Answer the question Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 27

Answer the question - Essay Example This can be achieved through integrating technology with other courses in the curriculum or enabling them to apply technological concepts in their day to day living. When we refer to reforms in the curriculum, this should be one of the most important which is necessitated by the changing trends and innovation. The use of modern technology in education is a motivating factor to the students because they can relate to their daily usage of such applications and also promotes performance, efficiency and accuracy in learning. As a result of these reforms there is excellence movements and academic performance of student in school such as increase in number of teachers graduating, establishing minimal competency standards for both teachers and students and trying teacher accountability to standardize test scores. In my opinion, this was a very creative way of engaging the students to use applications in their assignment. This was a great way for a teacher to incorporate technology into the classroom. Not only did they assimilate technology into the assignments, but they also used technology that students are familiar with and enjoy using. I think incor porating technology and other things students use in the modern society will help them feel more involved and engaged in life and motivate them to do

Geography And The Study Of The Environment But Mainly The Scientific Essay - 1

Geography And The Study Of The Environment But Mainly The Scientific Revolution - Essay Example Geography And The Study Of The Environment But Mainly The Scientific Revolution Geography is the branch of science that uses the same elements as the other sciences but in a different way. It uses data by elaborating maps as its tool.. The methodical approach organizes geographical knowledge into different divisions. Study of Geography is as old as human history. It was systematically studied by the ancient Greeks, who also developed a philosophy of geography. Many Greek philosopher made great contribution to the foundation of Geography. The most prominent of them were Thales, Eratosthenes, Aristotle, Strabo, and Ptolemy. The Romans also made contributions to geography by mapping of previously unknown lands. The Arabs also bequeathed in the progress of Geography during the Middle Ages. As stated in beginning intellectual curiosity is the essence of human nature that led to all the achievements mankind. Human beings were involved in pondering over nature since prehistoric period. The real initial recorded achievements were of Greeks. Thales was the first recorded Greek philosopher. He was first person whose mythology was used to explain the nature of the physical world. He introduced geometry and was a prominent astronomer of those days. He was the first man who started the real process of pondering and predicting. Although chronologically mentioning Raphael Sanzio is not correct but it will give us a continuation. Raphael Sanzio, was the great painter and philosopher with whose name Raphaels ‘s School of Athens is famous.

Education policy Essay Example for Free

Education policy Essay Security, quality education, access to healthcare, prospects of a reasonable job on merit and sound economy are the ingredients to be provided by the state to its citizens to run the state and the society smoothly. Growth of successful nations is denoted particularly to the education. There was a time when people believed that higher education should be available to people of all social classes and, obviously, it was freely available to all who wanted it. The fact that it is not, that public education was once available and now it is very hard to access is indicative of deep problems in Pakistan. Encouraging colleges and universities to raise their own resources by charging higher fees has clearly excluded a significant section of students belonging to poor sections of the society. Education in Pakistan is now so expensive that poor can’t even imagine of their children becoming doctors and engineers. Our education system is passing through a very bad phase now and it is regarded as perhaps amongst the poorest in the world. Cream of the Pakistani brain is either becoming idle due to non-availability of ever rising cost of education or going to other countries. UNITED NATIONS HUMAN RIGHTS Article 1 provides; every child has the right to have equal access to an education, irrespective of their color, creed, nationality, ethnicity, or social and financial status, so they may obtain gainful employment and contribute to the growth of their society, being born free and equal in dignity and rights. Life for a common man in Pakistan in this so called â€Å"democratic† regime has already become difficult owing to the all-round price rise across the country. Inflation, combined with policies of privatization, has caused a complete deterioration in living standards of the people. Frankly speaking, there is no such thing as democracy in Pakistan. This type of â€Å"democracy† has often left the common man in constant struggle for survival. Majority of Pakistanis are living in poverty and unsustainable economic conditions; when they are struggling for their livelihood education loses its utility in their eyes and it becomes far from their desire. But for the riches and powerful corrupt politicians, things are very rosy. Pakistan is suffering terribly for that, with socio-political and economic crises strewn all over the society like a straw hut in a typhoon. Lack of good education and unemployment in Pakistan would contribute many social ills, including crime, prostitution, and the break down in law and order. In Pakistan, providing education to the masses had always been state responsibility. Now there has been a major push for the private provision of educational services. Moreover, corrupt politicians, feudalism, injustice are such problems which have further pressed the most pressed people of the country. Education is a tremendous tool for social change as well as an opportunity out of poverty traps. People trapped in the lower classes have trouble climbing out of it because they lack the tools to do so, because they live in a feudal society that actively works to keep them there, and education can be a form of escape hatch. But Education System in Pakistan In Human development Report Pakistan is placed at 136th position for having just 49. 9% educated population. In addition to that, Pakistan is ranked at 113th out of 120 registered UN members according to the research conducted by UNESCO et. all. Some of the very basic flaws of the education system in Pakistan contribute to the economic, ethnic and sociopolitical crisis within the country. Flaws of Education System in Pakistan Firstly, the education system of Pakistan is based on unequal lines. Medium of education is different in both, public and private sector. This create a sort of disparity among people, dividing them into two segments. Such a distraught infrastructure is a basic cause of high illiteracy rate in Pakistan and high drop out rates in rural areas and public school. Secondly, regional disparity is also a major cause. The schools in Balochistan (the largest province of Pakistan by Area) are not that much groomed as that of Punjab (the largest province Of Pakistan by Population). In FATA, the literacy rate is deplorable constituting 29. 5% in males and 3% in females. The third major cause of flawed education system in Pakistan is gender discrimination. The current primary school ratio of boys and girls is 10:4, which is a cause of huge concern. For the last few years there has been an increase in the growth of private schools. It is believed that Pakistan is among the most prominent states affected by gender discrimination. That not only harms the quality of education in Pakistan but create a gap among haves and have nots. Fourthly, the lack of technical education is a biggest flaw in the education policy that has never been focused before. Therefore, less technical people means low standard of education. Fifthly, the allocation of funds for education are very low. It is only 1. 5 to 2. 0 percent of the total GDP. It should be around 7% of the total GDP. At that budget allocation, the illiteracy rate in Pakistan would not decrease but rather increase. The federal and provincial governments need to cut down their expenditures in other areas and spend a bigger proportion of income on education. Moreover, the quality of education in most of the public schools and colleges is well below par; the teachers in government schools are not well trained. People who do not get job in any other sector, they try their luck in educational system. They are not professionally trained teachers so they are unable to train a nation. Quality of teaching needs special attention in rural areas where the teachers lack in all departments. In America, Europe and most of the developed countries, the emphasis of the states is on developing virtual education systems i. e. provision of education through online networks. The idea of online education is gathering momentum and many online institutions have been set up which offer online courses and online degrees. The Higher Education Commission and Education ministry need to focus on developing a strong online education network so that students through out the country can benefit. Universities such as Harvard, Berkley and MIT are offering online courses and degrees. It reflects the importance of online education in todays modern high tech world. Finally, Poverty is also another factor that restrict the parents to send their children to public or private schools. So, they prefer to send their children to Madrassas where education is totally free. The government has to make changes to financial infrastructure to improve the situation. Bank loans for education purposes should not be interest based as it discourages the people of Pakistan to acquire loans. Education loans are offered at low rates through out the world and it enable people to acquire quality education. Social awareness regarding all these issues need to be spread and we, the people of Pakistan have to work hand in hand with the government authorities to improve the current system. Our children should not be deprived of their basic right to acquire knowledge. All these issues contribute to high illiteracy rate, which in turn result in economic crisis in shape of high unemployment rate and below-par quality of labor. Moreover, the country suffers on social, political and technological front! There are hundred other problems which need attention but the core-issues need to be addressed as soon as possible. You can read my article Pakistans Educational System which is an overview of the education infra-structure within the country. In todays world, the benchmark for excellence is education. Moreover, if a country has a distraught academic infrastructure, the chances to survive in current competitive world are petite. The illiteracy rate in Pakistan is alarmingly high which calls for critical attention. The federal and provincial governments need to work together towards elimination of flaws of education system in Pakistan. The first time I thought about education and its significance to this society was when I went on a field trip to a school set up by an NGO in the late 1990s. It is now a rightly famous NGO but back then during my sixth grade field trip it just seemed like a project of a group of cranky Karachi businessmen who had decided to spit against the wind of the government’s non-interest in providing education to its people. These rich grouches had  gotten together in the chaos of 1995 Karachi and seeing the government more interested in massacring hard-boiled militants than provide social services, they decided to simply pool their own money and build their own schools. How benevolent of them. I would love to see these rich men’s tax receipts. The citizens of a country shouldn’t be dependent on the benevolent charity of rich men. Through their own democratic political process, citizens must enforce upon their richest members the income taxes necessary to fund an education system that reaches every child in the state. The fact that Pakistanis have not done so points towards the weakness of their political system in dealing with its population’s educational needs. There is no real shortcut from the state actually enforcing a tax system that extracts the adequate revenue needed to fund the creation of a school near every human settlement in Pakistan. The goal I have described of having a school near every human settlement in Pakistan, is what Pakistan is obligated to do under its current international treaties and the simplest and most straightforward way it can be done. It is certainly not impossible. Pakistan has managed to make sure that no human settlement lacks a mosque. The same needs to be done for schools. Where we went wrong Nationalisation of schools, as was done by the Z. A. Bhutto administration, was a shortcut that cannot be used, and was actually instrumental in ruining government schools. The provincial governments that ran education departments became overstretched then to the point of breaking. The schools that were nationalised saw the prospect of future capital and human investment in them pointless, as the former owners were now dispossessed of their old stake in the schools. Good teachers left, rather than become government employees to be posted in far flung places, and the lack of good teacher training colleges, a necessity unacknowledged up until recently, saw little competent replacement. By nationalising the missionary (Christian), faith-based (Muslim) and private schools, an unwieldy, unplanned expansion of Pakistan’s school system reduced the status of government school teachers to the corrupted, incompetent, ineffective place it finds itself in today. Teachers do not come to classes, and if they do, they are ill-prepared to teach. It becomes difficult to weed out and penalise underperforming teachers because their status as government employees prevents them from being penalised as they would be in the private sector. As much as this rhetoric may sound similar to the United States, Pakistan’s teachers’ unions continue to shelter wildly incompetent teachers, who beyond being simply bad at teaching, many times do not even show up. Anti-participatory environment We are not helped either by large class sizes, low teacher to student ratios, non-production of teachers in a sufficient quantity and quality by the low number of Pakistani teacher-training colleges. Central to this remains the criminally low expenditure on education by Pakistan, and the failure to collect or divert enough revenue to the education sector. Taking the education emergency of Pakistan seriously would mean finding means to increase the amounts spent on education in Pakistan, on a war footing. Students cannot themselves push for an effective learning environment. Despite the fact that some students actually do want to learn, the environment that exists in classrooms, does not brook dissent. This discourages students from bringing up flaws in their educational setting. This anti-participatory environment in classrooms is facilitated by excessively large class sizes, which discourages teachers from having more individualised interactions with students. This anti-participatory trend in classrooms is complemented by an anti-democratic trend in schools, where no voting is done to elect new prefects or monitors, rather the relevant students are appointed by the school administration. Giving students an opportunity to actually vote for their school leaders might inculcate democratic and participatory values in them at an earlier age, and teach them the responsibility of making their own decisions. If and when these students reach Pakistani universities, they can adequately recognise the entrenched authoritarianism accumulated in many of Pakistan’s universities over the last three decades. Student politics This persistent anti-democratic trend within Pakistan’s educational establishments has reinforced the low academic quality of these institutions. There is little legitimate input from the student bodies on how their education is conducted. Since the 1980s student union elections have been either banned or delayed, witnessing unrest in a violent country like Pakistan ripple into campuses as violence, as opposed to measured  debate. The situation turned chaotic in the 1990s when the general mayhem of the city of Karachi coincided with violence on the Karachi University campus. The presence of such violence made the students of that decade disinterested in participatory politics. This suited the authoritarian and bureaucratic administrations of varsities, as well as the sclerotic, unelected leadership of Pakistan’s political parties. They did not mind that the students of Pakistan slid into political apathy. However, the importance of student politics was re-kindled in the 2007 lawyer-led movement against the dictatorship of General Musharraf. The importance of student politics was even acknowledged by the government that won against Musharraf in 2008, when it lifted the ban on student and trade union elections. However, the twist in the tale has been the glaring domestic democratic deficit of this government. The anti-participatory atmosphere on campuses has not lifted as no memorable student elections have been held. Neither have any well-publicised trade union elections been held. And most significantly, no internal party elections have been held in any party that maintains a decisive number of seats in parliament. What the lack of student democracy has to do with Pakistan’s state of education is that there is no feedback from students, who are the objects of education. There is no diminishment in the cruel authoritarian atmosphere of Pakistani government classrooms, where teachers, in negligent enough environments can still use sticks to punish students. I never really thought about education in society as a child. That would have been expected of any 11 year old. But when I visited a third grade NGO school classroom in the late ’90s and saw another 11 year old struggling with phrases I would read just for fun, it hit me how serious the problem of illiteracy was for Pakistani society. In a misbegotten decade as that one, beyond the Gordian knot we had witnessed of Karachi’s bloody politics, the reality of children’s mis-education struck me as a crueler fate, a dire issue that had to be resolved immediately. That’s because these ill-educated children would not remain children much longer. They would soon be badly-educated adults. And if this cruel act of omission by Pakistani society was not amended quick enough, then one more generation would see their adulthoods wasting away under the 21st century curse of illiteracy. Tax the rich, teach the kids. We have an education emergency on our hands. The Education System of Pakistan is divided into five levels 1. Primary level (Class 1 to 5) 2. Middle level (Class 5 to 8th) 3. Secondary level (S. S. C) 4. Intermediate level (H. S. C) 5. University level (Graduation, Masters and Research) Another division of Education System in Pakistan according to the School System 1. 1.  Public Schools or Government Schools These schools are managed and financed by the government. Unfortunately, the majority of the schools are in poor condition.  » There is no any merit system; teachers and other staff are appointed by the ministers on their own wishes.  » There is no any accountability; a large number of GHOST SCHOOLS AND GHOST TEACHERS are listed in the documents. They are receiving funds and pays, but, in reality they did not exists.  » In Rural areas, the buildings of public schools are mostly held by Waderas and Feudal. They use them as marriage halls, otaks, bethaks etc. â€Å"Public schools are the nurseries of all vice and immorality. † (Henry Fielding) 1. 2. Elite Class Schools (private schools) Due to badly failure of government in providing the Education, the Elite Class Education System in Pakistan got successes very quickly. Today, even poor prefer to send their child in these private schools but because of high fee structure many aspirants are unable to part this Education System. It is generally accepted that, the standard of Elite Class Education System is more reliable and first-rate than Public Schools and Madarsas. There is accountability, transparency and checking system. Generally, the students of private schools are more competent than those of public schools and Madarsas. The government should take lessons from this Education System. These are successive models for the government i. e. CITY SCHOOL, BEACON SCHOOLS, PAK-TURK SCHOOLS etc. 1. 3. Madarsas Madarsas are the largest NGOs of the world. Today in Pakistan about 8000 Madarsas are working. They provide not only Education but also accommodation and food. They provide Islamic as well as worldlyEducation. Mostly, poor parents who are unable to educate their child prefer this Education System. The government should introduce the reforms for the Madarsas and improve their standard. This will be helpful in two ways. Firstly, it will provide free of cost education to poor child. Secondly, it will lessen the burden the government. Before the 18th Amendment, the EducationSystem in Pakistan was the responsibility of Federal Government. The Ministry of Education at Federal level was responsible for formulating Policies, Planning and Promotion of Educational facilities across the country. But, after the passing of 18th Amendment, the responsibilities of Education System are divided among the Federation and the Provinces. The responsibilities of the Provinces 1. To set the Curriculum 2. To set the Syllabus 3. Standards of Education up to Grade 12 (F. Sc, H. S. C, I. Com, etc). 4. Islamic Education The responsibilities of Federation are following 1. Planning and Policy 2. External Affairs; Signing, implementation and monitoring of Bilateral and Multi-lateral Educational Agreements, Pacts, Protocols, MoUs 3. Controlling of Libraries, museums, and similar institutions 4. Federal agencies i. e. FATA 5. Special Studies 6. Inter-provincial matters and co-ordination. † 7. Legal, medical and other professions. 8. National planning and national economic coordination including planning and coordination of scientific and technological research. 9. National Education Policy and clear cut Domain over the following acts. 1. 1. Centres of Excellence Act 1974 2. Area Study Centres Act 1975 3. Pakistan Study Centres Act 1976 4. National Book Foundation Act 1972 5. Fed. Board of Intermediate Sec Education Act 1975 6. Federal Directorate of Education Isb. [Article 142 (d)] 7. Federal Supervision of Curricula, Textbooks and Standards of Education Act 1976 8. National Education Foundation Ordinance 2002. Source: http://www. defence. pk/forums/national-political-issues/125588-education-system-pakistan-good-bad. html#ixzz2PKkMjbtM Flaws hovering over Pakistan’s education system Filed under ISSUES 0 According to the reports of Human development our country is placed at 136th with just 49. 9 percent educated population. There is lack of uniform education system. Private and Govt. educational institutions has different syllabus. The flaws in education system lead to sociopolitical, economic and ethical issues in our society. Our education system is based on uneven lines. Even the medium of education is different in private and public educational institutions. This inequality has divided people among two segments. Such a distressed educational infrastructure is a crucial cause of increasing rate of illiteracy in Pakistan. The regional discrepancy is also main reason illiteracy in Pakistan. The schools in largest province of Pakistan Baluchistan are not establish and sparked as schools in Punjab. There is lack of awareness among people about the significance of education. In FATA the literacy rate is very poor constituting 29. 5% in men and 3% in women. The gender discrimination is also one of the major causes of educational flaws in country which is projecting the boys and girls primary schools ratio 10:4 correspondingly. In the last few years many new primacy schools for girls and boys are established but still there is need to establish more and more primary schools to meet the educational needs of increasing population. In the last decade the growth of private sector schools is tremendously increased. The private schools trend not just harms the quality of education but also created a huge gap between rich and poor. The people of lower class couldn’t afford the fees of private educational schools and colleges. In public schools there is lack of quality education. There is also shortage of required facilities like qualified, train staff, furniture and school buildings etc. Our educational policy doesn’t focus on technical education. There are very few technical institutions and less technical trained people in country. The funds allocated for the education are not sufficient the funds are just about 1. 5 % to 2. 0% of total GDP. Although to promote the education the funds must be about 7 percent of total country GDP. With increased education budget the literacy rate in country will surely increased. The provincial and federal Government both need spend a larger portion of their income on promoting education. Author: Rizwan Ghani Posted On: Tuesday, August 02, 2011 Source/Reference: www. pakobserver. net Total Views :1320| After 18th Amendment, improvement of education in Pakistan to international standards can be done with help of international frameworks including Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) and boards like National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME). Federal and provincial governments have to address the issue of teaching language (English, Urdu or regional languages), standardization of curriculum, and dealing with two-track education system- Urdu and English medium to take local and international exams. These tested frameworks can bring the progress of decades in Pakistan while saving billions of dollars. Thus, Pakistan needs to adopt appropriate policies to raise education standards, sustain economy and earn foreign exchange. The political, social and education complexities of teaching language can be controlled with help of international frameworks. PISA does not require the member states to change curriculums, teaching languages and teaching methodologies. It allows governments to periodically monitor outcomes of national education systems within internationally agreed framework. It provides a basis for international collaboration in defining and implementing educational goals and skills that are relevant to adult life (professional and social). PISA reading, mathematics and general science frameworks help bring national education at par with international standards. Around half a million 15-year-olds from 75 countries representing 28 million students, participated in PISA 2009 assessments and surveys. Pakistan can use PISA to improving national education standards in all provincial languages (www. pisa. oecd. org). Teaching in local languages can improve Pakistan’s education standards internationally. According to the 2011 Writing Framework for National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) of America, good writing instruction empowers students to acquire new knowledge and to develop critical thinking skills. This is true of writing in all subject areas, not just English language http //www. state. nj. us/education/assessment/naep/results/writing/2011naep. PISA and NAEP framework rubrics allow student evaluations irrespective of language. Learning and teaching in mother tongue is a universal human right recognized by UN. China, was a top scorers in 2009 PISA testing http //www. nytimes. com/2010/12/07/education/07education. html. It shows education in mother tongue does not affect nation’s international competitiveness and national education standards. Since education is a provincial subject, therefore provinces should be free to impart education in local languages, make English and Urdu as optional languages. Provinces can issue degrees with pass/fail with English/Urdu or both to free the country from politics of language. It will allow students to continue higher education without passing compulsory languages, which is a major contributor to school and college dropouts. It will allow the students to join job market who do not wish to continue with further education. The employer can omit or consider language(s) pass/fail status of candidate at the time of employment. On the other hand, the higher education institutions can keep compulsory languages as part of admission criteria. In line with many American universities, a six months period can be given to first year university students to clear compulsory languages. In terms of syllabus, international frameworks and boards can help Pakistan’s policy makers develop required syllabuses, fulfill demands of local market, and meet national education objectives to bring national and international education at par. They allow improving exam testing and incorporating modern technology in reading and writing. In addition, they facilitate linking of national boards to international boards like NBME (www. nbme. org). NBME model allows state medical qualified doctors to take national level exams, upgrade national education and examination standards and link them to rest of the world. It allows tens of thousands of international medical graduates to take United States Medical Licensing Exam without actually studying in American medical colleges. It is equally true for British, Australian and New Zealand medical boards. This model can help cut cost of professional education and fight poverty in Pakistan. Based on these frameworks and models, federal and provincial governments of Pakistan should collaborate to standardize local education and bring it equal to international standards. Islamabad should hold annual summits with China and western countries in line with reports of annual Indo-US higher education summits planning collaboration of universities in both countries. In addition, Pakistan needs to allow private publishers to print books according to the contents of given courses. It will improve concepts of students, standard of books and education. The existing control of federal government on higher education needs to be changed by allowing provinces complete control of universities, scholarships, hiring, training etc. Federal government needs to become a regulatory body instead of controlling authority and facilitates provinces to standardize higher education, provincial education and bring it equal to international levels. Federal education setup should work with ministry of labor and manpower to identify and develop human resource for interprovincial and overseas market, work with foreign missions to issue annual forecast of overseas jobs and train foreign workers and students. Pakistan needs to organize education to cater to local and international needs, attract foreign investors and earn foreign revenue. Reportedly, America and Britain earned $31bn and ? 8 bn in 2010 from foreign students respectively. China is charging $5333 boarding lodging fee annually for a five-year MBBS and one-year internship. It is also offering seven-year specialization degree programs (5 years MBBS and 2 years specialization) in most medical fields. Beijing has gained international recognition through standardized tuition fees, transparency, qualified staff and allowing foreign students and teachers in local universities (http //www.4icu. org/cn/). The Chinese model can help Pakistan cut prices of professional education by 50 percent and train surplus number of local and foreign students to sustain domestic and international needs. In line with China, Pakistan should also take necessary steps to attract flocks of foreign students, interns and investors. Finally, a debate is going on in China on two-track system- one for national college entrance exam (the gaokao) and other for international exams. Imran Khan’s PTI is deliberating about single education system. Pakistan can overcome challenge of teaching language, two-track system (English and Urdu medium) and bringing local education at par with international with help of international frameworks, NBME and more freedom to provinces. | Pakistans Education System and Links to Extremism Author: Jayshree Bajoria October 7, 2009 * Introduction * A Dysfunctional System * Government Reform Plans * The Madrassa Myth? * Reforming Madrassas * U. S. Policy Implications. Pakistans poor education system has increasingly become a matter of international concern. Lack of access to quality education, which in turn limits economic opportunity, makes young Pakistanis targets for extremist groups, some experts say. The World Bank says nearly half the adult population of Pakistan cant read, and net primary enrollment rates remain thelowest in South Asia. Experts say the system suffers from inadequate government investment, corruption, lack of institutional capacity, and a poor curriculum that often incites intolerance. In August 2009, chief counterterrorism adviser to the White House John Brennan, summing up a concern held by many U. S. terrorism experts, said extremist groups in Pakistan have exploited this weakness. It is why they offer free education to impoverished Pakistani children, where they can recruit and indoctrinate the next generation, he said. There have been some efforts by the Pakistani government, Western governments, and the World Bank to reform the system, but serious challenges remain. A Dysfunctional System According to the Pakistani governments National Education Policy 2009 (PDF), three parallel streams in educationpublic schools, private schools, and Islamic religious schools, or madrassashave created unequal opportunities for students. Of the total number of students going to primary school (grades 1 to 5), 73 percent go to public or government schools, 26 percent to private schools, and less than 1 percent to madrassas, according to the Karachi-based policy research institute Social Policy and Development Center. Within the public and the private sector, there are elite schools catering to a small minority of students. The majority of students attend low-quality private and public schools with poor curriculum, limited teaching materials, and inadequate number of properly trained teachers, or in many cases absent teachers. [N]o Pakistani leader has had the courage to implement serious [education] reforms- Pervez Hoodbhoy The government-mandated curriculum is a major concern for Western observers who say it encourages intolerance and a narrow worldview. Except in some elite private schools, which do not follow the government-prescribed curriculum, all public schools and registered private schools have been required to teach Islamiyat, or Islamic studies, for nearly thirty years. In addition to Islamiyat, many scholars have noted that the government curriculum uses Islam for a wide array of controversial ideological objectives, writes C. Christine Fair in the 2008 book The Madrassah Challenge. A 2003 report on the state of curriculum and textbooks by the Islamabad-based independent Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) said that for over two decades.

The Company Background And History Of Coca Cola Marketing Essay

The Company Background And History Of Coca Cola Marketing Essay The Coca-Cola Company is established in 1886 by the pharmacist Dr. John Pemberton in Atlanta, in the beginning it was sold as a medicine. The Company registered its trade mark in March 27, 1944. Nowadays it is spread in more than 200 countries with over 500 brands and 3,300 beverage products. These products include sparkling beverages and still beverages, such as waters, juice drinks, teas, coffees, sports drinks and energy drinks. The top five NARTD (non alcoholic ready to drink) are: Coca-Cola, Diet Coke, Sprite and Fanta. The number of employees worldwide is 92,400 and headquarter is in Atlanta. The Coca-Cola Company is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol KO. The Coca-Cola system operates on a local scale in every country where they do business. It does not own or control most of its bottling partners, its compromises the company and the bottling partners. The Company has more than 300 bottlers worldwide. Coca-Cola manufactures and sells concentrates, bev erage bases and syrups through its concentrate plant to bottlers; it does own the brands and is responsible for brand marketing initiatives. The bottling Companies manufacture, package, merchandise and distribute the finished branded beverages to Coca-Cola customers and vending partners, who then sell the products to the consumers.1 This was an overview on the Global Coca-Cola Company. Lets look to Coca-Cola Egypt as the paper is studying the company in Egypt. Coca-Cola exists since 1942 and has two bottlers TCCBCE and El Nile Beverage Company. The bottling operation ownership for The Coca-Cola Bottling Company (TCCBCE) is: 51% TCCBCE and 49% Coca-Cola Company as for El Nile its 100% owned by El Nile. The entire system has 11,494 full time employees. 1-coca-cola annual report The Strategic business units that the company operates in Egypt are carbonated soft drinks, energy drinks and mineral water. The company recorded revenues of $78,526 million during the financial year ended December 2009 with an increase of 15% compared to 2008. The increase of 12% in revenues was coming from CSD (carbonated soft drinks) segment and 3% from the Mineral water segment. However there is a decrease in the CSD growth rate by 3% in 2009 which was 15.6% (FY 07-08) versus 12% (FY 08-09) the decrease is due to change in the consumer life style became healthier conscious. Egypt juice Industry analysis The non carbonated soft drinks are considerate to have a huge potential within the juice sector. Egypt juice industry is a lucrative market with a value of $/$216mm, it is growing from 11-22% over the last eight years. The industry sales are 44 mm unit cases in 2009. The juice segment expected to grow at 11% Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) in 2012 while the Carbonated Soft Drinks (CSD) segment is expected to grow at 4.7% Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) in 2012. Based on retail audits done by the AC Nielsen and Protrac studying the Egyptian beverage market the result shows that the consumer life style is changing and became healthier conscious and they are shifting to the drinks that are healthier. The CSD market is shrinking and other markets are developing. Juice is a lucrative product category that has been growing consistently over the past 8 years. The juice industry depends on farms that cultivate fruits. The different juice type: Fruit-Flavored Drink is a 100% concentrate, Juice Drinks it contain up to 24% Juice, Nectar contains 25% up to 99% juice and product called 100% juice is a product of 100% juice. PESTEL Analysis for Juice in Egyptian market PESTEL analysis is a business measurement tool that helps to understand the external surroundings and market as such the position, potential and direction for a business. PESTEL stands for Political factors e.g. changes in government policies, Economic factors relate to changes in the wider economy such as rises in living standards or the general level of demand, Social factors explain the buying patterns and buying attitude, Technologic factors is the changes in innovation potential, Environmental factors include the weather and climate change and Legal factors major legal changes that have affected firms where they operate. All these factors are used to assess the market. Political factor Egypts political condition is secure and a completely democratic republic is projected within the near future. Egypt was ruled by many countries before establishing freedom and today it is run by a multi-party semi-presidential system where the supervisory power is separated between the president and the prime minister, although in practice the president tends to hold a larger share of the power. Egypts political system presently receives much needed financial support from the US which is helping to develop the country into a new era of optimism. Egypt increased inward investment, creating a rich investment atmosphere. Economic factor The economic environment in Egypt is ready for investment. Egypts economic freedom score is 59.0, making its economy the 94th freest in the 2010 Index. 3.2% increase in gross domestic product (GDP) Per capita to reach $2,161. Per capita consumption of non alcoholic ready to drink (NARTD) will increase by 30% reaching in 2020. Growth is highly driven by stills (juices and water). Juice is the fastest growing category with Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) increase of 11 % driving growth of non alcoholic ready to drink NARTD. Social factor Key factors behind the forecast increase of juice market in Egypt is the new consumer lifestyle preferences for healthier drinks and scare of obesity which resulted a slowing growth rates for sales of carbonated soft drinks (CSD) market. Despite the fact the carbonated soft drinks (CSD) market has remained profitable. One of the main characteristic of Egyptian life style is the importance of family and friendships. Egyptians are enormously socials and one of the importances of their life style is the relaxation time which they spend with friends or families at home, cafà © or restaurants. An important part of Egyptian residents is the eating behavior. The last five years the coffee shops spread very fast in daily life especially in young adults and teen generation. The consumption of juice is correlated to person age. Population is 81 Million out of which 50% are under 20 years. 50% of the population is the prospective juice target (kids and teenagers) because 64% of ready to drink juice volumes comes from 8-29 yr olds skewed towards 8-11 yrs old. Technology factor The juice industry benefits of a huge technology. Its for the sake of both business and the consumer when new technologies guide to better quality products. The industry depends on the quality of fruits that are growing in the country. Juice makers divided their production into two different forms pasteurized and raw juice. Technology helps to retain the properties of fruit the same as its original taste. Juice shelf life is small due to defect that can happen based on environmental climate. To extend the shelf life, juice is pasteurized on the same method as milk which for decades can be considered a middle ground between raw and ultra-pasteurized. The flavor of milk is affected by pasteurization much more strongly than fruit juices tend to be. Ecological factors Juice Industry is depending on agriculture and fruit growth wherever it spread. It is necessary to realize that fruit growing relies on agricultural land, water and suitable climate. Fertilizers used in agriculture can be a source of environmental pollution. Major change in climate occurring due to global warming can impact the farming industry. This leads to a need of integration of farmers into an agro environmental program that needs a support and keeping production procedures in accordance with environmental protection and sustainability of natural process. Legal factors Legal issues involve laws in juice production regulated by Egyptian government which prohibits use of returnable glass bottles. Such regulation negatively affects juice industry as returnable glass bottles are more profitable. Porter five forces model for juice sector Porters Five Forces Model was developed by Michael E. Porter in his book Competitive Strategy: Techniques for Analyzing Industries and Competitors in 1980. The famous book he wrote in his thirties became an international best seller, published in nineteen languages and re-printed approaching sixty times. Since that time Porters Model became an important tool help for analyzing an organizations industry structure in strategic processes. Porter has identified five competitive forces that shape every industry and every market. These forces determine the intensity of competition and hence the profitability and attractiveness of an industry and answer the question of What are the key factors that can determine a business success? The five forces are described as follows: Threat of new entrants Bargaining power of customers Competitive rivalry within the industry Bargaining power of suppliers Threat of substitutes Recklies Management Project GmbH www.themanager.org (figure 1) Bargaining Power of Customers Threat of New Entrants Threat of Substitutes Competitive Rivalry between Existing firms In combination with a PESTEL-Analysis, which reveals drivers for change in an industry, Five Forces Analysis can reveal insights about the potential future attractiveness of the industry. Porters Model is useful tools to determine potential changes of competitive forces. Bargaining power of suppliers Bargaining power of suppliers is described by how much power suppliers have on you in a specific industry or market. A business or a producing industry requires inputs to give a final product such as raw materials, labor, component and other supplies. This lead to a relationship between buyer and supplier provide raw materials used in the production. Supplier is called powerful when he has influence on the producing industry. Lets focus on suppliers in Egyptian juice industry and how much they have power influencing the production of the final juice product. Juice industry depends on many suppliers; sugar, material required in packaging, preservative, flavor and a key player in juice industry is the juice concentrate supplier. Juice supply chain starts form farm that depend on fruit seasonality. The crop of any fruit varies from time to time in quantity and quality based on climate changes and natural crises. This is the main reasons that change in juice concentrate availability pric e and quality. Juice concentrate suppliers are divided in three categories. Suppliers that produce concentrate and use them in the production of final juice product, others that produce concentrate and use part of their production to make a final juice product and sell the rest and suppliers that sell all their production of juice concentrate. Its worth to mention that a big part of the juice concentrate is exported outside Egypt to other countries and one of the main countries who import from Egypt are the Gulf countries. Therefore the supplier power is considerate high because the market is dominated by a few large suppliers rather than fragmented source of supply, supplier customer are fragmented, there is a possibility for supplier to increase concentrate juice prices and there is no substitute to the juice concentrate. To reduce supplier power in juice industry it is important to know what is the influence of outside factors to be taken in consideration to find a place in the m arket. Juice producers make a partnership with suppliers that produce juice concentrate to reduce the power of suppliers. Bargaining power of customers Bargaining power of customers is how much negotiation power the customers have and how much power he has over you in a specific industry or market, meaning how much customer can impose pressure in margin and volume. When buyer has a strong economic power the relationship to the producing industry is near to what economist call monopsony, a market where there is many suppliers and one buyer. In such case your ability to capture a high proportion of the value created will decrease, and you will earn lower profit. Having a few large buyers will have a significant leverage to negotiate price and others terms because you will be afraid losing an important buyer and volume which puts you in a weak position. Buyers have also power on you if they can produce the product themselves and they can play suppliers against each others. However there is a few large buyers and they buy in a large quantities. Meanwhile there are many small buyers that you have greater control over them because they buy a small portion of your sales. Bargaining power of consumer in the juice industry, there are three type of buyer which is the direct consumer, the retail outlets and the wholesalers. 75% of direct consumers for juice freshly prepare juice at home or they buy it from a plain juice shops. In this situation the main competition of those buyers is any plain juice shops or fresh fruit that can substitute the juice product. The juice producer can reduce this bargaining by offering a differentiated product and create loyalty to the brand that offers higher value as the juice freshly prepared its shelf life is limited. The Wholesalers are few in number therefore their bargaining power of consumer is significant due to the number of juice product that they do have on the retails shelf and how do they present the product to the consumer. The retails outlets are many in numbers and they do have a big number of products however the bargaining power of wholesalers and retail outlets are not significant if the consumers are loyal to the brand. Generally the juice industry in Egypt, buyers has more power than the entrepreneurs due to the fact that consumer have different option to entertainment, number of retail outlets that have a several product on self. Therefore the differentiation, creating value to the product and loyalty to the brand is very important. Threat of a new entrant Threat of a new entrant is how easy a competitor can enter into your industry or market? New competitors determents changes in the market environment in terms of gain market shares, pressure to reduce the prices which have an impact on profit and impact on customer loyalty at any time. In term of reaction and adjustment the existing players have a pressure on them. Threat of new entrant depends on barrier to enter industry or market and how the existing player will react with a new competitor. New entrant barrier is economies of scale, the experience that the existing players have which lead to cost advantage, high fixed assets cost and strong distribution channel of existing players. The existing of these barriers protects the existing player from the threat of new entrant. In addition the existent players can react by reducing price or forming a partnership to reduce the threat of a new entrant. Threat of new entrant is considerate in Egyptian juice industry due to high capital cost and knowledge required. Based on this usually the threat of new entrant is higher for the companies that are involved in manufacturing then service. Its not always negative that you do have a competition close to you. Some industry encourage a new entrant specially if they do have already experience in a similar field and they do have a big part of their capital already established such as the factory which just need the production line and having their own distribution channel. Threat of a substitutes products Threat of substitutes products, we give term substitutes to a product that a buyer can replace a business product with another one. What products your buyer can replace your product with? It exists when a buyer can replace your product with another product for the same purpose with a lower price. In such case they can attract a significant proportion of the market and have impact on sales and volume of the existing players. The substitutes product also applies on complementary product. The main factors that can affect substitutes product are customer shift to another similar product based on lower price because your product doesnt give different value from the competitors one and customer have a little loyalty to your product therefore, the threat of substitute is considerable. A substitute threat can be reduced by differentiating your product than the other existing in market and create loyalty to the brand through marketing initiative (TV, radio, outdoors advertisingetc). Following the new live styles trend, consumers became healthier conscious make the threat of substitutes products low in juice industry. The consumption of carbonated soft drinks decreased. The substitute product in this industry can be a healthy product such as fruit juice drink, fruit flavored drink, powdered fruit drinks can substitute the juice concentrate drink and it can also be substituted by milk , fruit base yogurt and mineral or bottled water. Variety of substitutes products are available at the market consumer have an open choices which they can choose whatever suits their needs. However they are not real substitutes products because juice is drunk in different time and occasions. Rivalry between existing firms Rivalry is the competition between existing firms in an industry. In certain industry the rivalry is high and has an impact on profit as you cannot set your own price and it can make the profit to zero. This force might be the most important in Poters five forces as it describe the intensity between existing players. The rivalry is called high when the competitors on a same industry have similar products with no differentiation and they compete in term of price. The market players are same in mass with comparable strategies. Having high barrier to exit the market and when the market is increasing slowly or shrinking this makes the rivalry a considerable force. To decrease the rivalry between existing players you should avoid price competition, differentiate your product and strategies, focus on a different sector and avoid high capacity production. The Egyptian juice market is a fragmented market with many players. Four companies have 50% of the market the rest are less than 5% each. The market is not only splited between the players in terms of market share but also shrinked by products. This means that there is a good chance to enter the market. However, PepsiCo the major competitive to Coca-Cola is preparing new juice launch during the current year. PepsiCo made a joint venture with Almarai Company (extremely successful dairy foods company in the Middle East) and have acquired Beyti well known brand name in Egypt. It produces a variety of high-quality dairy and juice. They are big in size with a very strong distribution channel however the consumer has a law loyalty to specific brand. This situation will make rivalry in the near future. Egypt juice market analysis Lets go more deep and look into the market analysis to be able to determine the juice market sucess . The goal is to be able to find out the market attractivness and understand more about the opportunity and threats of the sector. Key success factors Key success factors depend on two questions which need to be analyzed What does the consumer want? (Here we need to analyze the market) How to face the competition? (Competition analysis) In Egypt juice sector to make a success from the consumer point: Egyptians doesnt make a great difference between artificial distilled fruit beverage and fruit juice they are comparing products in terms of price. Therefore you need to have a competitive price or to build a differentiation strategy to enable you to set your price. Innovation is one of key success factors that need to be present to gain consumer. The consumer has a law loyalty to brands this makes the product availability in market very important. The availability plus the innovation in packages and product range that suits the new consumer life styles will help to build loyalty to the brand. For the competition, you need to be different in product image, have a strong distribution channel to be able to position yourself in the market and to start to compete. Demand Analysis Demand characteristic Following the new consumer life style, the juice market has a high demand based on questionnaire done by MEMRB agency to the Coca-Cola Egypt company here is the outcome. Those that consume juice product on monthly bases dont think it is as strong on Thirst quenching, Good for you, Great tasting and refreshing. However, an improvement on all measures for juice, frequent consumption coming from weekly consumers. Consumer that thinks that they are always doing new thinks shows growth from0% to 7% in 2008-2009 while the carbonated soft drinks shows 3% increase in 2009 and the one that things that uice gives energy shows an improvement from 5% to 9% for year 2008-2009 while the carbonated soft drinks shows a decrease from -6% to -11% for year 2008-2009.

A Common But Separate Goal For Power :: History Native Americans Essays

A Common But Separate Goal For Power missing works cited In the latter half of the 19th century, there were many cultures striving for control of the American Southwest, mainly the southern half of present-day Arizona, which was purchased by the United States in 1853. American Indian tribes, such as the Apaches, had original claims to the land that were overtaken by the Mexican invasion of missions at Tubac and Tucson, which were later overrun with American settlers and soldiers laying their claims to this new American territory. These struggles for power created tension between all of the peoples of southern Arizona, originally between the Apache tribes and Mexicans, and then morphing into a trifecta of clashes between all of the races for control of the land. When the Spanish began colonizing the northern area of Mexico, they were confronted with a problem-what were they to do with the native peoples? Jesuit priests attempted to reform some of the mesa tribes in present-day Arizona and New Mexico, but encountered a population uninterested in Christianity and comfortable with their nomadic ways. There were missions of this type in the towns of Tucson and Tubac, which were abandoned by the missionaries and taken over by the Hispanic population, which in its early days, numbered around five hundred. The Hispanic settlements were centralized around military establishments, mostly because of a fear of the native people, the Pinal Apaches, who were characterized by their raids for horses, food, and other staples. In 1821, Mexico achieved independence from Spain, and the military outposts were completely under Hispanic control; they no longer were under Spanish rule and could make military decisions about the tribes on their own. With this newfound independence, the Mexicans began dealing in peace treaties with the local tribes. On March 5, 1837, the military government in Tucson signed a document with their "perennial enemies, the Pinal Apaches" (Officer, 137), which transported the tribe to the barren Arivaipa Creek, and contained a stipulation that the Apaches could only travel through the Tucson stronghold with the permission of the commander. Placing the Indians on reservations, which created land claims that were their own, seemed to have no reciprocal effect with the Mexicans. Although the tribes were not allowed to trespass on Mexican territory, the Mexicans did not care who trod on the newly claimed tribal lands. According to James E. Officer, in his book Hispanic Arizona, 1356-1856, ".

E-waste Essay -- Waste Management, Disposal and Recycling

Over the past decade there was a prominent development observed in the sphere of high technologies production, so the scale of electronics market becomes wider and spins up from day to day. â€Å"According to the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), consumers were expected to purchase 500 million units of consumer electronics in the US in 2008. US households spend about $1407 per year on hardware.† (Electronics Takeback coalition, 2010) Accordingly, there is a clear tendency of rapid substitution of electronic appliances observed, as every other day producers offer consumers more efficient and powerful gadgets instead of their predecessors. Consequently, high rate in electronics upgrading results in shortening of their lifespan and following stockpiling of needless gadgets, which then become a part of municipal waste. These end-of-life electronic devices are often called ‘electronic waste, or e-waste’. Now approximately 20-25 million tons of e-waste is estimate d to be produced worldwide every year with the largest number of electronics being discarded in Europe, the United States and Australasia. (Brett H. Robinson, 2009) Hence, there is a serious challenge of management of e-waste disposal appearing across the whole world. Figures show that a very small percentage of electronic waste undergoes recycling process, whilst its lion share is stockpiled in landfills or incinerated with the rest of solid municipal waste. According to EPA, in the U.S. in 2008 3.16 million tons of electronic waste was produced and only 430.000 tons which constitute 13.6% were recycled. (TakeBack Coalition, 2010) This essay will present main points of e-waste problem, analyze possible solutions of the problem and discuss if they are suitable and efficient en... ...ied to the electronic waste issue. However, not all of them can be successfully developed and utilized to the solution. Donation of tons of electronic devices to developing nations is not efficient, as in its most part gadgets arrive in condition improper for reuse. Consequently, export of electronics to third world countries for reuse only result in exposure of more land to contamination with hazardous components in the absence of any proper recycling programs there. Therefore, it may be concluded that legislation method, or establishing takeback programs, would be the most efficient out of all proposed solutions. Extended producer responsibility will not only systemize the recycling process but also it will give a great motivation to manufacturers to come up with new design of technologies that will be less poisonous and easier to undergo recycling management.

Gore’s movie, “An Inconvenient Truth” Essay

Former Vice President and former Tennessee Senator Al Gore discusses the correlation between carbon dioxide and other so-called greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and global warming. Gore’s movie, â€Å"An Inconvenient Truth† is constructed to look as though the majority of it is taking place in a college lecture hall, thus implying that his information is indeed fact. Better yet, before the end of the movie, Gore attempts to prove that global warming is not an environmental theory, but is a fact and that it is being caused by things that man is doing. His simple conclusion is that mankind is creating more greenhouse gases and that is causing the earth’s temperature to rise at a rate that might soon be catastrophic. Gore spends a great deal of the movie in front of a double line graph comparing carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere and the earth’s temperature. He explains where his personal interest in the concept came from, a research professor when he was an undergraduate student, and how the professor’s work has predicted the climbing earth temperatures. Gore never specifically illustrates how mankind is contributing to the greenhouse gases, but he does make allusions to heavy traffic and coal-fired energy plants as the cause. Instead, he uses a very effective melding of classroom instruction and beautiful natural footage of his farm in Tennessee and the ice flows of Antarctica. He even compares the need to do something about global warming to his family’s failure to do something about smoking. Gore points out that until his sister died from lung cancer, his father raised tobacco on their Tennessee farm. It wasn’t until his daughter’s death that he made the connection between his action and her illness. Likewise, Gore said, he is afraid that we will not make the connection between our actions and global warming until our children are dying from it. The use of analogical reasoning is impressive through the film as is the use of pop culture to define his arguments, relying on a clip from the cartoon sit-com Futurama as his explanation of why greenhouse gases lead to heating the environment. The biggest failing of the movie are Gore’s lack of an answer for the problem he presented. He points to the ever-rising global temperature and the melting ice flows in the Arctic, Antarctica and Greenland, but only as the final credits roll are there any suggestions for what to do about it. And these claims are the ones that are least supported. For example, the credits proclaim the advantages of switching to mercury-based florescent light bulbs instead of traditional incandescent light bulbs, claiming that the energy saved by making little changes like that can help offset the growing carbon problem. But he never backs up those claims with facts and never discusses other issues which might be a factor in choosing light bulbs, such as quality of light provided and the fact that fluorescent bulbs contain mercury, a potentially lethal heavy metal. Gore’s explanations seem sound and reasonable, but that may also be due to the way they are presented. With an ice shelf breaking apart before your eyes, it is hard to demand answers about why the shelf is breaking apart. And, no one in the movie ever challenges Gore’s opinions or facts. He claims that when opponents to the global warming theory make objections that he researches them and adds the answer to his lectures, but there is no evidence of this. Instead, it appears that Professor Gore has used his training in academia and politics to make it look as though he knows all the answers, but the real â€Å"Inconvenient Truth† is that the movie leaves you with more questions than answers.