Educational Planning and Human Resource Management: A Study of Public and Private Schools in Pakistan

Planning and management of curriculum and human resources in schools is precisely liable and precarious in nature. The present study addressed the matter while exploring the practices of educational planning and human resource management in public and private primary level schools in Punjab, Pakistan. The case studies of two public and private schools in Rawalpindi District of Punjab Province were conducted by interviewing the mangers and principles of private and public school respectively. The participant observations were also taken to substantiate the information provided by the respondents. The schools were selected on the basis of their reputation and high enrollment of the students. The findings of the study elaborated the differences in public and private schools with respect to educational planning and managing human resource. The public schools followed the standard curriculum designed by the Punjab text book board which is universal for all the public schools. The teachers are mostly on permanent position and experienced. Whereas in the private schools, international level curriculum is followed this differs from school to school. Every private school has their own curriculum which they followed according to the standard of the school. The manager of the school generally decides the nature of the curriculum and recruitment of the teacher on its own will and interests. The medium of instruction is English in private schools, while public school used both national and international language. As far as teacher competence is concern, the public school teachers are more experienced as compare to private schools as they are working at the same school for a longer time period due to which better able to manage various task in the school and also take part in educational planning. On the other hand, in private school, fresh and most of the time untrained young females are hired. For these employees, professional development and retention is very important for the managers. Selecting and recruiting new teacher is very tedious job as well as it also affects the student’s performances and achievements. It is indicated that the owner of the private school was in continues struggle and in apprehension of hiring, and retaining their staff by providing them extra bonuses and facilities at school, such as leaves, time flexibility, and reward etc

Impact of Difficulties Faced by Adolescents in Making Career Decision on their Mental Health

This research aimed to explore the impact of difficulties faced by adolescents in making a career decision on their mental health. The objective of the research was to explore the factors affecting career decision making and to explore the psychological effect of career decision making difficulties. A quantitative research design was used to collect data through online survey by random sampling method in which a sample of 70 adolescents aged between 18-24 both male (28) and female (42) were collected from Rawalpindi, Pakistan and then analyzed on SPSS. A correlation (p: .002) was found between career indecisiveness and mental health. Independent T test result suggested that gender difference exists with respect to career indecisiveness indicating a value of p to be .01, while one way ANOVA indicated a value of p to be .382, showing that no significant difference exist with respect to respondents age. A chi square result indicated the factors affecting career decision making to be parental (p: .000) and peer pressure (p: .002) and indicated that career decision making time period is stressful for adolescents who feel difficulty in making a career decision (p: .000) indicating a psychological effect. Thus, the hypothesis was proved that adolescents face career decision making difficulties which negatively impact their mental health and it is recommended that they should be given career guidance to help them out in exploring what they really want to do in their lives instead of making a wrong career and regretting it later

Supersymmetric hybrid inflation and metastable cosmic strings in SU(4)c×SU(2)L×U(1)RSU(4)_c \times SU(2)_L \times U(1)_R

We construct a realistic supersymmetric model for superheavy metastable cosmic strings (CSs) that can be investigated in the current pulsar timing array (PTA) experiments. We consider shifted $\mu$ hybrid inflation in which the symmetry breaking $SU(4)_c \times SU(2)_L \times U(1)_R\rightarrow SU(3)_c\times SU(2)_L \times U(1)_{B-L}\times U(1)_R$ proceeds along an inflationary trajectory such that the topologically unstable primordial monopoles are inflated away. The breaking of $U(1)_{B-L} \times U(1)_R \rightarrow U(1)_Y$ after inflation ends yields the metastable CSs that generate the stochastic gravitational wave background (SGWB) which is consistent with the current PTA data set. The scalar spectral index $n_s$ and the tensor to scalar ratio $r$ are also compatible with Planck 2018. We briefly discuss both reheating and leptogenesis in this model.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figure

Refusal towards vaccination: a survey among Malay parents

Vaccination is a preventive solution for children to protect them from infectious diseases. Although it is good immunization for children, some parents are reluctant about immunizing their children. The study attempts to identify the socio-cultural determinants of parental refusal for vaccination which may have influenced the uptake of vaccination. This study employed a survey method. A sample of 80 parents including both mothers and fathers who have children between the ages of one to 12 years old were recruited. The participants were selected via the random sampling technique. The questionnaire was distributed through email and on social media. Data were analyzed using SPSS. The results indicate that 58% of parents refused to vaccinate their children. Although parents are aware of the importance of vaccines, they refused to adopt them due to the perception that vaccination is unhygienic in nature and is considered unhealthy for their children. They also believed that other preventive methods are better than vaccination. The findings also illustrate significant positive correlation between parents’ educational level and their attitude towards vaccine refusal

Managing women's matter: a cross-cultural study of doctor-patient relationship in Pakistan and Malaysia

Healthcare providers in the Muslim community take their profession as an obligation to serve the patients and community in humanistic way, that is described by the Islamic Law. The present study focuses on the doctorpatient relationship in two Muslim countries; Pakistan and Malaysia, to explore the ethical practices in the health profession. The study comprises of cross-sectional qualitative research design in which, in-depth interviews were conducted from female doctors and patients. Data was collected from female patients by visiting the clinics and hospitals for their concerns related to health. Sample of ten female patients and ten doctors (five from each country) were selected for the study. The findings highlighted the moderate relationship of doctors with patients and vice-versa. In Pakistan, majority of the doctors mentioned professional behaviors with the patients, as maternal healthcare is very sensitive and critical in nature. During their medical trainings, although they learnt professional ethics based on Islamic values and integrity however power of doctors over patients has been reported. Interestingly, most women who attended the menopause clinic in Malaysia accepted the doctor's dominance, because doctors talk to them about their problems and the women tend to accept their expertise. In conclusion, doctors in Pakistan and Malaysia have tried their level best to follow the professional ethics to treat the patients well. Doctors and patients need to realize each others perimeter in a larger setup and try to establish reciprocal relationship with one anothe

Potrayal of women's art work and traditional attire in National Heritage Museum Pakistan & National Textile Museum Malaysia

Traditionally, a museum is an asset as it contains a tremendous amount of history. It helps people to understand various aspects of an area’s tradition, culture and custom and keeps the history alive. It is an important source of history to guide us into the future. Currently, there is very weak connection between new generations and their cultural heritage which has been practised by their ancestors. Museums can bridge this gap and rebuild the decaying relationship through cultural interpretation of the artefacts with community support.With regard to the role of women, museums play a vital role in making the work of women visible in folk culture, as they depict the culture of different regions. The focus of the present study is on the visibility of women’s work in folk culture museum or more specifically, the relationship between cultural museum with contributions of women in folk culture; therefore, the objectives of this research are to explore the role of museums in promoting women’s work, to know about such work which are being depicted in museums and to explore women’s traditional and changing roles as highlighted in museums

Seeing COVID-19 through a Health care professional’s eye

Background: The world is in a state of war. The health care professionals are the front line soldiers who are fighting this war against COVID-19. The modification in human behavior to a specific stimulus (say the Corona epidemic) is the single most important determinant of the fate of that stimulus.  On 26th February 2020, Pakistan reported its first corona positive cases. Till Mid-March, the number raised to a significantly critical level. As the outbreak was unexpected in Pakistan, the situation created chaos and panic among the public as well as among health care workers. The current study analyzed COVID-19 thorough a healthcare professional's eye. There has been no previous study according to the PubMed database. Using the keywords, "Coronavirus, Health care professionals, Pakistan, COVID-19", for any sort of previous cases reported or literature reported relating to coronavirus, our team could not find any article, case report or publication of any sort. So this study is the first from Pakistan Methods: In this cross-sectional study, a self-administrated online questionnaire was circulated through emails and social media to the whole country. The questionnaire comprised of assessing knowledge about the cause and symptoms of COVID-19. A total of 146 responses were scrutinized to include in the survey, in the time period of 1 week (March 23-30, 2020). The participants belonged to private and government institutions from all provinces of Pakistan. Results: The mean values of all items depicted that all health care professionals were well aware of the knowledge, symptoms and transmissibility of COVID-19. Conclusion:  The study concluded that the healthcare professionals were fully aware of the transmission of COVID-19 and its symptoms. However, it is recommended that the government should provide full support to health care professionals, who are at the front line. &nbsp

Seeing COVID-19 through a Health care professional’s eye

Background: The world is in a state of war. The health care professionals are the front line soldiers who are fighting this war against COVID-19. The modification in human behavior to a specific stimulus (say the Corona epidemic) is the single most important determinant of the fate of that stimulus.  On 26th February 2020, Pakistan reported its first corona positive cases. Till Mid-March, the number raised to a significantly critical level. As the outbreak was unexpected in Pakistan, the situation created chaos and panic among the public as well as among health care workers. The current study analyzed COVID-19 thorough a healthcare professional's eye. There has been no previous study according to the PubMed database. Using the keywords, "Coronavirus, Health care professionals, Pakistan, COVID-19", for any sort of previous cases reported or literature reported relating to coronavirus, our team could not find any article, case report or publication of any sort. So this study is the first from Pakistan Methods: In this cross-sectional study, a self-administrated online questionnaire was circulated through emails and social media to the whole country. The questionnaire comprised of assessing knowledge about the cause and symptoms of COVID-19. A total of 146 responses were scrutinized to include in the survey, in the time period of 1 week (March 23-30, 2020). The participants belonged to private and government institutions from all provinces of Pakistan. Results: The mean values of all items depicted that all health care professionals were well aware of the knowledge, symptoms and transmissibility of COVID-19. Conclusion:  The study concluded that the healthcare professionals were fully aware of the transmission of COVID-19 and its symptoms. However, it is recommended that the government should provide full support to health care professionals, who are at the front line. &nbsp

Prestige and Nuclear Security of Iran: A Pakistani Perspective

The nuclear program of Iran has been fraught with controversies and it has faced several economic sanctions over the years. These controversies emerged and grew stronger with Iran refusing to provide the international experts access to controversial sites like Natanz where it is assumed that illegal activities relating to uranium enrichment are taking place. Iran assumes an important position in the region. However, it shares ideological and political differences with its neighboring Sunni majority Arab states. Iran considers United States and Israel as its main adversaries and, historically, there have been several exchanges of threats of war to each other. With these threats it is implied that Iran wants to develop nuclear weapons for; firstly, to have hegemonic position in the region; secondly, to make the threat to US and Israel more credible; and lastly, to have a greater say in the world affairs. Iran’s nuclear program has been a source of concern for its regional countries and Pakistan also, being a neighboring country. The relations between them may get complicated; however, the differences between Iran and Pakistan are not huge enough to result in the hot conflict