Investigating the issue of out-of-school children in rural Pakistan: implications for policymakers

The problem of students dropping out of school is a barrier to poor and developing countries such as Pakistan meeting international education targets. This thesis explores the dropout phenomenon from secondary education (classes 9 and 10) through the perspectives of teachers, head teachers, community members of school councils, fathers of dropouts and the dropouts themselves, in a rural district of Pakistan. The study collected and analysed data on dropouts (N=844) of all the public secondary schools (N=38) of subdivision Pind Dadan Khan, a remote rural region of district Jhelum, during the academic years 2011-12 and 2012-13. In-depth individual and group interviews were conducted with 103 participants comprising 18 head teachers, 41 teachers, 18 school dropouts, 14 fathers of school dropouts, and 12 community members of school councils. The findings of the study show several pull out, push out and policy- related factors of dropping out. The pull out factors are: absence of an educational environment at home; desire to seek religious education; pupils and parents lack of interest in schooling; poor academic performance; failure in class 9; household poverty; pressures of domestic responsibilities; large family sizes; local labour market conditions; seasonal migration; influence of feudalism in the remote rural areas; and the custom of dowry and marrying daughters off early. The push out factors are: locations of schools; a lack of academic and physical facilities; teachers lack of interest in teaching; poor quality teaching; practices of rote learning and memorisation; and explicit bullying from class teachers. The public policy-related factors are: the syllabus being in the English medium; automated progression policy; different examination systems at primary, elementary, and secondary levels; a non-deregistration policy for long-absentee pupils; imposing non-teaching duties on teachers; and an ineffective school council policy. The in-depth investigation based on stakeholders perspectives on dropout has a vital contribution to policy and intervention implementation. The thesis argues that the policy focus at national and international levels should be on dropout prevention strategies to achieve the education targets of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030. Good intervention always requires local analysis of problems and assessments of potential strategies at the point of service delivery. This study, therefore, advocated a bottom-up policy approach to understand and address social phenomena, such as of dropouts, at the grass-roots level

CORRELATION OF BODY MASS INDEX WITH SELECTED PHYSICAL FITNESS PARAMETERS AMONG ADOLESCENTS OF KHYBER PAKHTUNKHWA, PAKISTAN

The aim of this study was to evaluate the correlation of Body Mass Index and Postural balance, Handgrip Strength, Speed and Agility among school going children (Boys), aging 11 to 15 years from secondary schools of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. Studies are evident that the fitness level of today’s youth is becoming center of interest, as 12% of the total population of the world is obese, 33% are suffering from hypertension, and 10% of the adults are diabetic. This scenario is compelling the world leaders and policy makers to focus on enhancing the health and fitness of their youth. The sample of 1595 children (11 to 15years of age) was taken from eight districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The analysis showed mean values of 17.43 + 3.25 kg/m2for BMI, 8.83+ 4.7for postural balance in unipodal support (falls per minute (FPM)), 31.18 + 15.63 for hand grip strength, and 13.51+ 1.22 sec for the 10 x 5m Shuttle Run(SR). BMI was found inversely correlated with FPM (r= -0.049, P=0.039); and SR r= -.141, P< 0.001) and directly correlated with HGS r = .219, P<0.001.The average BMI being a predictor of wellbeing of the sampled population is relatively low for unknown reasons but it has been assumed that the physical development of children as per national education policy has not been properly visualized and poorly implemented, therefore, serious efforts required at national level to review and revisit the entire physical development plan of the children

THE ECONOMIC CONDITIONS AND SPORTS IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES: A CASE STUDY OF PAKISTAN

The economic conditions and sports participation in developed countries has been studied extensively. For a number of countries in the developed world, it has been reported that economic conditions have a direct impact on participation and performance in various sports (Black et al., 2002). However, there has been no significant study conducted to assess the effects of economic conditions on sports participation in the developing world. The aim of this study was to fill that void and ascertain the impact of economic conditions on high performance sports in Pakistan, and the underlying reasons for the decline of sports in the country.Pakistan's participation & performance at the Asian games have been used as a basis for the study. Moreover, studies that have assessed the teaching of physical education in Pakistan have also been reviewed to identify issues with sports participation (Sarwar et al., 2010). Decline of sports participation of children in Secondary Schools, utilization of Sports Funds & availability of Sports Facilities was also considered to identify reasons for decline in performance. Data relating to available resources such as physical education teachers employed and utilization of funds for sports was taken from National Sports Policy of Pakistan 2005, and used to test and validate various hypotheses under consideration.The results show significant decline in the performance of Pakistan at the Asian games from 1950 to 2000 (p <0.05) along with negative relationship with economic conditions of Pakistan. It was noted that only 48 % schools had access to physical education teachers. Out of these schools it was found that 40% schools were not utilizing the funds fully, for physical education and 50% school did not have facilities for indoor / outdoor games / sports. The analysis of economic conditions in Pakistan and participation in sports showed that there was no significant relationship between the economic conditions and performance in sports. These results suggest that in order to stem the decline in sports performance,  focus should be on grass roots level activities in schools, implementation of systematic and scientific coaching, long term planning and upgrading our competition and monitoring system in addition to provisioning of sports facilities at all levels.

ATTITUDES FACED BY PROFESSIONAL AND STUDENT WOMEN ATHLETES UPON THEIR PARTICIPATION IN SPORTS

Background: The study was conducted to explore the relationship between attitudes related to gender script, threaten/harassed, getups, male interaction, and jealousy, and sports participation of professional and student women athletes. The present research was quantitative approach in nature. The response rate from 247 respondents including 120 professional sports women and 127 female student athletes (GC University Faisalabad) was noted beyond 300 sample size. For the purpose of data collection, structured survey questionnaire was developed. Descriptive statistics, Pearson’s correlation analysis, and multiple regression analysis statistical approaches through SPSS-25 were applied to edit and further analyze the collected data. The findings revealed that attitudes (gender script, threaten/harassed, getups, male interaction, and jealousy) faced by women athletes had significant relationship with sports participation. Results indicated that gender script, threaten/harassed, getups, male interaction, and jealousy had significant effect on sports participation of professional and student women athletes in determining women’s status in society. It was concluded that sports women are threated/harassed with other ground realities such as gender script and dominance, getups, male interaction, and jealousy in the way of their participation in sports. There is a need of campaign in Pakistani society for the equal rights of women in sports. Female coaches should also be hired to lead the sports women because they feel easy with them and it will reduce women’s exploitation and hesitation and expand the participation in sports in future

RELATIONSHIP OF UPPER AND LOWER BODY MUSCULAR STRENGTH WITH CARDIO-RESPIRATORY ENDURANCE AMONG SCHOOL GOING CHILDREN

The aim of this study was to explore the relationship between upper and lower body muscular strength as well as cardio-respiratory endurance among school going children 11 to 15 years of age. A sample of 1750 boys was drawn from the targeted population. Children were tested on handgrip (HG) to measure the strength of upper body muscles, on Standing Broad Jump (SBJ) to measure the strength of lower body muscles, used Beep Test (BT) for cardio-respiratory endurance and height and weight to determine Body Mass Index (BMI). Multiple regression analysis depicted association of lower body muscular strength (SBJ) with upper body muscular strength (HG) and cardio-respiratory endurance (BT) (R 2= 0.011 and 0.10 respectively). The analysis reflected the significant relationship, though weak, between lower body strength (SBJ) and upper body strength (HG) and cardiorespiratory endurance (BT). Hence lower body muscular strength can be considered useful indicator for muscular strength and cardio-respiratory endurance among school going children

SPORTS AND SOCIAL WELL-BEING: PERCEPTION OF UNIVERSITIES’ PLAYERS

The purpose of the games and sports is to create a friendly and healthy environment for our up-to-the-minute generation and youth. It also helps the people to enhance their patience and control, and their mind-set toward other peoples of the society. Sports teach how to show tolerance and how to switch aggression. This study was quantitative in nature. In this research, population was students of the University of the Punjab. In this study researcher collected data through survey method and research instrument was rating scale. Statistical analysis showed that most of the players approved that sports promote the positive effects regarding social well-being

SELF-EFFICACY AND SPORTS: PERCEPTION OF PUNJAB UNIVERSITY ATHLETES

Self-efficacy is a person's judgment about being able to perform a particular task. It's a student’s belief on his/her capabilities to perform a particular activity. It is not necessary that if a person has a high self-efficacy in a certain area then he will have the same in other. Self-efficacy varies from person to person or task to task. Self-efficacy theory originated from social cognitive theory of Albert Bandura(1995), i.e. "The belief in one’scompetencies to execute the courses of action required to manageprobablecircumstances".It can also be said that it is the belief of a person that he can perform in a certain manner to achieve a certain goal. These beliefs are factors of how people think, behave and feel (Bandura, 1994).

EFFECTIVE INTENSITY OF EXERCISE FOR IMPROVING THE MODIFIABLE RISK FACTORS OF CVD IN OVERWEIGHT ADULT MALES

The leading cause of death is CVD worldwide. Physical activity has been labeled as the single most important modifiable risk factor that alters majority of the other risk factors. However, the existing literature about the effective intensity of exercise to influence other modifiable risk factors is obscure and contradictory. Therefore, this study is aimed to find out the effective exercise intensity beneficial enough to influence the other modifiable risk factors. Methodology:After ethical approval and written informed consent 20 male overweight and apparently healthy participants, (age = 31 ± 6.1 years) were recruited. Participants attended the lab for 4 days one week apart. On day 1, height, weight,  blood pressure,  heart rate,  waist and hip circumference, and body composition was measured using Tinnita body analyzer was measured. Based on submaximal exercise testing the intensity for 50%, 60% and 70% of the predicted maximum heart rates were calculated. On subsequent visits, blood samples for fasting sugar, fasting lipid and insulin were taken. The participants performed exercise test on the treadmill as per calculated intensity for 30mins. Exercise induced thermogenesis and substrate metabolism was calculated using breath by breath analyzer. Post exercise blood sampling for lipid, blood sugar and insulin were taken immediately after intervention. Results: A dose response relationship of exercise with majority of the parameters was found. Exercise intensity of 60% and above were found to be significantly influencing the other modifiable risk factors including cholesterol (0.04 &amp; &lt;0.001), HDL (0.03), Triglyceride (0.023 &amp; &lt;0.01), insulin (0.12 &amp; 0.05) and blood sugar level (0.02 &amp; 0.001). Conclusion: Exercise intensity need to be in the influential range for affecting the other modifiable risk factors. If well planned even a single bout of exercise can be proved beneficial and add towards prevention of CVDs

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SOCIAL CONTROL AND SPORTS

The main objective of the study is to evaluate the effects and relationship between social control and sports. Social control is extremely basic for each general public. Without social control, society and in addition individual can't exist. Hence, the need of social control is exceptionally basic. Social control is important for the presence and association of a general public. Players learn violent strategies from sports, this give them a better cure for deviant behaviors. players learns how to obey the laws in sports this enables to develop discipline in society and help to promote cultural values and also it help to develop better instruction among people. Sports are a useful to create accountability environment in society. Results of this research work showed that the sports have positive effect on social control

EFFECT OF CROSS FIT EXERCISES ON WEIGHT LOSS OF MALES IN LAHORE

The purpose of this research was to explore the effect of Cross Fit, a latest fitness techniques being used all over the world to get a good physique and health, in reducing weight of male persons ranging from 18 to 25 years. A sample of 8 male students ranging age from 18 to 25 years to measure the change in variables like Body weight, %age Fat ratio, %age of Total Body Water contents, %age of Lean Muscle Mass after applying Cross Fit training program in pre and post analysis. After designing and applying a 28 days Cross Fit plan and diet plans for each individual according to their Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) and Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE), it was found that there is a positive significant change in these variables mentioned above which showed that Cross Fit training program d