According to Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) press release, Google has introduced various features and tools to facilitate the operations of telecommunication networks to promote learning and access to authentic information in Pakistan.
The platform has given the Pakistani government an ad-inventory to disseminate accurate information on time.
Moreover, Google has shared tips and resources for remote workers and students so that they can improve the quality of work and ensure productivity.
Google has allowed free access to advance ‘Google Hangout’ which means the users will be able to put 250 participants on audio and video calls so the entire class can attend lectures. The participants can record the lectures and save it in google drive so when they cannot join, they can access the lectures when needed.
Google has also launched a speech-based reading app “Bolo” — based on machine learning — to help children read aloud confidently, using their voice. The app is available in the Urdu language as well.
Apart from these tools and resources, they have ensured measures to combat misinformation. Google has also attached ‘SOS Alert” banner with news from mainstream outlets and information from recognised health organization such as the World health organization (WHO) and National Institute of Health (NIH).
These hubs provide a comprehensive overview of the pandemic, information about its symptoms and measures, as well as current statistics and answers to common questions.
These necassary measures taken by the company because search interest in COVID-19 has continued to climb across the world. At present, this is the most researched topic in the world so it is necassary to curb fake news and misinformation.
In addition to launching new features on the search engine, the platform has rolled out a website—available at google.com/covid19 — focused on education, prevention and local resources.
People can find state-based information, safety and prevention tips, search trends related to COVID-19, and further resources for individuals, educators and businesses.
Federal Minister for Education and Professional Training Shafqat Mehmood has said that the federal government would soon announce a uniform curriculum for the entire country to end disparity between different educational systems in the country.
“We are in the process of making curriculum for all children across Pakistan, and kids enrolled with government-run or private schools or even madrassas will be taught only one curriculum,” the federal minister was quoted as saying by The Nationat the concluding session of the three-day celebrations in connection with Quaid Day on Wednesday.
Addressing the event organised by Sindh Madrassatul Islam University, Mehmood said the country was riddled with different systems of education, therefore, the government wanted to introduce a uniform curriculum.
“These different systems of education have divided the country’s philosophy, and a uniform syllabus will help put an end to this condition,” he said, adding that Tanzeemul Madaris had also accepted his ministry’s suggestion, according to which children in madrassas would be required to appear in matriculation and intermediate examinations.
Earlier this year, the Punjab government had also promised a uniform curriculum at least for primary schools in the province from 2020.
“A uniform curriculum for primary schools in the province will be introduced by March 2020,” Schools Education Minister Murad Raas had told the Punjab Assembly in January. Responding to a written question in the provincial house, he had said the curriculum would also include a certain portion of religious teachings and that uniform syllabus for higher levels would be introduced in due course.
Replying to a query about existence of both English and Urdu mediums in state-run schools, he had chided former chief minister Shehbaz Sharif for it saying the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader introduced English medium without making available teachers for the purpose.
He said English would be taught in primary schools as a language and other subjects would be taught in Urdu.
According to the Gender Equality Index report of the World Economic Forum, Pakistan stood 151 out of 153. The only two countries below Pakistan are Iraq and Yemen.
Though grand claims have been made about improving educational opportunities for youth, empowerment of democracy and the betterment of health facilities in the country, all have been shattered after the INGO placed Pakistan at number 150 in the list of economic participation and opportunities, 143rd in education attainment, 149th in health and survival and 93 in political empowerment globally.
While Pakistan stood 112th in 2006, the standing has drastically slipped to 151 in the the last 14 years.
The report highlights that there is a huge gap of 32.7 percent between men and women in the context of economic opportunities. The gap has also widened to 94.6pc – which means that women do not have the same facilities in comparison to men.
On the contrary, Bangladesh ranked 50, followed by Nepal 101, Sri Lanka 102, India 112, Maldives 123 and Bhutan 131.
It was a cold December morning when Pakistan had woken up to the gloom of having lost Dhaka over four decades ago.
Leaving their abodes, hundreds of thousands – if not millions – had taken to social networks to vent their frustration over the tragedy that until December 16, 2014, was deemed the darkest in the 70-something years history of the country.
Little did they know that 150 coffins, 134 of which were to be the heaviest, were to be lifted later that day; that a tragedy much similar to 2004’s Beslan massacre in Russia, was in the offing.
Six gunmen affiliated with Tehrike Taliban Pakistan (TTP) conducted a terrorist attack on Army Public School (APS) Peshawar at around 10 am. The militants, all of whom were foreign nationals, entered the school and opened fire on staff and children, killing 150, including 134 between the ages of eight and 18.
The attack sparked widespread reactions from across the country, as condemnations from the public, government, political and religious entities, journalists and celebrities, poured in. Imran Khan’s infamous 126-day Islamabad sit-in as a member of the opposition was also called off.
While media reacted strongly to the events as major newspapers, news channels and many commentators called for a renewed and strong action against militants, many countries, international organisations and important personalities also condemned the attack.
Reacting to the carnage at the army-run school, terrorist organisation Al-Qaeda said that “soldiers should be targeted, not their children”.
Today marks five years since wails of the nation broke through the deafening silence of December amid the state’s failure to protect its own; since those at odds vowed to rise above their differences to unite and fight extremism, and since the moment when we started forgetting yet another tragedy.
Although it is believed that memories hanging heaviest are the easiest to recall, it is regrettable how we tend to forget even the ones that hold in their crinkles the ability to change not only our lives as individuals but also the fate of the entire nation.
It is regrettable how we have limited our recalling of these painful memories to certain days such as December 16, without thinking of the families that go through the pain of losing their loved ones, especially minors, all day every day.
Make no mistake as what we argue is not torturing ourselves with the misery that is our own creation, but what we advocate for is realising every day what led to the tragic episode that should’ve defined us for the generations to come.
Because it is regrettable how we were let down, it is regrettable how we let down those 150 innocents, regrettable how we let down millions of others killed because of the failure of the state to protect its citizens, and regrettable how many of us fail to realise there still is time for us to pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off and get back in the saddle.
Here’s to the courageous survivours who beat the cowards five years ago… here’s to the memory of the 150 souls, from the ashes of whom, we must rise.
Mia Khan from Afghanistan’s Paktika province is a hero without a cape. In war-torn Afghanistan, where educating girls is so hard and not very common, Mia Khan takes his three daughters to the Nooraniya school, which is some 12 kilometers away from his home. He travels on his motorcycle daily.
Mia Khan waits for four hours for his daughters’ classes to end and then he takes them home. Mia Khan himself is not educated but he wants his daughter to be a doctor because there is no lady doctor in his village.
The Nooraniya school is run by the Swedish Committee for Afghanistan. The reason Mia Khan selected this school was because of the quality of education they provide.
Some heroes don't wear caps, just like Mia Khan who takes his daughter on 12km motorcycle ride to school daily, and waits there for 4 hours untill class ends, because even though he's uneducated, he wants his daughter to become his village's first lady doctor.👏❤️ pic.twitter.com/9APj6WFzxp
This Afghan father is a hero. Mia Khan from Paktika province takes his daughter 12km on his motorcycle to school daily and waits 4 hours till her class ends. Mia is uneducated himself and wants his daughter to be a doctor: via Facebook. pic.twitter.com/HjmYuM3Qyb
Popular singer and former One Direction band member Zayn Malik, posted a video on his Instagram and Twitter profile, supporting Malala Yousafzai in her cause to educate young girls.
The video showed messages promoting the education of girls and gender equality. The singer tagged Malala Yousafzai and the ‘Malala fund’ and urged his fans to help the cause by funding it.
Malala retweeted Zayn’s video message with the caption and wrote, “You’re headed in the right direction”, giving us all the hint that two have collaborated for the cause.
Ministers, leaders of opposition parties, journalists as well as rights activists have voiced their support for marchers as students across the country take to roads for 2019 edition of the Students’ Solidarity March and press the authorities for better educational facilities.
The marchers insist that the government must ensure the following:
Lift the ban and hold elections for student unions
Abandon privatisation of educational institutes and reverse the recent decision of school and college fee hike
The state should pledge free education for all
No more budget cuts for the Higher Education Commission (HEC) or sacking of educational staff
At least five per cent of the GDP should be allocated for education
Abolish the semester system
Lift the ban on students from participating in political activities
End the intervention of security forces in educational institutions and release all students held captive in the name of national security
Establish committees to investigate incidents of sexual harassment and ensure women are made a part of the setup
All universities should have a library, hostel and provide transport and an internet connection
Modernise education systems according to the modern scientific requirements
Set up schools and colleges in lesser developed areas and increase the quota of students coming from outside main cities
Establish research centres for a transition from fossil fuel energy to renewable energy in public sector universities
Announce April 13 as a national holiday to honour Mashal Khan
The march on Friday was held in over 50 cities across Pakistan, including Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Quetta, Gilgit, parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), Azad Jammu & Kashmir (AJK) and interior Sindh.
Students, labourers, lawyers and rights union members all joined in as thoroughfares flooded with marchers holding banners, placards and red flags. Solidarity was also expressed with members of New Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union (JNUSU) as protests against fee hike continues across the border.
In a tweet, the Progressive Students’ Collective (PSC) shared the final locations for the march.
Rawlakot A) Degree college to Zaheer Chowk 10.30 am B) Poonch University to Main Road 11.00 am
— Progressive Students’ Collective (@PSCollective_) November 29, 2019
Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) chief Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari also lent his support to the marchers.
“The PPP has always supported student unions. The restoration of student unions by SMBB [late former prime minister Benazir Bhutto] was purposely undone to depoliticise society,” he tweeted.
end to privatization of public universities, implementation of sexual harassment legislation, right to student housing & the demilitarization of campuses. The spirit of activism and yearning for peaceful democratic process from a new generation of students is truly inspiring. 2/2
“Today students are marching in the #StudentSolidarityMarch for the restoration of unions, implementation of right to education, end to privatisation of public universities, implementation of sexual harassment legislation, right to student housing & the demilitarisation of campuses. The spirit of activism and yearning for a peaceful democratic process from a new generation of students is truly inspiring [sic].”
Earlier in the day, Federal Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhary also came out in support of the restoration of student unions and termed the ban “undemocratic”.
I fully support Restoration of students unions, ban on students unions is anti democratic,we can always ensure that students politics must remain violence free and regulations may be introduced for smooth functioning but ban on students politics amounts to limit future politics
Federal Minister for Human Rights Shireen Mazari wrote:
Causing polarisation. What is needed is not a ban on Student Unions but clear rules – which Unis shd enforce – so that student unions function effectively as they do in other parts of the world – learning tolerance & accommodation of the other.
Among others who expressed support for student marchers were politicians including PPP’s Farhatullah Babar, former Awami National Party (ANP) parliamentarian Bushra Gohar and journalists, including Mazhar Abbas.
We stand by and with #StudentSolidarityMarch. Ban on unions unacceptable, intimidating presence of uniform on campuses unacceptable, forced occupation of students space by uniform unacceptable, shrinking space for intellectual infrastructure in name of 5G war unacceptable https://t.co/0lovJs2aIO
Earlier, the PSC and other organisations from all over Pakistan had formed the committee (SAC) at a national level to demand the revival of student unions and other issues. Representatives of student organisations from Sindh, Balochistan, Gilgit Baltistan, KP, AJK and Punjab are part of the SAC.
According to Dawn, over the past three weeks, SAC office bearers have conducted corner meetings in public and private educational institutions to hold the march in their respective areas. They said the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government had left students dejected and directionless and reduced the higher education budget to almost half, bringing Pakistan into the list of countries that spend very less on education.
Ahead of the march, scores of Pakistani student leaders studying at international universities have also voiced their support for the march.
In an open letter addressed to the government, students have come together under the banner of the Pakistan International Students Alliance (PISA) and registered opposition to the ban on student unions.
On November 2 and 3, 2019, in a meeting hosted by the Progressive Students’ Collective, more than twenty students’ organisations from all across the country, including Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) and Azad Jammu & Kashmir (AJK) formed the Students’ Action Committee to demand revival of student unions and other issues in higher education.
The committee vowed to
launch a nationwide struggle for revival of student unions, against the cut in
educational budget, increasing harassment cases in universities, security
forces interferences in educational institutions, student torture cases, lack
of educational infrastructure and ban on freedom of expression. It also decided
that the first public activity under the banner of Students’ Action Committee
would be the Students’ Solidarity March on November 29, 2019.
The current crisis of
higher education in Pakistan confronts students in the form of rising cost of
education and a drastic decrease in immediate returns from a college degree.
Not only is it harder to afford college education, but education expenses also
leave students and their families in more debt and with limited job
opportunities. A shrinking job market with employment opportunities swayed
through social capital in the form of “contacts” has no space for a majority of
graduates.
We are marching on November 29 to organise and to seek institutional power in universities and create a way of holding onto that power. It’s our education — we should control it.
It seems like a
four-year degree only qualifies one to become a daily-wage labourer. Given this
continual crisis, students are organising on campuses across the country for
the forthcoming Students’ Solidarity March, after so many decades their
struggles for the restoration of students’ unions are not fragmented but
coordinated.
Since the collapse of
the students’ movement of the 70s and the subsequent ban on student unions in
1984 under the dictatorship of General Ziaul Haq, most campus activism has
taken the form of single-issue groups. There is a ban on any kind of political
activity by students on campus and those who have tried to raise their voice
for rights, have been rusticated, abducted and sometimes killed by fascist
groups. By using anti-terror laws, their voices have been suppressed.
Due to different kinds of repression on campuses, students haven’t been able to form an alliance that can give voice to all those being robbed of their rights and facing severe repression.
From the past one year,
students are agitating in different campuses on different issues, which include
protests and sit-ins against fee hikes, sexual harassment, against the
abduction of a number of students and for better housing, internet and transport
facilities on campuses.
While the resistance
that popped up at Quaid-e-Azam University (QAU) against budget cuts and tuition
hikes remained partially successful in pressurising the administration to succumb
to some of their demands, the fiscal situation and budget cuts at QAU are not
unique.
We are marching because if we want to create radical change on our campuses — change that addresses economic and cultural aspects of our life — we need to move towards students’ unionism.
Provincial governments
across the country are cutting funding to schools and universities; the
university officials are using budget cuts to jack up tuition fees (hikes that
will continue for a long time) and to cut essential services and programmes.
While the students at QAU, Punjab University (PU), Sindh University (SU) and
the University of Balochistan (UoB) are putting up an amazing response to fee
hikes, sexual harassment and securitisation of campuses, a coordinated effort
under the banner of Students’ Action Committee to revive student unions would
be more beneficial for the student body to assert its power as a class that
represents the youth of this country.
Therefore, we are marching on November 29 to organise and to seek institutional power in universities and create a way of holding onto that power.
Progressive policy
changes are a great thing on our campuses and they should be fought for, but
they should be fought for in the context of building student power at campus
level as well as at national level. Building student power means gaining more
and more control over our campuses and the decisions that affect us as students.
In the end, student power means a student-run higher education system.
It’s our education — we should control it.
We are marching
together to ensure that local victories do not become isolated pockets of
progress and resistance. We are marching to ensure that this work spreads and
students find ways to coordinate efforts with those underway at other campuses
in their areas.
Movements grow not only by example, but when they actively engage people and share resources and hard-earned lessons. Because the federal government still makes most of the higher education policy decisions, students also need to coordinate on the national level in ways that foster cross-campus solidarity and encourage local initiatives.
We are also aware of
the fact that coordinating efforts should never mean that local campus organising
becomes merely an extension of some larger campaign because this sort of
strategy cannot support long haul organising. We need coordination that is
mutually beneficial to everyone involved.
We are marching on November 29 because if we want to create radical change on our campuses — change that addresses economic and cultural aspects of our life — we need to move towards students’ unionism. Unions that are run by the rank and file students; that fight alongside faculty and workers; that seek to empower the historically oppressed and revolutionise our educational system.
Minister for Education and Professional Training Shafqat Mehmood has been unanimously elected as President of UNESCO’s prestigious Education Commission in Paris.
The Minister was recently in Paris for the 40th session of UNESCO’s General Conference which he also addressed.
Speaking at the event, Mahmood said that at least 1.5 million Kashmiri students were not able to attend schools since the “unilateral and illegal revocation” of Kashmir’s autonomy by India on 5th August.
Mahmood called upon UNESCO to use its moral authority to persuade the Indian government to lift restrictions and restore the fundamental rights of the people of Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir. He also expressed his dismay at the decision of the Babri Masjid.
More so, the minister also shared that Pakistan is taking concrete steps to deliver universal quality education in the country.
Speaking after the election, the Minister termed it as an honour for Pakistan and an acknowledgment of its commitment to UNESCO’s work in the field of education.
The Minister said being the President of UNESCO’s Education Commission, he would work closely with all delegations in a constructive manner in pursuance of UNESCO’s objectives.
Meanwhile, when a Twitter user commented that Mahmood will now direct all his energies towards working for UNESCO, the Minister told him that the position was “voluntary” and without any salary or any other perk.
No. This is all voluntary. No salary or any other perk at all. And of course my priority is only and only Pakistan. Link with UNESCO will help Pakistan’s Education system and that is why I am here https://t.co/OIn9CGqubH
Pakistan Army has rebuilt a girls school for higher secondary education where once existed the headquarters of Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militant Hakimullah Mehsud, a private media outlet reported.
The school, located in the Orakzai Agency of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s (KP) Kohat division, was completely destroyed during the war on terror and later converted into the headquarters of Mehsud, who was the deputy to TTP commander Baitullah Mehsud.
With the war abated after years of unrest, Pakistan Army has rebuilt the school at the same spot.
The TTP has been a strong adversary of the idea of sending girls to schools. The militant group claims “educating women goes against Islam”.
In 2012, Nobel Peace Prize winner and activist Malala Yousafzai was also shot by the Taliban after advocating for girls’ education using a pen name, bringing global attention to the group’s violent threat on the nation’s young women.
