The Local Government System of Pakistan: Participation, Representation and Empowerment of Women

Politics is the field where women have been ignored since ancient times, due to the political notions determined by ideological beliefs and cultural norms. Among the United Nations’ measures remove gender inequalities, includes recommendation for reserving 30 per cent seats for women in legislatures. In Pakistan, this remarkable change was effected in 2000, as it reserved 33 percent seats for women at the local government and 17 per cent at the Provincial/National Assemblies and the Senate level, so about 40,000 women entered in local bodies throughout the country in 2000-01, and almost 55,000 women contested local government in 2005. Despite these developments, women are still facing challenges that deter the full realization of their roles as active interlocutors of policy-making. Keeping in view these aspects, this paper has analyzed the local government, focusing on women, exploring whether the increasing number of women in legislatures is merely a numerical strength, or is empowering them, too, Whether they are the ‘subjects of change’ or the ‘agents of change.’ It is calculated that administrative structures of local government is male-dominated, whereas women are trying to ensure their position, however, gendered barriers remain unbroken

Implementing ‘Assessment As Learning to Develop Students’ Conceptual Understanding in a Secondary School Chemistry Classroom of a Government School in Karachi

The aim of this study was to understand the notion of assessment as learning', through practicing in the secondary Science classroom to assess and develop students' conceptual understanding in the concepts of Matter and Bonding from the Secondary School Chemistry. Within this view of learning Science as a process of constructing understanding and restructuring the existing ideas, assessment becomes the heart of teaching-learning activities. Current assessment practices in secondary science classroom, followed by teaching and learning, act as a mechanism to measure learning rather improve it. Assessing students' conceptual understanding during the process is crucial for addressing the issues of misunderstanding, underdeveloped ideas or alternative frameworks that hinder learning. Students learn best by having a deeper level of understanding, when they involve in thinking about their learning in a fearless interactive environment. To bridge the gap between my classroom assessment practices and the research, the study was conducted and it helped me to analyze the possibilities and challenges to implement assessment as learning in order to develop students' conceptual understanding in the Secondary school /Science classroom. Conferencing with small groups was used as the teaching, learning and assessment strategy, when the students were engaged in different activities. Rubrics were developed and used by the students and the teacher to assess students' conceptual understanding in a fearless environment, as a result, the classroom culture changed from a silent and strictly structured cultured to a highly interactive one. The research study describes that students develop understanding when assessment is practiced as learning. However, in the implementation of assessment as learning in the secondary science classroom, there are many challenges that made it difficult, one of which was workload, which hindered in implementing assessment as a form of learning in a secondary science classrooms.