What are they Teaching in Pakistani Schools Today?

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concerning state of literacy and poverty in pakistan,i was surprised to learn that azad kashmir has the highest literacy and the lowest poverty rate in pakistan please enlighten why that is the case

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``Meera had a little cat

whose fur was white as snow``

Is there a word for snow in Marathi? Has a Ghati seen snow in his life? Does it snow in the hills of Pune? Do Tamil, Telugu, Oriya, Bengali, Malayalam, Tulu, Konkani and Kannada have words for snow? (Not mist or fog. I am talking the kind that falls down in copious quantities in places like the Himalayas -- Farangi_Kush should be happy I didn`t say Swiss Alps here -- or Chicago.)

Inquiring minds want to know.

Perhaps, ``whose fur was white as salt`` in honor of the Dandi salt march, thus recalling the fight for freedom?

Perhaps, ``whose fur was white as iodized salt`` in order to emphasize the importance of iodine in the diet to prevent goiter and micronutrients in general?

;-)

MacGupta:#162

I earnestly hope that Hoodbhoy reads your post and brings it to the attention of the Dumbos from the Ba Ba Blacksheep schools in Pakistan.

I feel very proud of India and especially its glorious populace from the south.

Certain matters,on principle,would continue to be part of our ``friendly fire`` and I would be always identifying with Islam & Pakistan(in that order),but I really wish that Pakistan learns even a little bit from the great south Indians & bengalees.

This ``Bomb`` will defuse the others & inshallah shall be the harbinger to a move towards true Independance of Pakistan also.

Are the monkeys in militias reading #162.

MacGupta!

I am always a fan of Indian educational system.

Most thing I remember from my childhood curriculum are which was according to my mental level and enviornment.

English poem were good but far away from my enviornment.

I think, this is a progressive step.

Mary had a little lamb? Change that to Meera had a little cat, please

RESHMA PATIL

PUNE, MAY 16: Mary no longer has a little lamb that follows her to school. And it`s five months since old MacDonald`s celebrated farm was taken over by a smiling desi grandfather.

The timeless reign of the Queen`s English finally comes tumbling down in over 60,000 schools in Maharashtra when they reopen in June. Future generations will grow up with an entirely Indianised curriculum that teaches English -- which has been made cumpulsory from next academic year -- the swadeshi way.

So primary students will cosy up to a very Indian Meera had a little cat whose fur was white as snow, or smarten up to the country`s water crisis by singing Rain Rain do not fail, paper boats we will sail, rain rain come again, instead of asking it to ``go away,`` as generations before them chanted in schools.

Since ``MacDonald is an alien identity,`` his domain now ends with a village ``grandfather`` rural children can identify with, replacing him in the four crore My English textbooks, says Sugita Martin, State-level resource person for the Statewide massive and rigorous training for primary teachers (SMART PT 2000) that began yesterday. As many as 810 teachers are to be trained in the art of teaching English, by 140 resource persons.

While a turbaned dhoti-clad Maharashtrian shepherd beams out of the pages by his ``black sheep,`` Martin explains that ``we need rain, we can`t teach our children to demand that it go away.`` But Jack and Jill and the Twinkling Star stay untouched, though One-two buckle my shoe is now ``a visit to the zoo,`` with lions, peacocks and monkeys thrown in to strengthen vocabulary.

Teachers from across all the districts have converged at Pune for the training. They wake up at the crack of dawn for yoga and pranayama, before a 30-minute drill at 7.15 am, reciting 19 nursery rhymes with demonstrations every day this week. This will give them an ``actual feel of classroom participation in teaching English through the play-way method,`` says Dattatreya Tapkir, section officer, Jeevan Shikshan Publication, Maharashtra State Council for Educational Research and Training (MSCERT).

Designed to break down inhibitions of Urdu, Gujarati, Tamil, Kannada, and Sindhi medium school teachers, the 56 50-minute classes over the next five days from 6.30 am to 10.30 pm will train teachers to also assess student performance collectively and individually after every unit is completed.

Setting aside conventional examinations, a check-list provided to teachers in the Let us Teach training module lays down three grades of A for above average, B for average and C for below average, to assess student performance in listening, speaking, conversational skills, attention span, and pronunciation.

Chairman of Balbharati`s English committee, Ramesh Dhongde, admits that students, especially in the villages, will suffer because textbooks will be available only by October. ``SMART PT resource persons must focus on training the participants to make up for this loss,`` he says, insisting that imposing compulsory English in no way ``diminishes the importance of the mother tongue.``

Two 90-minute audio cassettes on nursery rhymes and pronunciation will be released by Balchitravani next week. Padmavati Bidwe from the State Institute of English for Maharashtra, Aurangabad, says the project should succeed because the 360-strong illustrated vocabulary from taxi, fan, tractor, engine to umpire, is familiar across the state. ``We will accept even pronunciations the Indian way,`` she says.

Here is how the rhyme `Mary had a little lamb` will read in the textbooks of Maharashtra:

Meera had a little cat

whose fur was white as snow

Everywhere that Meera went

the cat was sure to go

It followed her to school one day

And sat under a stool

It made the children laugh and play

to see a cat at school!

(from Indian Express)

-arun gupta

Madressah are the only institution in Pakistan, which are giving a high class education in Pakistan free of cost.

All the other institutions are money minting machine and if money is not minted our high class intelligentia does not burn its hand in it.

The reason I am saying high class is because a lot of doctors, engineers, and highly educated people are getting enrolled in Maddressah and before long it will bear its fruit, when intelligence will not be the domain of psedo-intellectuals, but real intellectuals.

That should be a good news for our secular friends to further their killings in Kashmir.

The number of Madaris (Islamic religious schools) in Pakistan has shot up from a mere 868 in 1975 to over 8000 now.

A large number of religious schools in Pakistan are involved in encouraging militancy by sending across their students to Afghanistan for training in warfare, local media reported today.

As many as 126 `Madaris` (religious schools) have been identified by intelligence agencies for sending their students to Afghanistan for training in warfare, `The News` said today quoting a report of Society for Promotion of the Rights of Child (SPARC).

The federal government has reportedly decided to clamp down on these Madaris to stop spread of sectarianism and religious fundamentalism, the paper said.

The SPARC report claims that recently steps have been taken to eradicate those Madaris which have been found to be involved in militant activities and efforts are on to nab hardened criminals being harboured by them.

Not so fast: Mr Farangi Kush

Generally it is a great topic to exchange opinions and read about the different solutions proposed by various people. But it was pretty disappointing to read the solutions given by Mr farangi for following reasons:

1. An attempt is made is to give the religious tinge to education problems (age old phenomenon). Mr farangi`s defines the word yet fails to support it.

2. The main issue is not about the winning or losing. Certainly there is no place for self-rightous attitude. Content is more important than packaging. Mr farangi seem to be totally fixated on winning. As long as we live in this world we have to interact with other systems. Anything which is different from us is not inherently bad but just different. If we can improve by using their certain good techniques, please don`t equate it with cardinal sins.

3. It is certainly not true that ``desi school attendies get enrolled at higher level``. It can be a exception but not a rule. Secondly, jumping a grade doesn`t mean that we have a great system in general.

4. The proposed distinction between sceintist and educators is also very primitive. Guidence is not anybody`s domain and certainly not a class privilage. Maulana and politican can definitely guide in their respective fields but can`t be trusted to give a course on nuclear physics or computers. Everybody can contribute to amend this diseased and infested education system as long as focus is not on demonstrating superiority and spreading hatred.

5. Again, in the last whole portion reply Mr farangi desperately tried to potray the self-rightous attitude. It is a known fact that not every muslim child is a genius nor they are world renowned over-achievers.

I must congradulate Dr.Hoodbhoy for starting such an interesting discussion.

km

DYNAMITE IN THE MOUTH OF BUDDHA`S STATUE

To destroy the ancient Hindu and Buddhist culture of Afghanistan.

Ahmed Rashid, Book: TALIBAN

A major preoccupation of the current Afghan rulers, for instance, has been to determine the most religiously correct punishment for adultery (killing the evildoers by bulldozing a wall over them was agreed upon).

Then they put dynamite in the mouth of a Buddha`s statue and blew it up.

As far as period of ChandarGupt and Ashoka are concerned, I remember I have read in my history books, that was the time of Z.A.Bhutto.

As Feroz K quoted or posted in his article that Pakistan is a place where multiple trends and politics related to that are trying to drag Pakistan in its own direction. And the reason is that although Pakistan was created in the concept of a nation state, it never went in the direction of Nationalism.

If you are from Pakistan you know what I mean.

This has basically created the Pakistan we are living in.

On the one hand our ruling elite had their own interests, which was in direct contradiction to the interest of common man.

The common man and poor man basically seeked refuge in alternative parties, like Mohajir Qaumi Movement, Jamat-e-Islami, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam, TNFJ etc which not only utilized the aspirations of common man but gave them a direction distinct from the feudal-cum-Industrialist alliance.

What is the solution?

I think the agenda of Pervez Musharraf (only agenda) is the correct way to approach the problem. Because the only way out of this mess is economic progress which is the only way to dilute the Klashinkov Culture in all its form.

As far as your reference to Dr. Hoodbhoy is concerned. I have great respect for him as a person and he is a dedicated person. But his political views, I donot necessarily condone, because they are out of touch with reality.

If anybody left a legacy for the direction, it is Z.A.Bhutto.

Economic revival. Realization of Identification of peoples aspiration with Islam. i.e

Islam is our religion.

Democracy is our politics. and.

Socialism is our economics. (you can change it with economic prosperity of country should be related to prosperity of its people)

And root of power is people.

It was Bhutto who has to give way to religious right, because of their dominant influence.

But he was right. Without realizing this you cannot achieve your objective of prosperous Pakistan. And the leftist style politics never has appealed to masses.

Politics is the name of achieving the objectives, not propagating one`s belief.

krashid:

http://www.thefridaytimes.com/news3a.htm

``To elaborate the point I gave examples from our textbooks, about how history has been distorted and how things have worsened over the years. I recalled how my senior colleagues tell me that in the late fifties, full ten years after independence, some of their examination papers were set in India, their thesis teachers used to come from India, how Radio Pakistan could air Indian film songs until the early sixties, how Indian films were shown in Pakistani cinema houses, how we had the privilege of learning history in an impartial manner, with details on the reigns of early Hindu period of Ashoka and Chandargupt Moriya, etc. But then we closed the door on us and insulated ourselves in order to conform everything, including history, to our own mental constructions. I tried to show that much of what is taught to students nowadays is anything but truth.



``The students are fed on falsity and are taught to hate, I said. Even the most recent history is blatantly distorted. For this I cited some textbooks lessons on the 1965 war, which state that India started the war and attacked Pakistan in the dark of the night. That Pakistan valiantly fought back, winning large enemy territories. India desperately sought international help in stopping the war and Pakistan graciously returned the captured territories. All this against the statements of former PAF chiefs, Nur Khan and Asghar Khan. Linking the state of collective paranoia with nuclear weapons, I quoted a serving Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee telling my friend Dr. Pervez Hoodbhoy some years ago that he would not mind if Indians in retaliation to a Pakistani use of nuclear weapon destroyed all the Pakistani cities and killed millions, as long as Pakistan could harm India in some manner.



``What happened in response to this talk was interesting. A student stood up and berated me for negating the ideology of Pakistan and the concept of jehad (I had neither spoken of the ideology of Pakistan nor of jehad). He insisted that Pakistanis must destroy India even if it meant complete annihilation of Pakistan. What struck me most was the loud applause his statement drew from other students. The student then walked out in protest against my subversive talk. The rest of the students remained seated for another half-hour`s session. The discussion was lively with arguments both for and against my contention. I realised later while talking to a student of mine that the younger people, particularly those who have passed through the mainstream educational system where the state indoctrination is so prevalent, are so heavily conditioned by the textbooks that truth comes to them as an unpleasant shock. This may explain the ovation the student got after my talk. It also expalins why jehad has such a wide approval in society.

Professor Nayyar, The Friday Times.

``To elaborate the point I gave examples from our textbooks, about how history has been distorted and how things have worsened over the years. I recalled how my senior colleagues tell me that in the late fifties, full ten years after independence, some of their examination papers were set in India, their thesis teachers used to come from India, how Radio Pakistan could air Indian film songs until the early sixties, how Indian films were shown in Pakistani cinema houses, how we had the privilege of learning history in an impartial manner, with details on the reigns of early Hindu period of Ashoka and Chandargupt Moriya, etc. But then we closed the door on us and insulated ourselves in order to conform everything, including history, to our own mental constructions. I tried to show that much of what is taught to students nowadays is anything but truth.



``The students are fed on falsity and are taught to hate, I said. Even the most recent history is blatantly distorted. For this I cited some textbooks lessons on the 1965 war, which state that India started the war and attacked Pakistan in the dark of the night. That Pakistan valiantly fought back, winning large enemy territories. India desperately sought international help in stopping the war and Pakistan graciously returned the captured territories. All this against the statements of former PAF chiefs, Nur Khan and Asghar Khan. Linking the state of collective paranoia with nuclear weapons, I quoted a serving Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee telling my friend Dr. Pervez Hoodbhoy some years ago that he would not mind if Indians in retaliation to a Pakistani use of nuclear weapon destroyed all the Pakistani cities and killed millions, as long as Pakistan could harm India in some manner.

Washington Times http://www.washtimes.com/commentary/commentary-200051016720.htm

Donald Devine

The real threats to American interests are not how well democracy spreads around the world but Islamic fundamentalism and, potentially, China. In fact, realistic analysis suggests the more democracy there is in an Islamic nation, the more it opposes the U.S. and its allies like Israel. Likewise, it is not nuclear ``proliferation`` that is the problem but possession by unstable regimes like North Korea or fundamentalist ones like Iran and Afghanistan, or even, someday, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.

How can this possible threat be contained without Russia and India? It is insane to tongue-lash these essentially inward-looking nations, which do have some interest in protecting their borders from madmen.

This is not anti-Islam. The Islamic Supreme Council of America organized a recent conference where the prime concern of the attending Muslims from around the world was the danger from Islamic fundamentalism.

While it can be avoided, China does has the potential to threaten world peace. But the present U.S. alliance system relying upon Japan and Taiwan is inadequate. Neither, nor the two together, are strong enough to balance an aggressive China, even allied with U.S. forces. In a Sino-American war, the two are likely to stay neutral if China allows them to. Only Russia and India are located strategically and are big enough to balance China. What was the reaction of national greatness` John McCain when President Clinton recently wooed India? He said the trip was too ``extensive,`` an excuse for ``photo ops.`` Mr. Clinton was right to go and should do more.