unit_9_PROBLEMS AND ISSUES OF ELEMENTARY EDUCATION_17.8.20.pptx

Problem and issues of elementary education

1. PROBLEMS AND ISSUES OF ELEMENTARY EDUCATION

2. Introduction Elementary education is typically the first stage of compulsory education, coming between early childhood education and secondary education. According to the Constitution of Pakistan it is mandatory for the government to provide free and compulsory education to all children between the ages of 5-16 years and enhance adult literacy . With the 18th constitutional amendment the concurrent list which comprised of 47 subjects was abolished and these subjects, including education, were transferred to federating units as a move towards provincial autonomy

3. FEMALE EDUCATION Having an education is a fundamental right of every citizen, but gender discrepancies still exist in the educational sector. According to the 2011 Human Development Report of the United Nations Development Program, approximately twice as many males as females receive a secondary education in Pakistan, and public expenditures on education amount to only 2.7% of the GDP of the country

4. Gender roles in Pakistan Patriarchal values heavily govern the social structure in Pakistani society. Specifically, a woman is expected to take care of the home as wife and mother, whereas the male dominates outside the home as a breadwinner . Men and women are conceptually segregated into two distinct worlds. The household resources are allocated in the favor of sons due to their role in society outside the home. Therefore , education for boys is prioritized over girls, because it is perceived that boys must be equipped with educational skills to compete for resources in the public arena; while girls have to specialize in domestic skills to be good mothers and wives. Hence , education is not perceived as being important for girls.

5. Importance of female education Education has been of central significance to the development of human society. It can be the beginning, not only of individual knowledge, information and awareness, but also a holistic strategy for development and change. Education is very much connected to women's ability to form social relationships on the basis of equality with others and to achieve the important social good of self-respect.

6. Rural vs. Urban In year 2006, the literacy rate in urban areas was recorded 58.3% while in rural areas it was 28.3%, and only 12% among rural women . An interesting factor in this context is that female enrollment was recorded highest at the primary level, but it progressively decreases at the secondary, college and tertiary levels . It was estimated that less than 3% of the 17–23 age group of girls have access to higher education.

7. Role of government in female education Officially the government of Pakistan is committed to provide every citizen an access to education, but critics say that its budget allocation towards education does not correspond with its former commitment . The expenditure on education as a percentage of GDP was 1.82% in 2000–2001, while it has been raised slightly in 2006–2007 to 2.42%, and it is still relatively lower than most neighboring countries . Feminist economists argue that the government of Pakistan needs to fully address and resolve the gender concerns that exist in the educational sector

8. DROPOUT A dropout is defined as ―any student who leaves school for any reason before graduation or completion of a program of studies without transferring to another elementary or secondary school . While the number of out-of-school children (OOSC) in Pakistan has decreased by 1 million ─ from 25 million to 24 million ─ and dropout rates have decreased over last year, almost half of all children between the ages of five and 16 are out of school and more than 18million have never seen the inside of a classroom. Gender disparity is also evident in school enrolment rates, with over half of all girls out of school compared to 43% of boys.

9. Enrolment remains the greatest challenge Nearly 24million ─ 47% ─ of Pakistan‘s estimated 51million children between the ages of five and 16 are out of school. While the dropout rate is a serious concern, enrolment remains the major challenge

10. CURRICULUM Word curriculum is derived from Latin word which is the combination of two words: • Curricula……………race • Um……………..……place Curriculum means ―place for race. Curriculum development or transformation is one of the critical challenges of any successful institution . Innovative and demand-driven curriculum enables a school or college to remain relevant and to be one step ahead of its rivals (competitors), set trends and lead change in order to survive. Curriculum development is a rational and responsible process. It must be planned carefully and consciously.

11. Factor Effecting Curriculum Development in Pakistan Lack of Alignment Economic Problems Political Interference Inadequate Evaluation Disapproval of society Curriculum more Urbanized Lack of In-services Training Lack of commitment of National Philosophy

12. HEALTH AND FAMILY LIFE EDUCATION (HFLE) Everyone who works with children and young people would perhaps unanimously agree that they have a difficult and seemingly an almost impossible task of getting this sector of our population to "do the right thing ". Parents complain about their children, teachers complain about their students and both groups tend to agree that the children of today are more difficult to manage than those of the past . They need to know what they are up against. We need to prepare our young people for the future and the survival of our society, since they are the future and the survival of our society depends on them. A good part of that preparation is contingent upon the life skills that we give them and this can be found in Health and Family Life Education (HFLE) programmes .

13. Family Life Education during Childhood Basic family life concepts, attitudes, and skills that need to be learned during childhood include developing a sense of self, learning right from wrong, learning about family roles and responsibilities, making and keeping friends, respecting similarities and differences in individuals and families, and learning to make choices ( Bredehoft 1997). Although these may be learned within the family, they also receive attention in family life programs because some families may be unable or unwilling to educate their children about these concepts or their efforts may be unsuccessful or may not happen at the right time.

14. The Challenges of Teaching HFLE Sometimes one can believe that what they are doing to help youngsters by enabling them with life skills such as conflict resolution, problem solving, decision making etc., seem to be a waste of time because they seem not to be utilising these skills . Many people believe that such programmes focus primarily, if not solely on sex and that as long as sex is a topic being discussed with youngsters, you are encouraging them in sexual activities. Parents and educators need to understand that HFLE is more than sex. It is about learning responsibility generally . Not enough time is allocated to HFLE. Administrators need to understand the importance of HFLE and the benefits it has in relation to academic endeavours .

15. Cont … HFLE is not only for specialists. If we are to effectively fight the enemy everyone has to be involved. We cannot afford not to have "all hands on deck". All adults within the school system need to know about HFLE . Some HFLE practitioners need to be more in tuned with the youngsters. One cannot be surprised with what they bring to the sessions. They need to know young people better and the pressures that they face . Collaboration is the key. HFLE has to be a collaborative effort. People need to know what they are up against and the goals and objective need to be clear

16. PRIVATE SCHOOLS The private education sector in Pakistan—which now accounts for almost 50 percent of enrolment in Punjab alone—has arisen from a complex set of reasons, and has more ramifications than those captured by research and policy responses. The sector needs to be taken more seriously for both the risks it poses and the opportunities it provides. At present, a parallel amorphous private sector continues to mushroom without an adequate harness and clarity on its eventual direction. The state will have to take charge as laissez faire in education, like any other fundamental right, cannot exist . To be successful, it will first have to reform itself, view the private sector as a medium for education proliferation and comprehend the sector thoroughly, before applying any policy.

17. Medium of Instruction Children must initially begin their schooling in their own tongue, with which they are familiar. This will help their cognitive development and inculcate critical thinking. It will also enable them to be articulate participants in the construction of knowledge in the classroom and discourage the culture of rote learning. English should be introduced at a later stage and taught as a second language

18. TEACHER TRAINING i ) Pre- service Teachers for the primary schools after passing Secondary School examination are provided one year training. PTC and CT training is provided by the Government Colleges of Elementary Education (GCEE). Those who possess BA/. Sc degrees are provided one year training called ―Bachelor of Education‖ ( B.Ed ) at the Government Colleges of Education. These colleges are at a few selected places in each province of the country. Those who further want to specialize in the subject of education undergo one year course called Master in Education ( M.Ed ).

19. In-service Programmes of In-Service Teacher Education Seminar- In a seminar some problems of education are taken up and there is collective thinking. Discussions are held and conclusions are arrived at all under the guidance of some experts . Refresher Courses: - A refresher course means an educational programme organized for refreshing the knowledge of in-service teacher. Workshops : - Workshops are organized for giving in-service education to teachers. They involve more of practical work and less theoretical discussion.

20. In-service Training Programme When teachers join teaching profession, they just have a degree of completion of their pre-service training. They do not know anything about the actual classrooms. Sometimes they have no idea about the problems which they are going to meet in future while teaching the class . In the training institutions, they just learn the curriculum handed to them and try their best to rote it and get through the examination.

21. Cont … In- service training programmes are design to refresh the knowledge of the teachers. One of the aim is to introduce the teachers with new trends and techniques in the field of education. The in-service programmes which are implemented for the improvement of the quality of education and to enable the teachers with new techniques, do not produce the desired results. This happens due to some reasons . Trainers The most important reason is the appointment of the trainers. Teachers who have some approach to the appointing authorities or have links with the concerned department get themselves appointed as trainer and even they themselves do not have proper training

22. Cont … Trainees When the schedule of the training courses is sent to schools and heads of the schools, they are asked to send their teachers for workshop. The heads should send those teachers who have no relation with the subject for which they are going to take training. Behind this there are many reasons. Training methods In the workshops, arranged for in-service teachers to enhance their knowledge in their respective subjects, no modern techniques or material is used. The trainers teach them those articles which can be found in the books of different classes. No new advance things are added. Even in science subjects, like mathematics or physics, only chalk and board are used.

23. Thank you for the Listening