TEACHING HUMAN RIGHTS IN PAKISTANI SCHOOLS: WHAT ARE THE POTENTIAL BARRIERS?

Education plays an important role in development of any country. Education is considered one of the major contributors for developing success at local, national and global levels. Human Rights Education (HRE) promotes awareness about human rights and a way of information sharing among students, parents and the community at large, to develop skills in people to understand and combat violations of human rights. If children receive a high quality education, embedded with Human Rights concepts and principles, they can become responsible citizens and promote the human rights.Pakistan ranks at the lowest end of human development in the world. In the Human Development Index 2017, Pakistan ranks at 147th position (out of 188 countries). Pakistan is signatory to a number of international human rights Conventions and thus has pledged to protect the rights of citizens. However, recent international and national reports portray the overall human rights situation in the country as inadequate. The teaching of Human Rights is not formally included in Pakistani curricula, and there is lack of research on the subject of Human Rights Education in Pakistan.This paper attempts to explore the place of human rights within the existing policy documents and school curriculum in Pakistan and barriers in teaching human rights concepts in primary schools of Pakistan. The paper will focus on the situation of human rights education with reference to the policy documents and existing curricula of Social Studies and Islamic Studies subjects and a review of textbooks. The study seeks to identify the opportunities and constraints related to teaching of human rights concepts in schools, and possibilities of teaching human rights concepts in Pakistani schools. The paper will provide recommendations for improved practices of teaching human rights in schools. The study will provide implications for policy makers and education practitioners and will set the ground for future research. The study will also suggest further research human rights education in Pakistan.&nbsp

Developing teachers’ skills in Thar desert area, Sindh, Pakistan

This paper aims to present AKU-IED’s experiences about working in the Thar Desert Area of Sindh. AKU-IED aimed to develop teachers’ skills and to help them provide quality education to the children of the said underprivileged and remote area of Pakistan

Health action schools Pakistan: Towards school improvement

Health education and promotion is a key determinant of quality education particularly in primary schools in Pakistan. This has been affirmed by an action research project entitled Health Action Schools (HAS) headed by Dr. Tashmin Khamis, based at Aga Khan University Institute for Educational Development (AKU-IED). The HAS project began initially as a three-year (1998-2001) action research project using the Child-to-Child approach in partnership with Save the Children, UK. The objective of the project was to develop prototypes of health-promoting schools in different social and educational contexts in Pakistan. Initially the HAS project was launched in five pilot schools from various social and educational backgrounds in Karachi. The primary focus of the project was upgrading teachers\u27 skills through continuous training and classroom support, which would contribute to improving children\u27s health knowledge and self-esteem. Results of the pilot project show that the HAS project met success in the area of teacher development, and has contributed towards improving children\u27s health knowledge and skills. Following the successful pilot, the HAS project expanded nationally and regionally through outreach and expansion activities. Lessons learned from the HAS project have influenced policy and practice and led to the development of health education curriculum and materials and the establishment of a Child-to-Child resource centre at AKU-IED, which aims to support teachers in providing health education. This poster presentation aims to present the processes and outcomes of the HAS project. The HAS project has contributed remarkably towards schools improvement, and major achievements and challenges of the project will be presented through the findings of the HAS Final Evaluation supported by pictures from schools and training sessions

Teachers’ understandings and practices in teaching human rights concepts in Pakistani schools

University of Technology Sydney. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences.This doctoral thesis explores the opportunities and barriers regarding teaching human rights concepts within three different school systems in Pakistan. The study comprised an in-depth study using a qualitative research approach. It investigated the understandings of teachers and other stakeholders about human rights, their perceptions about the place of human rights within the existing school curriculum and human rights teaching practices through Social Studies and Islamic Studies subjects in a range of schools. The study found that there is gap between policy and practice regarding teaching human rights at the school level and there exist more barriers than opportunities in delivering human rights education at the school level. However, the availability of human rights content in the core policy documents including Pakistan’s constitution, education policy and curriculum and teachers and headteachers’ willingness to teach human rights at the school level offers a way forward to taking this important but neglected area to attention of the policy makers in Pakistan. Based on the findings, recommendations for improved practices of teaching human rights in Pakistani schools are formulated and presented

Top-down synthesis of graphene: A comprehensive review

Graphene research has become an emerging frontier in materials science because of its potential as a versatile material in multiple applications, from electronics, sensors, water treatment, batteries, displays, advanced composites, and coatings to biomedical applications. While the community has witnessed tremendous advances in the laboratory-scale synthesis of graphene, it is crucial to focus on sustainable large-scale graphene production to adopt graphene-based technology at an industrial scale. Several top-down and bottom-up methods have been developed to realize affordable graphene production. However, a low-cost scalable graphene production method with acceptable quality remains a challenge; top-down processes are demonstrating their potential to offer a more straightforward solution. Herein, we present an overview of recent progress in the research and development of top-down graphene synthesis methods and their potential to scale-up graphene production. We cover the effect of different synthesis parameters on the quality control of graphene. In addition, we provide a brief overview of bottom-up methods. Finally, we discuss the existing challenges and future directions in top-down methods for large-scale graphene production