Assignment No.2

Q.1 “Information Communication Technology has revolutionized the field of instruction’. Discuss and elicit its educative value.

Schools use a diverse set of ICT tools to communicate, create, disseminate, store, and manage information. In some contexts, ICT has also become integral to the teaching-learning interaction, through such approaches as replacing chalkboards with interactive digital whiteboards, using students’ own smartphones or other devices for learning during class time, and the “flipped classroom” model where students watch lectures at home on the computer and use classroom time for more interactive exercises.

When teachers are digitally literate and trained to use ICT, these approaches can lead to higher order thinking skills, provide creative and individualized options for students to express their understandings, and leave students better prepared to deal with ongoing technological change in society and the workplace.

ICT issues planners must consider include: considering the total cost-benefit equation, supplying and maintaining the requisite infrastructure, and ensuring investments are matched with teacher support and other policies aimed at effective ICT use.

Digital culture and digital literacy: Computer technologies and other aspects of digital culture have changed the ways people live, work, play, and learn, impacting the construction and distribution of knowledge and power around the world. Graduates who are less familiar with digital culture are increasingly at a disadvantage in the national and global economy. Digital literacy the skills of searching for, discerning, and producing information, as well as the critical use of new media for full participation in society has thus become an important consideration for curriculum frameworks.

In many countries, digital literacy is being built through the incorporation of information and communication technology (ICT) into schools. Some common educational applications of ICT include:

• One laptop per child: Less expensive laptops have been designed for use in school on a 1:1 basis with features like lower power consumption, a low cost operating system, and special re-programming and mesh network functions. Despite efforts to reduce costs, however, providing one laptop per child may be too costly for some developing countries.
• Tablets: Tablets are small personal computers with a touch screen, allowing input without a keyboard or mouse. Inexpensive learning software (“apps”) can be downloaded onto tablets, making them a versatile tool for learning. The most effective apps develop higher order thinking skills and provide creative and individualized options for students to express their understandings.
• Interactive White Boards or Smart Boards: Interactive white boards allow projected computer images to be displayed, manipulated, dragged, clicked, or copied. Simultaneously, handwritten notes can be taken on the board and saved for later use. Interactive white boards are associated with whole-class instruction rather than student-centred activities. Student engagement is generally higher when ICT is available for student use throughout the classroom.
• E-readers: E-readers are electronic devices that can hold hundreds of books in digital form, and they are increasingly utilized in the delivery of reading material. Students—both skilled readers and reluctant readers—have had positive responses to the use of e-readers for independent reading. Features of e-readers that can contribute to positive use include their portability and long battery life, response to text, and the ability to define unknown words. Additionally, many classic book titles are in e-book form.
• Flipped Classrooms: The flipped classroom model, involving lecture and practice at home via computer-guided instruction and interactive learning activities in class, can allow for an expanded curriculum. There is little investigation on the student learning outcomes of flipped classrooms. Student perceptions about flipped classrooms are mixed, but generally positive, as they prefer the cooperative learning activities in class over lecture.

ICT and Teacher Professional Development: Teachers need specific professional development opportunities in order to increase their ability to use ICT for formative learning assessments, individualized instruction, accessing online resources, and for fostering student interaction and collaboration. Such training in ICT should positively impact teachers’ general attitudes towards ICT in the classroom, but it should also provide specific guidance on ICT teaching and learning within each discipline. Without this support, teachers tend to use ICT for skill-based applications, limiting student academic thinking. To sup­port teachers as they change their teaching, it is also essential for education managers, supervisors, teacher educators, and decision makers to be trained in ICT use.

Ensuring benefits of ICT investments: To ensure the investments made in ICT benefit students, additional conditions must be met. School policies need to provide schools with the minimum acceptable infrastructure for ICT, including stable and affordable internet connectivity and security measures such as filters and site blockers. Teacher policies need to target basic ICT literacy skills, ICT use in pedagogical settings, and discipline-specific uses. Successful imple­mentation of ICT requires integration of ICT in the curriculum. Finally, digital content needs to be developed in local languages and reflect local culture. Ongoing technical, human, and organizational supports on all of these issues are needed to ensure access and effective use of ICT.

Resource Constrained Contexts: The total cost of ICT ownership is considerable: training of teachers and administrators, connectivity, technical support, and software, amongst others. When bringing ICT into classrooms, policies should use an incremental pathway, establishing infrastructure and bringing in sustainable and easily upgradable ICT. Schools in some countries have begun allowing students to bring their own mobile technology (such as laptop, tablet, or smartphone) into class rather than providing such tools to all students—an approach called Bring Your Own Device. However, not all families can afford devices or service plans for their children. Schools must ensure all students have equitable access to ICT devices for learning.

Students with different styles of learning: ICT can provide diverse options for taking in and processing information, making sense of ideas, and expressing learning. Over 87% of students learn best through visual and tactile modalities, and ICT can help these students ‘experience’ the information instead of just reading and hearing it. Mobile devices can also offer programmes (“apps”) that provide extra support to students with special needs, with features such as simplified screens and instructions, consistent placement of menus and control features, graphics combined with text, audio feedback, ability to set pace and level of difficulty, appropriate and unambiguous feedback, and easy error correction.

Q.2 Describe the different types of physical and mental disabilities and the help a teacher can provide to the students falling in these categories.

Disabilities can be temporary (such as a broken arm), relapsing and remitting, or long-term. Types of disabilities may include:

• Hearing loss
• Low vision or blindness
• Learning disabilities, such as Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, dyslexia, or dyscalculia
• Mobility disabilities
• Chronic health disorders, such as epilepsy, Crohn’s disease, arthritis, cancer, diabetes, migraine headaches, or multiple sclerosis
• Psychological or psychiatric disabilities, such as mood, anxiety and depressive disorders, or Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
• Asperger’s disorder and other Autism spectrum disorders
• Traumatic Brain Injury

Students may have disabilities that are more or less apparent. For instance, you may not know that a student has epilepsy or a chronic pain disorder unless she chooses to disclose or an incident arises. These “hidden” disorders can be hard for students to disclose because many people assume they are healthy because “they look fine.” In some cases, the student may make a seemingly strange request or action that is disability-related. For example, if you ask the students to rearrange the desks, a student may not help because he has a torn ligament or a relapsing and remitting condition like Multiple Sclerosis. Or, a student may ask to record lectures because she has dyslexia and it takes longer to transcribe the lectures.

A student’s disclosure of a disability is always voluntary. However, students with disabilities may feel nervous to disclose sensitive medical information to an instructor. Often, students must combat negative stereotypes about their disabilities held by others and even themselves. For instance, a recent study on disability stereotypes found that undergraduates with and without learning disabilities rated individuals with learning disabilities as being less able to learn or of lower ability than students without those disabilities. In fact, students with learning disabilities are no less able than any other student; they simply receive, process, store, and/or respond to information differently (National Center for Learning Disabilities).

Similarly students with physical disabilities face damaging and incorrect stereotypes, such as that those who use a wheelchair must also have a mental disability. Additionally, those students with “hidden disabilities” like epilepsy or chronic pain frequently describe awkward situations in which others minimize their disability with phrases like “Well, you look fine.”

In Barbara Davis’s Tools for Teaching, she explains that it is important for instructors to “become aware of any biases and stereotypes [they] may have absorbed….Your attitudes and values not only influence the attitudes and values of your students, but they can affect the way you teach, particularly your assumptions about students…which can lead to unequal learning outcomes for those in your classes.” (Davis, 2010, p. 58) As a way to combat these issues, she advises that instructors treat each student as an individual and recognize the complexity of diversity.

• A statement in your syllabus inviting students with disabilities to meet with you privately is a good step in starting a conversation with those students who need accommodations and feel comfortable approaching you about their needs. Let the student know times s/he can meet you to discuss the accommodations and how soon the student should do so. Here are two sample statements:

• Provide an easily understood and detailed course syllabus. Make the syllabus, texts, and other materials available before registration.

• If materials are on-line, consider colors, fonts, and formats that are easily viewed by students with low vision or a form of color blindness.

• Clearly spell out expectations before the course begins (e.g., grading, material to be covered, due dates).

• Make sure that all students can access your office or arrange to meet in a location that is more accessible.
• On the first day of class, you can distribute a brief Getting to Know You questionnaire that ends with the question ‘Is there anything you’d like me to know about you?’ This invites students to privately self-disclose important challenges that may not meet the EAD accommodations requirements or that may be uncomfortable for the student to talk to you about in person upon first meeting you.
• Don’t assume what students can or cannot do with regards to participating in classroom activities. Think of multiple ways students may be able to participate without feeling excluded. The next section on “Teaching for Inclusion” has some ideas for alternative participation.

• Many of Universal Design’s methods emphasize a deliberate type of teaching that clearly lays out the course’s goals for the semester and for the particular class period. For instance, a syllabus with clear course objectives, assignment details, and deadlines helps students plan their schedules accordingly. Additionally, providing an outline of the day’s topic at the beginning of a class period and summarizing key points at the end can help students understand the logic of your organization and give them more time to record the information.
• Similarly, some instructional material may be difficult for students with certain disabilities. For instance, when showing a video in class you need to consider your audience. Students with visual disabilities may have difficulty seeing non-verbalized actions; while those with disorders like photosensitive epilepsy may experience seizures with flashing lights or images; and those students with hearing loss may not be able to hear the accompanying audio. Using closed-captioning, providing electronic transcripts, describing on-screen action, allowing students to check the video out on their own, and outlining the role the video plays in the day’s lesson helps reduce the access barrier for students with disabilities and allows them the ability to be an active member of the class. Additionally, it allows other students the opportunity to engage with the material in multiple ways as needed.

In the context of students with disabilities, assessment refers to gathering information about a student in order both to identify the strengths of the student, and to decide what special educational support, if any, the student needs. In principle, of course, these are tasks that teachers have for all students: assessment is a major reason why we give tests and assignments, for example, and why we listen carefully to the quality of students’ comments during class discussions. For students with disabilities, however, such traditional or conventional strategies of assessment often seriously underestimate the students’ competence. Depending on the disability, a student may have trouble with (a) holding a pencil, (b) hearing a question clearly, (c) focusing on a picture, (d) marking an answer in time even when he or she knows the answer, (e) concentrating on a task in the presence of other people, or (f) answering a question at the pace needed by the rest of the class. Traditionally, teachers have assumed that all students either have these skills or can learn them with just modest amounts of coaching, encouragement, and will power. For many other students, for example, it may be enough to say something like: “Remember to listen to the question carefully!” For students with disabilities, however, a comment like this may not work and may even be insensitive. A student with visual impairment does not need be reminded to “look closely at what I am writing on the board”; doing so will not cause the student to see the chalkboard more clearly—though the reminder might increase the student’s anxiety and self-consciousness.

There are a number of strategies for modifying assessments in ways that attempt to be fair and that at the same time recognize how busy teachers usually are. One is to consider supplementing conventional assignments or tests with portfolios, which are collections of a student’s work that demonstrate a student’s development over time, and which usually include some sort of reflective or evaluative comments from the student, the teacher, or both. Another is to devise a system for observing the student regularly, even if briefly, and informally recording notes about the observations for later consideration and assessment. A third strategy is to recruit help from teacher assistants, who are sometimes present to help a student with a disability; an assistant can often conduct a brief test or activity with the student, and later report on and discuss the results with you.

Q.3 Differentiate between management, control and discipline. It is observed that some teachers do not have to impose discipline in their classroom. What is about their teaching that seems to keep their classes free of disciplinary problems?

A key component of teaching is effective classroom management. This is the set of steps you follow to ensure that your students pay attention, don’t distract each other and generally stay on task. This is different from discipline, which is just one part of classroom management. Where discipline describes the consequences you give students for not following the rules, classroom management describes a more general set of procedures, most of which are aimed at avoiding problems rather than responding to them.

Classroom Setup

The classroom setup is an example of classroom management that is not discipline. After a few weeks of teaching, it becomes fairly clear which students should not be sitting near one another, as certain friends (and enemies) will distract one another and the children around them for the entire lesson. Discipline would be punishing these children every time they disrupt the class; classroom management is moving them somewhere else to keep the disruption from happening in the first place.

Rules

Another example of the difference between discipline and classroom management is the classroom rules. Classroom management is when you make the rules clear to the children, either through discussion or by teaching through another method. Posting these rules in a prominent place is another way to help manage your classroom — by making the rules clear to children and making them visible, you make it less likely that the rules will be violated.

Discipline is how you respond to violations of these rules. This makes rules an excellent way to highlight these differences — classroom management is the front end of the rules and discipline is the back end.

Occupying Students

Classroom management is also a matter of keeping students occupied, either in a lesson, discussion or activity. When children have something to focus on, they are less likely to create their own stimuli by “zoning out” or misbehaving. So, particularly for younger years, it is strongly recommended that teachers overplan their lessons in order to always give the children something to do.

Discipline is a matter of dishing out consequences when students go off task, whether the lesson is well-planned or not. In general, the more thoroughly occupied students are, the less discipline they will need.

Tone Setting

A final example of a difference between classroom management and discipline is the general tone you set. You set a tone in classroom management by your confidence, the way you present yourself and how well you relate to students. If you do these well, your classroom will be well-managed because it will be clear to students who is in control.

Discipline also requires tone-setting. Once you’ve made the rules clear, you need to follow through the minute someone violates them. This is basically setting an example. It’s often not enough to simply have rules; rather, you need to let students know you’re serious. This concept and that mentioned above are examples of setting a tone in which the teacher is in control and creating a positive learning environment.

Effective classroom management can make the difference between a miserable or enjoyable year for both you and your students. The challenge of managing a rowdy, talkative class can often seem like a towering challenge, but the fact is that countless teachers have faced situations very similar to yours. With a well-rehearsed teacher “look” and a handful of classroom-management suggestions, you’ll be armed and ready for a successful school year.

Clear Boundaries

Present your students with clear rules, boundaries and punishments from Day 1. Begin enforcing these rules from the moment your establish them. Your students need to know that you have high standards for their behavior and they will rise to your expectations.

It’s alright if you come across as a bit strict at first. In fact, depending on the age of your students, you’ll probably want to develop somewhat of a stern reputation. That way, students will begin preparing themselves to respect your rules as soon as they find out they have a class with you. However, keep in mind that developing a reputation takes time, so if you’re a new teacher it might not happen right away.

“Withitness”

Chris Dunbar cites J. S. Kounin’s five characteristics of effective classroom managers in his University of Michigan paper entitled “Best Practices in Classroom Management.” The first of these includes a characteristic he calls “withitness.” In other words, teachers should be quick to observe what is actually going on in the classroom and amongst students. If the class is collectively distracted by something, the teacher should pick up on it immediately. Communicating this awareness to students will make them feel both that you are in tune with what concerns them and that they can get away with less.

Consequences

Follow a clear progression of consequences that is appropriate for the age of your students. For example, when a student won’t stop talking, begin addressing the misbehavior by simply maintaining steady eye contact with the offender. If the disruption continues, stand beside the student’s desk while continuing to teach. If this doesn’t work, verbally address the student’s behavior. If the problem still continues, separate the student from the rest of the class. Have a tried-and-true policy for calling parents and contacting the office when misbehavior escalates.

Consistency

Be consistent. Follow through on your threats as well as your promises. Be generous with your positive affirmation, too, recognizing individual accomplishments and progress your students make as a class. Let them know that you are in control of both their behavior and your own emotions by never losing your temper. In some cases, it may be appropriate for your students to understand that you are angry, but never do so in manner where you lose command of yourself.

Classroom-wide Punishment

Consider classroom-wide punishments when the problem becomes widespread and out of control. While this may be somewhat unfair to your well-behaved students, it promotes self-monitoring among your problematic students. When members of a trouble-making group realize that one of their friends’ actions will affect everyone, they are more likely to influence each other to cooperate with your classroom procedures. This makes for a more productive learning environment for everyone.

Discipline, management frequently interchanged in the education field, although they are distinctly different, and need treated as separate entities. Classroom management is the teacher’s responsibility and discipline is the student’s responsibility. Behavior and misbehavior are also terms that get confused. Classroom management, discipline, behavior and misbehavior are important aspect of every classroom. In order to have a well-organized classroom, the need to define and understand these terminologies becomes imperative.

Classroom management describes the process of ensuring that classroom lessons run smoothly. It is the groundwork for the classroom. When constructed well there is room for growth and progress, as well as penalties for non-compliance. Without good classroom management, learning is inefficient and the teacher becomes stressed. A stressed teacher leads to unruly students, which is where discipline comes into play. Discipline is “the enforcement of order – that is, ensuring instructions are carried out – is often regulated through punishment.” Teaching children to behave appropriately in different circumstances is discipline, this is done with punishment, or loss of privileges. Discipline is necessary in order to have a harmonious classroom.

“Classroom management deals with how things are done. Discipline deals with how people behave.” The most important thing about classroom management is control. A teacher must have control to be successful. When a teacher losses control, students become bored, disinterested, and restless, which often causes behavior problems. Avoid misbehavior by setting classroom rules early in the year. These guidelines allow students to know the expectations the teacher has for them and the consequences of not following the rules. Never continue instruction when rules are broken, this cause total loss of control, which leads to behavior problems.

Normal or “good” behavior, usually determined by whether it is socially, culturally and developmentally appropriate. Misbehavior is any improper behavior. Teaching self-control skills is one of the most important things that teachers can do for students because these are the most important skills for success later in life. There are many different underlying causes of misbehavior, but a well-managed classroom has consequences in place to avoid disruption of learning time. Children try to please the teacher, with rules in place, and often reinforced, students will rise to the expectations of the class and their peers. This creates the ideal learning environment for all students.

Discipline	Classroom Management
Is Reactive	Is proactive
Is problem-driven	Is productivity-driven
Has negative consequences as punishments	Has rewards as increased learning time
Promotes compliance	Promotes responsibilities
Stops deviant behavior	Produces predictable behavior

Q.4 Develop a teacher made achievement test by constructing six items of each, short answers, completion, true false, matching, multiple choice and essay type from class VI Science book being taught in the public sector schools.

Carefully constructed teacher-made tests and standardized tests are similar in many ways. Both are constructed on the basis of carefully planned table of specifications, both have the same type of test items, and both provide clear directions to the students. Still the two differ. They differ in the quality of test items, the reliability of test measures, the procedures for administering and scoring and the interpretation of scores. No doubt, standardized tests are good and better in quality, more reliable and valid. But a classroom teacher cannot always depend on standardized tests. These may not suit to his local needs, may not be readily available, may be costly, and may have different objectives. In order to fulfill the immediate requirements, the teacher has to prepare his own tests which are usually objective type in nature. Teacher-made tests are normally prepared and administered for testing classroom achievement of students, evaluating the method of teaching adopted by the teacher and other curricular programmes of the school. Teacher-made test is one of the most valuable instrument in the hands of the teacher to solve his purpose. It is designed to solve the problem or requirements of the class for which it is prepared. It is prepared to measure the outcomes and content of local curriculum. It is very much flexible so that, it can be adopted to any procedure and material. It does not require any sophisticated technique for preparation. Taylor has highly recommended for the use of these teacher-made objective type tests, which do not require all the four steps of standardized tests nor need the rigorous processes of standardization. Only the first two steps planning and preparation are sufficient for their construction. Features of Teacher-Made Tests:

1. The items of the tests are arranged in order of difficulty.
2. These are prepared by the teachers which can be used for prognosis and diagnosis purposes.
3. The test covers the whole content area and includes a large number of items.
4. The preparation of the items conforms to the blueprint.
5. Test construction is not a single man’s business, rather it is a co-operative endeavor.
6. A teacher-made test does not cover all the steps of a standardized test.
7. Teacher-made tests may also be employed as a tool for formative evaluation.
8. Preparation and administration of these tests are economical.
9. The test is developed by the teacher to ascertain the student’s achievement and proficiency in a given subject.
10. Teacher-made tests are least used for research purposes.
11. They do not have norms whereas providing norms is quite essential for standardized tests. Steps/Principles of Construction of Teacher-made Test: A teacher-made test does not require a well-planned preparation. Even then, to make it more efficient and effective tool of evaluation, careful considerations arc needed to be given while constructing such tests. The following steps may be followed for the preparation of teacher-made test:
12. Planning: Planning of a teacher-made test includes:
13. Determining the purpose and objectives of the test, ‘as what to measure and why to measure’.
14. Deciding the length of the test and portion of the syllabus to be covered.
15. Specifying the objectives in behavioural terms. If needed, a table can even be prepared for specifications and weightage given to the objectives to be measured.
16. Deciding the number and forms of items (questions) according to blueprint.
17. Having a clear knowledge and understanding of the principles of constructing essay type, short answer type and objective type questions.
18. Deciding date of testing much in advance in order to give time to teachers for test preparation and administration.
19. Seeking the co-operation and suggestion of co-teachers, experienced teachers of other schools and test experts.
20. Preparation of the Test:

Planning is the philosophical aspect and preparation is the practical aspect of test construction. All the practical aspects to be taken into consideration while one constructs the tests. It is an art, a technique. One is to have it or to acquire it. It requires much thinking, rethinking and reading before constructing test items. Different types of objective test items viz., multiple choice, short-answer type and matching type can be constructed. After construction, test items should be given lo others for review and for seeking their opinions on it. The suggestions may be sought even from others on languages, modalities of the items, statements given, correct answers supplied and on other possible errors anticipated. The suggestions and views thus sought will help a test constructor in modifying and verifying his items afresh to make it more acceptable and usable. After construction of the test, items should be arranged in a simple to complex order. For arranging the items, a teacher can adopt so many methods viz., group-wise, unit-wise, topic wise etc. Scoring key should also be prepared forthwith to avoid further delay in scoring. Direction is an important part of a test construction. Without giving a proper direction or instruction, there will be a probability of losing the authenticity of the test reliability. It may create a misunderstanding in the students also.

MCQ:

1. Part of neuron which receives messages is called:

(a) Nucleus

(b) Axon

(c) Dendrite

(d) Receptor

2. Lithotripsy removes stones from:

(a) Kidneys (b) heart (c) lungs (d) brain

3. During meiosis, the number of chromosomes is:

(a) Increased by one (b) decreased by one (c) doubled (d) halved

4. Different reflex actions are controlled by:

(a) Heart          (b) spinal cord     (c) brain       (d) liver

5. Which of the following options is correct?
6. Which biotechnological technique is used for direct examination of DNA?

(a) Gene therapy             (b) Genetic testing              (c) Cloning      (d) Tissue culture

SHORT QUESTIONS

(a) What is nervous system?

(b) Describe the structure and function of neuron.

(c) Draw and label the diagram of neuron.

(d) What is cytokinesis?

(e) Write the number of daughter cells produced from one onion cell and number of chromosome in each daughter cell against the cells in the following table. Each parent cell in onion plant has 16 chromosomes.

(f) Give two differences between image formed by convex lens and image formed by concave lens.

LONG QUESTIONS

1. Describe the process of thermal power generation.
2. Define alternating current.
3. Describe the problems involved in thermal power generation.
4. Explain DC current.
5. Describe the process of hydro power generation.
6. Describe the problems involved in solar power generation.

Q.5 Discuss the initiatives taken by the government for universalization of education. How can public and private sector contribute to achieve this target?

Education plays a pivotal role in the rise and fall of the nations especially in the 21st century importance of education influence much to meet the fast growing challenges. It is mainly due to the emergence of global competition in education and technology. This competitive environment is the core need for progress of any country. All countries including Pakistan have different school systems but when we divide them we find two major categories of school systems: private and public schools. In Pakistan, private schools are getting mass acceptance today to ensure sustained progress of the country. During 1990s and 2000s, private sector emerged as a key provider of education services in Pakistan both in absolute terms and relative to the public sector. Private educational institutions are playing key role not only in eradicating illiteracy but also enhancing the level of students as well as teachers by providing better academic environment. Private sector contributed significantly in eradicating illiteracy in the emerging economies. If private schools are properly managed they can uplift educational standard in Pakistan as well. The educational landscape of Pakistan has gone through numerous transformations in the past two decades. Enrollment levels and gender parity index have been on the rise. The changes in the education sector that have been taking place in Pakistan have created an environment with numerous opportunities as well as challenges in terms of policy development. Even though the enrollment in government schools is much bigger than any other sector, the declining trend in favor of non –state providers is significant.  Education, especially primary education is mostly considered a public service which should be provided to the citizens without discrimination, irrespective of affordability and mainly as the government’s responsibility. This ideology was behind the nationalization of all education institutions in 1972, which severely interrupted the role of the robust private sector particularly at the post elementary level. However, like other services provided by the government, education provision has been severely constrained by governance, quality and effectiveness. After the end of nationalization in 1979, Pakistan has witnessed an exponential increase in the role of private sector service providers. The negative experiences of government schools have instigated parents to shift children from government to private schools. Private schools no longer remain an urban or elite phenomenon, but rather poor households also use these facilities to a large extent, due to their better locations, reasonable fees, teachers’ presence and better-quality learning, especially in the fields of mathematics and language. Even though private schools started off as an urban phenomenon, more recently they have mushroomed in rural areas as well. Several characteristics are responsible for making private schooling more attractive to parents compared to government schools; these include better test scores, better physical infrastructure, and lower rates of teacher absenteeism. Some of the other factors are:

1- Income of parents
2- Teacher quality factors influencing school choice:

• Parents’ knowledge of the teacher’s educational qualifications
• Parents’ opinion of the teacher’s regularity
• Parents’ rating of the teacher’s teaching skills

3- Facilities in School

4- Child safety

5- Quality of education

6- School Fee

7- Medium of Instruction

8- Better results

Even if we disregard the debate of whether the learning levels are better in private or government schools, the fact remains that the learning levels for both types of institutes remain poor in an absolute sense. The private schools advantage over the public schools is marginal up if we look at the problems of education in the country holistically speaking. Therefore, the policy developers should cater to supporting and improving both the sectors and not either of the two.

The outcomes of private versus public schools’ debate may be a popular discourse, however, at a policy level it is essential to understand that the current education emergency in Pakistan cannot be confronted with just a single player in the education sector. Multiple players, other than the government alone are required in the process to combat the problems. The government needs private sector’s help to contest the challenges. Various other challenges including the flood, security issues and dislocations of citizens due to the regional conflicts in the country also pose major concerns that the households and state need to plan around in the future. The need of the hour is a collective action by all the stakeholders, including the households, government, private sector and the civil society.

It can be a better option if the government uses its resources not on increasing the number of schools but rather on the quality of existing schools. Increasing access to education for children by increasing the number of schools should be a policy left for the private sector and the government itself should concentrate on improving the quality of physical facilities and teachers in the existing schools. By doing this, the benchmark for the private schools will also increase, thus increasing both access to, and quality of education.