Comments on: On Higher Education in Pakistan

By: A pakistani

A pakistani — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 20:02:45 +0000

Pervez Hoodbhoy is an idot and a frustrated man. In fact pakistan is taking many strides in education and is far better than india. Stupid indians have the habit to brag and spreading all kinds of lies allthough their country is among the poorest and most backword countries.

By: seenam

seenam — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 11:09:23 +0000

well there is still no comparison of both countries education, there are only 5 or 6 universities we can count on finger tips in pakistan ,there are 100 of uni in india,we are far behind them look at thier level of education,fields, they easily get jobs abroad.there are fake degree business pakistan as well,i know so many fake incidence in pakistan, we are just biased people, we preferred students of GIK,IBA,LUMS CBM thats it whether they know anything or not.

By: Hassan Haq

Hassan Haq — Thu, 29 May 2008 01:50:59 +0000

Dear All,

I am very disapponited. How can we compare our education systems with those from Darul Harb. Pakistan’s emphasis on Islamic studies particularly from our MADDRASAHs are well sort after by people.
We, Pakistanis should be proud that we are teaching the real eduction that of spritual and after live. The infidels can teach all materialistic education to their children but can we touch our heart and say we also want to follow the evil ways. Listen brothers, ALLAH and OUR PROPHET (PBUH) have given us all that we as human should know. THE QURAN is the only thing that we should give priority. Think hard and INSHALLAH you all will come to the same conclusion.

By: thakshak

thakshak — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 17:48:31 +0000

hello people what ever viswanath said is right we are the same people but divided by religion and boundaries.but one thing i cant accept cost of education its not so high in india.if we good relation we can have students coming from pakistan to india education.but people should get rid of hate for india.

By: arif khan

arif khan — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 22:05:41 +0000

there is no need to beg INDIA for their teachers to come and teach us.When we got independence we had only three trains, one factory and most importently just one university.If we compare with india then I would say that we did a lot better than them. I have seen many many pakistani are working abroad in excelent capacities. In fact we pakistani have the habit to always complain and give negative comments we never think posatively.Other than that we must have self confidence and try our best to excell in every feild of education.Lastly I would say that we have ignored our book QURAN completely although it says million times to think and ponder. We being muslims should be an example for these non-muslims in each and every feild of life. I pray for all my muslim brothers and sisters to come back to the real root because it is not late yet Ameen

By: Safeer Ullah

Safeer Ullah — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 04:57:26 +0000

Dear viswanath,

I agree with you that we are divided by borders but our basic problems are the same. But india is still better then pakistan coz dispite all the corruptions, bureaucracy and other embazellements that you mentioned, india is lucky enought to get consistancy in their political & economic situation. There is no major U turn in policies in India. However, You cannot say the same thing in case of Pakistn. More then half of our history is based on dictatorship which is the biggest threat to democracy, economic stability and investors. It is unfortunte to say that the military regiem has destroyed the democracy and economic stability of pakistan. Moreover, corrupt politiciens, fudalism, injustice are such problems which have further pressed the most pressed people of the world.

Regarding comments of Dr.Pervez Hoodbhoy i totally disagree with him. He used to make criticism for the sake of criticism and just to get himslef prominent. You know that System cannot be changed overnight. I agree that there must be loop holes in the policies of HEC but still HEC has brought about revolutionary changes in the are of Higher Education of Pakistan. One can see visible change in Higher Education sector.

In my opintion consistancy in policies is mendatory for the improvement of any system. All the best universities of world like harvard, cambridge, MIT etc are more then century old and now they have got the present prestigious status. We should encourge the positives and make suggessions for improvements.

Thanks & Regards

Safeer Ullah

By: viswanath

viswanath — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 15:52:53 +0000

A few IITs and IIMs, that offer education for just about four thousand students of a billion population is not at all indicative of India’s Higher Education. My friends, let me tell you India is no better than Pakistan. Just 3 per cent of graduates who passout from our Universities and Colleges are employable. Barring IITs/IIMs and a few Universities, research in Indian universities has taken complete backseat. The problems like plagiarism, bureaucracy, rampant corruption and divisive politics are all destroying our education system.
If someone tries to bring change, he will be shown the door.
Merit is a mere joke in India, if you are born in certain communities you can get admission. Education in India is so expensive that poor can’t even imagine of their children becoming doctors and engineers.

Basically we are from South Asia or Indian Sub-continent, though we are divided by borders, our problems remain the same. There is something wrong in the system we live in. If military rule couldn’t bring any change to Pakistan, I doubt our non-functional democracy will ever bring a change.

If at all any good has happened is last 60 years is not certainly because of govt. but the steely resolve of our people of provide better education to children, despite of all the economic hardships.

By: Rafia

Rafia — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 20:49:58 +0000

which subjects are required for A-levels to get admission in a good college in Pakistan?…wat grades are needed?

By: aslam

aslam — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 05:44:27 +0000

i intend to obtain equivalance post-graduate degree as i am a Fellow Member of the institute of cost and management accountants of pakistan. please let me know the fees and application format and the authority to whome to apply

By: Muhammad Abdullah

Muhammad Abdullah — Sat, 11 Aug 2007 03:18:54 +0000

Hoodboy seems have a pronounced disliking for “beard, burqah’s and mosques”. No matter how accurate might be in analysing the problems of Pakistani Education sector, he is not right when he implicitly groups “beard, burqah’s and mosques” as problems.
These things never stop or hinder in any way honest and vibrant environment in universities. Rather these very signs of Islam stimulates an honest endevours.

By: Nikus

Nikus — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 10:46:43 +0000

I am not aware of Pakistani eductaion system, but Indian education system is passing through a very bad phase now. If you have compared Indian eductaion with any other asian country 15 years ago, I could have provided at least 20 institutes which guarantee quality eductaion. Now, shortage of faculty is creating huge problem. The salary provided by Indian/MNCs are much higher than institutes. If India can not find good teachers, how can they provide the same to Pakistan? Cream of the Indian brain is going to USA and joining US based MNCs. In my student life, we have seen most of the senior professors were from reputed US/EU universities. Now, even IITs are not finding good professors. Indian and Chinees are very selfish when country matters. We have not added IITs/IIMs/AIIMSs in desired rate. Better look towards CUBA,Srilanka. They have better education infrastructure.

By: Imran Ansari

Imran Ansari — Mon, 09 Oct 2006 06:17:23 +0000

Reading the articles by Pervez Hoodbhoy reminded me of a recent incident with one of my friends. We are currently students of CA in lahore. A female acquaintance of my friend is doing her Phd. Due to her inadequacy in English she has asked my friend to do the research for her. Subsequently we spend hours on the internet searching for realted articles. I myself admit that they are copied directly from the computer screen yet the thesis will produce another useless Phd. in the land of the pure.

By: wanderer

wanderer — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

for all the shortcomings of india, jnu and the iits are among its brightest spots. so many indians have benefitted from their presence. it would be amazing to see indian professors in pakistan- maybe a more meaningful and long lasting exchange than the rare cricket match.

By: s¬Ønee

s¬Ønee — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

Mr. Pervaz has bluntly & beautifully described the current educational infrastructure in pk. i remember my time in Pu, where teachers would …’choose to dictate from notes they saved from the time when they were students in the same department”… Jamiat used to suppress any sort of ‘ghair-mazbi’(they had a long list which also included group discussion with female collegues) activities… Until the new ‘General’ VC took-over and things got better. The General introduced STE ‘STudent-Teacher Evaluation’, which led to suspension of many incompetent faculty members and ‘ordered’ the directors/deans to update the syllabus, introduce semester system, increase workload/semester and emphasized more on group discussions. It all worked for a while, …ahhh

Sepoy: its really funny to hear that you had to go up n down so many times to get that manuscript, You should have visited Pk when i was there and made ’special-arrangements’ for you ;)

By: Chan'ad

Chan'ad — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

Tell me about it. I once tried to get in to the Quaid-e-Azam Library in Lawrence Gardens for some research and had exactly the same experience. It was a long series of interogations by clerks who were more bothered about the chai on their desk getting cold. Even after finally getting in (it took 3 days) the hassle wasn’t over. One of the librarians was constantly standing behind making sure I’m not doing anything wrong. I guess they didn’t understand why someone under the age of 40 might want to spend time in the library.

LUMS is a great place which will definitely go far, especially after having expanded their social sciences department, and starting a law program. The teachers there are great, but (like everywhere in Pakistan) the beauracracy and admin stifles all creative thinking. They have a boogeyman called the “Values and Ethics Committee” that makes important decision, such as making sure no one wears shorts on campus.

That said though, it has some very inspriring teachers who are committed to advancing the education culture at LUMS and in Pakistan in general.