Gender Differentials in the Cost of Primary Education: A Study of Pakistan

The paper examines the differences in the cost of primary education by gender and by province. It shows that the growth in enrolment outstrips the growth in the relevant population cohort, except in Sindh, and that this is faster in the case of girls than boys; that the school construction programme for girls in Sindh, unlike other provinces, outstrips the growth in female teacher employment. This is also seen in the boys’ school in Pakistan. Cost of providing education are a function of the availability of teachers and schools, opportunity cost of employment, urbanisation and female literacy. The growth in both recurring and capital outlays and in output costs per student are higher for girls and boys except in Balochistan. Using a pooled time series and analysis the paper concludes that there is an optimal level for the availability of schools per 1000 population [6.02 and 5.67 respectively for girls and boys in the Punjab and 3.88 for boys in NWFP and Balochistan] and for the number of teachers per 1000 students [7.69 for girls and 3.36 for boys]. It suggests the policy prescription to reallocate resources to employing more teachers for boys for greater cost effectiveness.

Impediments to Social Development in Pakistan

The development of infrastructure and the provision of basic services in Pakistan lie in the public domain. The quality of the built infrastructure and the service offered reflect successive governments’ capability as a channel for public sector funds, their role in overall financial and macro-economic planning and management, and their administrative efficiency in implementation, operations and management—in essence the extent to which they are able to adhere to the principles of good and humane governance. Good governance is generally conceived of as the judicious exercise of economic, political and administrative authority in the public and private spheres to manage a country’s affairs at all levels to improve the quality of life of the people. It is a continuing process where divergent opinions and desires are satisfied through compromise and tolerance in a spirit of cooperative action for the mutual benefit of the larger whole. It has three dimensions: one, the political regime; two, the systems and procedures for exercising authority; and three, the capacity of governments [World Bank (1994); UNDP (1997); OECD (1995); Commission on Global Governance (1995)]. When Pakistan gained political freedom in August 1947, it inherited an economic and social infrastructure unable to meet the demands of the large influx of refugees from India. Five decades later, policies emphasising public investment, subsidised credit and regulated private sector development have generated strong economic growth, but failed to implement successful social development. Over the last 50 years and more Pakistan’s economy, measured through its GDP, has grown by more than 10 times, an average annual growth rate of 5.1 percent. Rapid population growth, estimated to have averaged just under 3 percent annually, has resulted in real per capita increases of only 2.1 percent per year.

Governance, Decentralisation, and Poverty: The Case of Pakistan

Human development and human rights share a common vision and purpose: to secure the freedom, well being and dignity of humanity. Human development is as essential for human rights as the latter is for the former. Historical evidence suggests that the more civilised societies were those that gave a higher priority to both, for example, the Greek, the Roman and the enlightened years of early Islam. The freedom from want is perhaps the one inalienable right of humanity which stands between dignity and indignity and which must be mitigated against by both state and individual.1 For the first time in history mankind adopted these and other human rights when the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted by the United Nations in 1948. Today all but one of the six core covenants and conventions have been ratified by at least 140 countries and state sponsored anti-poverty programmes were initiated globally, most with the help of civil society [UNDP (2000)]. The lessons from history clearly establish that for improving the social endowment of the poor the state and the individual are key players, money is a necessary requirement, good governance is critical to success and the participation of each component of society as a whole ensures sustainability and continued benefits beyond the initial attempts to mitigate the impact of poverty. In other words decentralisation is a key element to improve the lot of the people, particularly the poor and the disenfranchised.

Impediments to Social Development in Pakistan

The development of infrastructure and the provision of basic services in Pakistan lie in the public domain. The quality of the built infrastructure and the service offered reflect successive governments’ capability as a channel for public sector funds, their role in overall financial and macro-economic planning and management, and their administrative efficiency in implementation, operations and management—in essence the extent to which they are able to adhere to the principles of good and humane governance. Good governance is generally conceived of as the judicious exercise of economic, political and administrative authority in the public and private spheres to manage a country’s affairs at all levels to improve the quality of life of the people. It is a continuing process where divergent opinions and desires are satisfied through compromise and tolerance in a spirit of cooperative action for the mutual benefit of the larger whole. It has three dimensions: one, the political regime; two, the systems and procedures for exercising authority; and three, the capacity of governments [World Bank (1994); UNDP (1997); OECD (1995); Commission on Global Governance (1995)]

Gender Differentials in the Cost of Primary Education: A Study of Pakistan

The paper examines the differences in the cost of primary education by gender and by province. It shows that the growth in enrolment outstrips the growth in the relevant population cohort, except in Sindh, and that this is faster in the case of girls than boys; that the school construction programme for girls in Sindh, unlike other provinces, outstrips the growth in female teacher employment. This is also seen in the boys’ school in Pakistan. Cost of providing education are a function of the availability of teachers and schools, opportunity cost of employment, urbanisation and female literacy. The growth in both recurring and capital outlays and in output costs per student are higher for girls and boys except in Balochistan. Using a pooled time series and analysis the paper concludes that there is an optimal level for the availability of schools per 1000 population [6.02 and 5.67 respectively for girls and boys in the Punjab and 3.88 for boys in NWFP and Balochistan] and for the number of teachers per 1000 students [7.69 for girls and 3.36 for boys]. It suggests the policy prescription to reallocate resources to employing more teachers for boys for greater cost effectiveness

Perinatal arterial ischaemic stroke: an update with literature review

Perinatal arterial ischaemic strokes are a major cause of morbidity in the neonatal period and leads to significant neurological morbidity. It is however under recognized as an entity and usually missed till the baby is 3-4 months of age when they first present with hemiplegia. Perinatal arterial ischaemic strokes are not reported from our country and this may be due to the fact that neurodiagnostic modalities were not available until the last few years. Even now this is not available in the smaller cities of our country. In this review we will discuss the common issues related to etiology and pathogenesis in perinatal arterial ischaemic stroke. The management and the prognosis are also reviewed especially discussing the factors that affect the long term prognosis

Global Availability of Cancer Registry Data.

The availability of cancer registries has significantly enhanced cancer research, especially that related to cancer epidemiology, survival, interventions, and outcomes.1 However, by using publicly available sources, we aimed to map the availability and extent of cancer registry data in each country. We also aimed to test the association of registry data with metadata such as country income and national cancer-related policies. Data from 190 countries were collected from the WHO country cancer profiles.2 We sought data on the presence of an operational national cancer control policy, strategy, or action plan and the presence of a cancer registry. If those data were present, we looked for additional details on the cancer registry, including whether the registry was population based or hospital based and, if it was population based, whether there was national or subnational coverage. Complete data from Réunion (French), South Sudan, Guadeloupe (French), Martinique (French), Guyana, Puerto Rico, West Bank, Gaza Strip, and New Caledonia (French) were not available and thus were not included in our analyses. The availability of cancer registry data worldwide was depicted as a choropleth map using eSpatial mapping software

Emotion regulation difficulties and psychopathology among Pakistani adolescents

The main aim of this study was to examine the associations between emotion dysregulation and psychopathology in adolescence. A representative sample of 1500 adolescent students (50% female) aged 12 to 19 years (M = 15.08, SD = 1.44) was recruited from schools and colleges located in the province of district Punjab, Pakistan, using a stratified sampling technique. Structural equation modelling (SEM) was used to test associations between five dimensions of emotion regulation difficulties and five forms of psychopathology by gender (male/female). The model provided an adequate fit to the data among girls and boys. In the model tested among boys, seven positive associations between emotion regulation difficulties and psychopathology variables were found. The model tested with girls included one negative and 13 positive associations between the study variables. Findings can be used for designing universal prevention programs to prevent the development of psychopathology