World Bank Help For Pakistan’s Education – A Poisoned Chalice?

Hoodbhoy:

In this connected world, research is not a criteria to measure institution of higher learnings. Innovation and ability to innovate gives power to reinvent the society. Increase in productivity to advances in technology and finance are driven by innovation and not research.

Developing economies like Pakistan or India can hardly afford research, when basic education needs are enormous, whether the money comes from the World Bank or not. My suggestion to you, if you have ability to influence the desicion making on higher education in Pakistan, is to organize more places of meritocracy where more creame de la creame (not to be confused with elites) of Pakistani students can come. If you study IIT phenomena, it is not the faculty or facility which were more important, they have been quite mediocre, than the student body which has been outstanding.

Brilliance and intelligence needs to be developed and harnessed and then let them succeed wherever they can in this connected world. Pakistan will benefit more by this approach than research its institues of higher learning or publications of papers by their faculties.

Huh, It is PPP government who stopped funding for research projects and higher education initiatives. And Dr Hoodbhoy is blaming HEC and its old team for the damage done. Clearly shows that he is trying to score points against Dr. Atta and his team as he has been doing for last several years.

And Citations between 1998-2003 and 2003-2008 are simpoly not comparable. As newly published articles haven't yet started getting citations and will get citations in coming years.

Huh, It is PPP government who stopped funding for research projects and higher education initiatives. And Dr Hoodbhoy is blaming HEC and its old team for the damage done. Clearly shows that he is trying to score points against Dr. Atta and his team as he has been doing for last several years.

And Citations between 1998-2003 and 2003-2008 are simpoly not comparable. As newly published articles haven't yet started getting citations and will get citations in coming years.

Dr. Hoodbhoy, what you say about the low number of citations is true but must be counterbalanced (even though I am unfamiliar with the specific details regarding the QAU) by the simple fact that when an educational institution is in the process of setting up new research programs, the initial research will definitely draw a lot from the outside world and the number of citations by others of such new research (which is probably still trying to find its wings) will be a bit on the low side. Research takes time! Research for the sake of research and only for advancing the state of understanding – for satisfying the questions inside, which is the true research, the tapasya, will only come later – after the researchers are less motivated by materialistic considerations and are mostly driven by intellectual curiosity alone.

=== Interact Filtered ===
view this users filtered interacts

Dr. Hoodbhoy, a process like providing WB aid to any country is bound to be a highly bureaucratic process, with all kinds of inefficiencies coming along with it – including the kinds that you mention here. The WB is bureaucratic of necessity; Pakistan, and other countries receiving aid, have corruption institutionalized. Still, I am glad you wrote this piece – perhaps somebody will take notice and maybe pay a bit more attention to what the money gets used for and also maybe there will be a bit less corruption.

Re #7,
No, I don't believe Saving Points are cashable.

If you really want to get into the details, read
http://kentennant.com/rm/documents/JAKBankReport.pdf

It's basically a more sophisticated version of the 'committee system' popular among Indo-Pak households.

=== Interact Filtered ===
view this users filtered interacts

#5 Khurram.

Thanks for the link. I read it once, almost got a headache understanding Savings Points (SPs). :) But will read it again to understand the process.

In the mean time I want to know if I have $1000 to spare, with the above system I can earn SP for later use. What if would never need a loan (a hypothetical situation). Can I cash in the SP's for real dough?

#5 "How does the interest-free loan work?"


Here is one way,
http://www.feasta.org/documents/review2/carrie2.htm

#2 tahir,

How does the interest-free loan work?

Dr Hoodbhoy as usual makes some excellent points, lets hope WB folks have learnt their lesson.

Re: # 1

Current meltdown in the financial world should help understand incompetencies, greed and failure at the highest level.

Sorry, I never read the article.

The less said about the WB/IMF the better. But let me say that they've dug a deep grave for humanity, and into which they themselves and their agents will fall.

An interest-free road to peace must be paved for mankind.

Now's the time.

If the World Bank can't use even crude measures of quality of research, their motives are suspect. They cannot be that incompetent, surely?