised a need for shift in the teaching strategy from ‘Chalk and Talk’ to more ‘Student-centered learning methods’, such as the ABLS. The post-intervention action implementation of the ABLS in the classroom involved co-teaching. The ABLS project enhanced the teachers’ experiences, creativity and imagination to enrich the science classroom activities. ABLS was to bridge the existing teaching approaches with inquiry-based teaching and active learning. This is an attempt in form of a small project in which 4 lessons have gone through the project cycle. The other 2 units are given as initiatives to carry forward the ABLS project. Findings from this project show that learning new knowledge through ABLS project facilitates change child-centered learning gradually. The vice-principal of the school appreciated ABLS and said: ‘I assure you, I will continue with activity-based learning through workshops and sharing with teachers low-cost and no-cost materials’ price.’ This indicates that the foundation for post-intervention has been laid! The project further reinforced the need for the intervention to target the whole school to minimize the dominance of lecture teaching beyond Grade 5. ABLS although is time-consuming, yet it requires coteaching for sustainability and continuous improvement of the project, such as this.