Citizenship Education in Pakistan
The purpose of writing this paper is to assess the importance of citizenship education as a part of curriculum. How we can use citizenship education to make young students good citizens. The study is done in Pakistani context with the comparison of countries having well established system of citizenship education, like Canada and UK. Pakistan is a new country and it has inherited many difficult problems from its former rulers, such as illiteracy poverty, disease and social misery. Citizens should not only take interest in the problems of the country, but also participate in solving them. Citizenship education is the most effective way of making people civil so that they can contribute in the development of their country. Citizenship education is necessary for students to become responsible and active citizens of the country. A right approach is needed to establish a strong citizenship education system in Pakistan. The system must include the understanding of updated economic, social and political happenings of the country especially the democratic system. This can encourage students to effectively participate for the right development of their country. Keywords: Citizenship Education, Curriculum, Democracy
Islam, Democracy and Citizenship Education: An Examination of the Social Studies Curriculum in Pakistan.
Since the 1980s the mission of the national citizenship education curriculum in Pakistan has been the Islamization of society. The government curriculum guidelines require textbooks to emphasize Islam as the national ideology of the state of Pakistan. Recognizing the deleterious effect of an exclusivist curriculum on the civic unity of the nation, some stakeholders propose a liberal-democratic reform agenda for social studies. The main goal of the proposed agenda is to use the curriculum for creating a tolerant, moderate, and enlightened citizenry. However, proponents of a theocratic vision of good citizenship, which currently dominates the curriculum, vehemently oppose these reform efforts. Introduction In the Pakistani national school system, citizenship education is imparted through a prescribed social studies curriculum, the main thrust of which has been the Islamization of society since the 1980s. A recent government proposal for curricular reform has stirred vociferous debate from competing stakeholders, whose visions of citizenship and citizenship education have clashed in the nation's mass media, and in organized street rallies causing disruptions to civic life (Gillani, 2004a). The main opposition to the government's curricular reform agenda is driven by religious parties, whose ideology dominates the current social studies curriculum. Religious parties and their conservative allies play a decisive role in determining the ideological core of Pakistan 's national education curriculum policy. Over the last twenty years, they have succeeded in promoting a political agenda marked by a distinctive Islamic ideology (Haque, 1987). Their purpose in presenting Islam as a national ideology has been to: (a) sanctify their political role in society; (b) galvanize social forces in Pakistan against India and the West; and (c) unify the Muslim world. To achieve their political goals, they have revised history, advanced a manufactured heritage of the state of Pakistan, and promoted an Islamic paradigm of citizenship education in the nation's schools through the social studies curriculum (Mustafa, 2004). This paper makes three arguments. First, it argues that the current ideological conflict over the mission of social studies in Pakistan is essentially related to the question of relationship between religion and the state. Second, it posits that Pakistan 's present national policy on the social studies curriculum makes no distinction between religious education and citizenship education in that it seeks to create practicing Muslims rather than democratic citizens. And third, based on my findings of the content analysis of the government-approved secondary school social studies textbooks, the paper maintains that those textbooks adhere to the national policy of promoting Islam as a political ideology for the purpose of strengthening an Islamic state.
Creativity profile of university and conservatory dance students.
What are dance students' creative potential, Special personality characteristics and preferences for high energy activities? Using standardized and original paper and pencil instruments, comparisons were made among dance students in university and conservatory settings, college students and art students. The results demonstrated that dance students are creative, show strong preference for dynamic figures, and have distinct personality characteristics. The university dance students differed from the conservatory students in several important ways.