منهج الشعر العربي وأساليب تدريسه في الدرس النظامي للوفاق المدارس العربية

Religious Institutions in Pakistan play a vital role in the education of Arabic Language, its dissemination and molding of the religious ethos. Being important centers for the proliferation of the Arabic Language these institutions have specific system for the teaching of Arabic language and it’s methodology. The aim of the paper was to investigate the teaching methods established by Wifaq-ul-Madaris Al- Arabia, Multan Pakistan for the teaching of Arabic literature to the students of Religious Institutions, working under its umbrella. The paper found two major aspects; firstly, to analyze the contents of rabic poetry in various sessions; Secondly, to study various prevailing teaching methods of Arabic poetry in these religious institutions. The paper also explored its solid and fragile features from both aspects and recommends suggestions for the promotions of imparting the educations of Arabic Poetry in religious institutions.

Prevalence and Associated Risk Factors of Bluetongue Virus in Punjab and Balochistan

Bluetongue (BT) is a vector-borne disease of immense economic importance for small and large ruminants. Despite frequent disease reports from neighboring countries, a little is known about current disease status and prevalent serotypes in Pakistan. We screened a total of 1,312 healthy animals (sheep= 326, goat= 476, cattle= 234, buffalo= 276) from Punjab and 876 from clinically healthy sheep (475) and goats (401) from Balochistan for the detection of group-specific antibodies and serotype-specific genome for BT virus through competitive ELISA and real-time PCR, respectively. An overall prevalence of group-specific VP7 antibodies [28.81% (n= 378/1312, 95% CI=26.4 – 31.4)] was observed in Punjab. The prevalence was higher in goats [40.75% (n=194/476, 95% CI=36.4 – 45.3)] followed by buffalo [29.34% (n=81/276, 95% CI=24.3 – 34.9)], sheep [18.40% (n= 60/326, 95% CI=14.5 – 22.9)] and cattle [17.94% (n= 42/234, 95% CI= 13.56 – 23.4)]. The odds of seropositivity were more in buffalo of Nili breed (OR= 2.06, 95% CI= 1.19-3.58) as well as those found with a presence of vector (OR= 2.04, 95% CI= 1.16-3.59). Buffalo and cattle with history of abortion [(OR= 3.95, 95% CI= 1.33-11.69) and (OR= 5.89, 95% CI= 1.80-19.27) respectively] were much likely to be infected with the disease. Serotype 8 was detected in all animal species while, serotypes 4 and 6 were detected in sheep, 2, 6 and 11 in goat, and 2 and 16 in buffalo. The study concludes a much frequent exposure of different serotypes of Bluetongue virus (BTV) in small and large ruminants and indicates its expansion to enzootic range worldwide.In Balochistan, none of the study herds (n = 97) were seronegative for BTV, and at the individual level, the overall prevalence of BTV seroconversion was 47.26% (n = 414/876, 95% CI=43.92-50.63%). A higher percentage of goats (50.87%, 95% CI = 45.99-55.73%) were seropositive for anti-VP7 immunoglobulins (IgG) than sheep (44.21%, 95% CI= 39.81-48.70%). Odds of seroconversion for goats were associated with breed-type (χ2 = 16.84, p = 0.01), parity (χ2 = 23.66, p = 0.00) and presence of vector (χ2 = 2.63, p = 0.10), whereas for sheep, it was associated with breed-type (χ2 = 13.80, p = 0.01) and parity (χ2 = 53.40, p = 0.00). The presence of vector was also observed to be a risk factor in goat. Serotype 8 was the most prevalent (26.82%, 95% CI=14.75-43.21%) followed by an equal prevalence of serotypes 2 and 9 (7.31%, 95% CI= 1.91-21.01%). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study conducted in Balochistan province and the results indicate that there is a necessity to initiate intervention strategies to control BT disease burden not only in this region of Pakistan but also in adjacent areas of the neighboring countries, Iran and Afghanistan.