Course: Secondary Education (827)
Semester: Spring, 2022
Assignment No. 02
Q.1 Discuss conventional, field based and distance learning teacher education programs.
Distance education is a form of learning that doesn’t require the students to physically attend the classes. Classes are conducted either by sharing videos, modules and notes or by conducting online classes where teachers and students can have live interaction.
In distance education courses the exams are also conducted online. This allows students from one part of the world to enroll and participate in any courses being conducted in another part.
Distance education allows people from all walks of life to complete their education and pursue courses and develop skills they are keen on. One of the Great Advantage of distance learning is its affordable fees, student-oriented learning.
Since the introduction of education, the regular education system has been the basis for education and learning across the world. Regular education involves the physical presence of students in classes.
Distance Education is a form of education in which course content is delivered and interaction provided by the technologies and methodologies of the Internet. The online environment allows people to interact with others asynchronously or synchronously in collaborative environments; to gain access to remote multimedia databases for active, resource-based learning; and to manage self-paced, individualized learning in a flexible way. Moreover, the Internet allows students to enroll in courses from anywhere in the world at almost any time.
There is a new vision developed during the past 15-20 years, strongly influenced by the social and cognitive sciences. The educational system now focuses on learning rather than on teaching. The focus of learning theory has changed to learning styles and perception. Knowledge is considered as socially constructed through action, communication and reflection involving learners (Huebner and Wiener, 2001).
Q.2 What measures can be taken to deal with the problems of secondary education in Pakistan?
The right to education is enshrined within the Constitution of Pakistan. Article 25-A Pakistan states: “The State shall provide free and compulsory education to all children of the age of five to sixteen years in such manner as may be determined by law.”(“The Constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan”, 2012)
Following the 18th amendment, education has largely become a provincial rather than a national issue, and each province has made progress in developing reforms to their respective education systems. However, implementation of these reforms has remained a huge challenge. There is no doubt that steps have also been taken to strengthen the facilities and services for primary, middle and secondary schools, as well as an admirable effort directed towards the expansion of non-formal education. Unfortunately, major issues and challenges continue to hinder the end goals of these initiatives from being achieved.
Some statics on the state of education in Pakistan
To share a few examples of the obstacles faced, the population of Pakistan has reached 208 million individuals as of 2018. 38% of this population currently lives below the poverty line (Jamal, 2017), while 43% of the adult population (i.e. aged 15 and above) remains illiterate. For portion of adults mentioned, the percentage can be further broken down to reveal a substantial gender gap wherein 51% of adult women compared to 30% of men are illiterate(AEPAM, 2016). Several other factors also directly affect the state of education in the country. A low annual education budget, over 90% of which goes for teacher and administrative salaries, is one example. Poor infrastructure that hampers productive learning environments, poor teaching and learning resources, and an assessment structure that operates in non-native languages are several more.
Further insights into statistics on the matter paint a grim picture on the country’s aspiration of education for all. For instance, there are 51.17 million children in Pakistan between the ages of 5 -16 years out of which nearly 23 million are categorized as out of school (Khan, 2017). There is also a shortage of schools, wherein for every 13 primary schools, there is only 1 middle school (“National Education Policy”, 2017). Finally, there is a shortage of teachers — around 50% of primary schools in Sindh and Balochistan and 29% in Pakistan as a whole have only one teacher (“Pakistan Education Statistics”, 2017). When it comes to the quality of education and learning outcomes of students, the numbers are even more distressing. For grade 5 students, 44% of school children cannot read a story fluently either in Urdu or provincial languages. 48% cannot read a sentence fluently in English, while 49% cannot carry out simple two-digit division.
Q.3 What decision were made to achieve the objective of Education Policy 1972-80?
The 1972-1980 Education Policy was drafted in a somewhat matter of fact tone and refrained from philosophical pronouncements. It aimed at “eradicating illiteracy within the shortest possible time through universalization of elementary education and a massive adult education programme” and at “equalizing access to education through provision of special facilities for women, under-privileged groups and mentally-retarded and physically-handicapped children and adults in all areas in general and the backward areas in particular.”
It declared that “education will be made free and universal up to Class X for all children throughout the country … in both Government and privately-managed schools. Private schools will be suitably supported for the loss of fees incurred by them.” It was anticipated that “primary education up to Class V will become universal for boys by 1979 and for girls by 1984″ and further that “elementary education will become universal up to Class VIII … for boys by 1982 and for girls by 1987.” The earlier objective of compulsory education was discarded. The Policy proposed to construct 61,000 additional class-rooms for primary classes, train 150,000 teachers, and recruit an additional 75,000 teachers through the National Literacy Corps.
The 1972 Policy identified 40 million adult illiterates in the country and declared that a “massive literacy programme will be undertaken in every town, and village (and) literacy centres will be established all over the country in schools, factories, farms, union council halls and other community places.” A target of establishing 276,000 literacy centres to educate 11 million persons was fixed for the period 1972-80. The 1972 Policy was overtaken somewhat mid-stream by the military coup d’etat in 1977, leading to significant shift in priorities. The egalitarian principles enunciated by the ousted government had yet to see the light of the day in practice.However, they were literally “expunged” under the new dispensation. The Fifth Five Year Plan was prepared and launched a year later. However, the new education policy was not announced until two years later in 1979.
Q.4 What are the advantages and disadvantages of semester system of education?
Schools, colleges and universities play very crucial role in national building. They play the vital role in preparing our next generations and bring out professionals who are responsible to drive the nation and its economy in later stage of their lives. They breed new ideas, innovations in the minds of the students and also create awareness amongst the people to make them responsible citizens. A nation and its future depend on imbibing proper education to the young minds of its children and the educational institutions play a role to play in this noble direction. Ever since the educational system came into being, it has been very difficult to find its consistency. Through continuous research and up gradation, exposure and elevation in the field of education, new ideas and concepts came into being in the quest of the feasible manner of imparting education and studies. Innumerable reforms took place to form a sustainable development in the educational system leading to greater results to have a comprehensive approach to education. As a result of these investigations based on research and policies the semester system of education has been introduced in place of annual system. Both semester and the annual system have merits and demerits. SGPA to CGPA – is Semester End Grade Point Average into Cumulative Grade Point Average. Universities are very important part of a society. They prepare the professionals who are responsible to drive a nation. They generate ideas, innovations and create awareness among the people. Education depends on universities and progress of a country. The system in universities is responsible to educate the young minds of a nation.
Q.5 How will you define continuous internal assessment?
Continuous assessment is a form of educational examination that evaluates a student’s progress throughout a prescribed course. It is often used as an alternative to the final examination system.[citation needed] Proponents of continuous assessment argue that the approach allows tracking of progress and has a chance of offering students more support, guidance, and opportunities to improve during the course or programme.
esting students on the basis of knowledge that they acquire from classes, books, and videos are not sufficient. Many times, students are excellent when it comes to studying the course out of a well-written book. However, the challenge lies in testing the student on something more. This is often in relation to the curriculum and the course.
If a student is able to score excellent grades in a written test or a viva, this is great! However, it does not show how the student is able to differentiate themselves with others. In order to be able to test the student on various skills, continuous assessment is crucial. Also, over the past few years, students have proven that they can burn the midnight oil and get their grades. But this does not showcase the knowledge that they have acquired over a period of time from the course. Therefore, continuously and regularly assessing and testing their performance on the various parameter is critical. Distance education has come to be accepted as well as recognised mode of higher education which is relevant to the existing educational demands of the society. The standard in distance teaching and performance of the students in it are fairly high. The term internal assessment denotes a course teacher to be responsible for the assessment of his students whom he teaches; External exam means the assessment is conducted by a third party or agent on behalf of the university examinations. The academic programmes of Centre for Distance Education, Bharathidasan University, Tamil Nadu are of both short term and long term, and belong to the area of general education, management, computer science, etc. This study discussed the basic principles and components of CIA. It also studied how to record the CIA marks for distance learners along with steps for successful implementation of CIA in distance education programmes. One batch of Post Graduate students have completed the Course successfully; the feedback is in fact encouraging.
