Role of Media stressed to evaluate and assess quality of education - ILM-o-AGAHI "Education Journalism Workshop", Muzaffarabad, AJK

Role of Media stressed to evaluate and assess quality of education.

ILM-o-AGAHI initiative aims to encourage journalists to create narrative on education: ILM-O-AGAHI Workshop

“Pakistan’s media should play an active role in promoting education for the marginalised segments of the society as it can help to eliminate economic disparity through the introduction of quality education. This will broaden the vision and horizon of the students to excel in life.” This was the consensus at the ILM-o-AGAHI education journalism workshop held in Muzaffarabad, Azad Jammu and Kashmir, today. Journalists also agreed that “New entrants in the field of journalism should therefore strive to sensitize the people on the importance of education, as education is the key to success for progress.”

The ILM-o-AGAHI, one day workshop was organized by Mishal Pakistan in collaboration with Ilm Ideas (a 3 year UKaid funded program). More than thirty education reporters from all leading media entities, from print, television, radio and online journalism, were selected for the workshop.

Participants at the ILM-o-AGAHI "Education Journalism Training Workshop" in Muzaffarabad

Prof. Dr. Zafar Iqbal, Chairman of Media Sciences, National University of Science and Technology, spoke on the role of media in policy development in education sector. He highlighted state of affairs of education and educational management in AJK and stressed upon the need of investigative journalism in the education sector. Not only more schools and more teachers, he realized the journalists from AJK to evaluate and assess the quality of Education being important. He also shared the findings of his relevant research on the content of books being taught in the schools and probable impacts on the children behavior.

Asif Farooqui, Program Manager, ILM-o-AGAHI, while discussing the salient features of the initiative said that, a learning platform for journalists on education would be developed as a ready reference for journalists working on education related issues “The objective of ILM-o-AGAHI initiative is to encourage journalists to create narratives which enable equal access to education for all while analyzing the policy reforms within the education sector and aimed to strengthen institutions” he added.

He further said, “Mishal is also introducing special categories on education journalism in the upcoming annual journalism “AGAHI Awards 2014” to promote education journalism in Pakistan.”

Ahsan Mukhtar, Manager Google Business Group, spoke on the art of story-telling through social media. He said in the age of social media, journalism has seen a paradigm shift with the advent of citizen journalism where everyone is in some way involved in spreading news around. Social Media has broken all social and cultural barriers and has extended the reach of a journalist globally. The role of social media in digital storytelling is crucial. Finding a news, verifying it and publishing has seen a revolutionary change and has helped take transparency to better levels.

Sheikh Muhammad Mustaq, Chief Executive Officer, Hamza Development Foundation, discussed ASER’s findings on education with the Journalists during the session. He said according to the Annual Status of Education Report – ASER 2013 National Survey, that 5.3 % children have no access to school between the age of 5-16 years.

Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) is a citizen led initiative and survey to check the quality education. According to the survey in AJK 95 % children of 16 years old are enrolled in schools and 5.3 % are out of school, this is very appreciable enrollment rate but quality wise 39 5 children of class 5^th can’t read Urdu story of class 2 level. 42% children of class 5^th can’t read English sentence of class 2. “Our enrolment is better, but we have no quality of education” he added.

Earlier, a workshop on education journalism was held at the Kashmir Press Club, Mirpur, AJK, where journalists agreed to launch a Journalists for Education Forum in Mirpur, AJK. Through the ILM-o-AGAHI initiative, 18 education journalism workshops will be held across Pakistan for education reporters to increase their capacity and improve the coverage on education issues in media. In each workshop, more than 30 education reporters will be selected to enhance their capacity to report on identified educational challenges and issues to improve understanding and skills among journalists to capture community’s perspective and voice including children’s voice.

Mishal Pakistan is the partner institute of the Center for International Media Ethics and the Global Competitiveness and Benchmarking Networks of the World Economic Forum. Mishal assists the forum in creating soft-data on Pakistan, identifying Pakistan’s competitiveness challenges including primary health & education and higher education.

For more information please visit: www.ilmoagahi.org

Conflict in Dera Ismail Khan Recede Journalists' Freedom

Conflict in Dera Ismail Khan Recede Journalists' Freedom.

Government, academia, civil society and media should act together for education reforms in the country.

“Education is the only key to reduce terrorism in the country. The future of Pakistan depends on the immediate education reforms and conflict in Dera Ismail Khan recede journalists freedom. It's time to take effective steps for making our educational system better, and it can be done only if all the stake holders including government, academia, media and civil society should focus in Education.” This was the consensus at the ILM-o-AGAHI education journalism workshop held for journalists of Dera Ismail Khan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The ILM-o-AGAHI, one day workshop was organized by Mishal Pakistan in collaboration with Ilm Ideas (a 3 year UKaid funded program). More than thirty education reporters of Dera Ismail Khan (KPK) from all leading media entities, from print, television, radio and online journalism, were selected for the workshop.

Prof. Dr. Zafar Iqbal, Chairman of Media Sciences, National University of Science and Technology, Islamabad, urged upon that to make education as their top priority of reporting. It is important to report on terrorism and insurgency in KPK, but to fight it off and report terrorism from their areas, promotion of education is the great significance. The journalists have the great responsibility to report on education issues of their areas. It is more like investigating issue of education as hardly education itself generates news.

 

Asif Farooqui, Program Manager, ILM-o-AGAHI, while discussing the salient features of the initiative said that, a learning platform for journalists on education would be developed as a ready reference for journalists working on education related issues. He further said, “Mishal is also introducing special categories on education journalism in the upcoming annual journalism “AGAHI Awards 2014” to promote education journalism in Pakistan.”

Haroon ur Rasheed, ASER’s Pakistan representative, discussed

ASER’s findings on education with the Journalists during the session. He said according to the Annual Status of Education Report – ASER 2013 National Survey, that 12.7 % children have no access to school between the age of 5-16 years.

"Dera Ismail Khan is considered one of the worst areas in terms of the enrolment levels standing at 87.3% enrolment for 6-16 year old children and 12.7% children currently are out of school. Gender gaps do exist in the FATA, ratio of boys and girls in both government and private schools are 70% & 30% and 59% & 41% respectively.”

Through the ILM-o-AGAHI initiative, 18 education journalism workshops will be held across Pakistan for education reporters to increase their capacity and improve the coverage on education issues in media. In each workshop, more than 30 education reporters will be selected to enhance their capacity to report on identified educational challenges and issues to improve understanding and skills among journalists to capture community’s perspective and voice including children’s voice.

Mishal Pakistan is the partner institute of the Center for International Media Ethics and the Global Competitiveness and Benchmarking Networks of the World Economic Forum. Mishal assists the forum in creating soft-data on Pakistan, identifying Pakistan’s competitiveness challenges including primary health & education and higher education.

For more information please visit: www.ilmoagahi.org

Education is Imperative for Development in FATA

Education is imperative for development in FATA.

Government, academia, civil society and media should act together for education reforms in the country.

Education is the only key to reduce terrorism in the country. The future of Pakistan depends on the immediate education reforms in FATA. It's time to take effective steps for making our educational system better, and it can be done only if all the stake holders including government, academia, media and civil society should focus in Education.” This was the consensus at the ILM-o-AGAHI education journalism workshop held for FATA journalists in Peshawar.

The ILM-o-AGAHI, one day workshop was organized by Mishal Pakistan in collaboration with Ilm Ideas (a 3 year UKaid funded program). More than thirty education reporters of Federally Administrative Tribal Areas (FATA) from all leading media entities, from print, television, radio and online journalism, were selected for the workshop. 


Prof. Dr. Zafar Iqbal, Chairman of Media Sciences, National University of Science and Technology, Islamabad, urged upon that to make education as their top priority of reporting. It is important to report on terrorism and insurgency in FATA, but to fight it off and report terrorism from their areas, promotion of education is the great significance. The journalists have the great responsibility to report on education issues of their areas. It is more like investigating issue of education as hardly education itself generates news. 


Asif Farooqui, Program Manager, ILM-o-AGAHI, while discussing the salient features of the initiative said that, a learning platform for journalists on education would be developed as a ready reference for journalists working on education related issues. He further said, “Mishal is also introducing special categories on education journalism in the upcoming annual journalism “AGAHI Awards 2014” to promote education journalism in Pakistan.”

Amjad Faheem, Project Manager Idara Taleem-o-Agahi, discussed ASER’s findings on education with the Journalists during the session. He said according to the Annual Status of Education Report – ASER 2013 National Survey, that 21.4 % children have no access to school between the age of 5-16 years.

"Federally Administrative Tribal Areas (FATA) are considered one of the worst areas in terms of the enrolment levels standing at 78.6% enrolment for 6-16 year old children and 21.4% children currently are out of school. Gender gaps do exist in the FATA, ratio of boys and girls in both government and private schools are 74% & 26% and 89% & 11% respectively.

Through the ILM-o-AGAHI initiative, 18 education journalism workshops will be held across Pakistan for education reporters to increase their capacity and improve the coverage on education issues in media. In each workshop, more than 30 education reporters will be selected to enhance their capacity to report on identified educational challenges and issues to improve understanding and skills among journalists to capture community’s perspective and voice including children’s voice. 

Mishal Pakistan is the partner institute of the Center for International Media Ethics and the Global Competitiveness and Benchmarking Networks of the World Economic Forum. Mishal assists the forum in creating soft-data on Pakistan, identifying Pakistan’s competitiveness challenges including primary health & education and higher education.

For more information please visit: www.ilmoagahi.org

Pakistan is Open for Business, CSIS Roundtable for Developing Linkages Between Pakistani and U.S. Entrepreneurs Concludes.

“Pakistan is Open for Business”

“Pakistan is Open for Business” this was the consensus at the 2^nd roundtable for developing linkages between Pakistani and U.S. entrepreneurs.

The roundtable was organized by U.S. think tank, Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in collaboration with Mishal Pakistan, a leading research institution in the country working on economic research and media development. Stakeholders from business community, policy makers, entrepreneurs, media and related institutions participated in the meeting.

Sadika Hameed, expert, renowned economist and fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) said, “certain sectors such as dairy, agribusiness, FMCGs, information communication technology and more are widely recognized as lucrative industries with great potential for U.S. entrepreneurs. Additionally there are untapped opportunities particularly in regard to research, data & knowledge technologies that the United States is well positioned to capitalize on.”

Pakistan would especially welcome investments in human resource development, that will also further U.S. business interests, Hameed added.

Pakistan’s enormous youth population is often perceived as a threat to its stability, with large numbers of disaffected young people facing poor employment prospects. A private sector led development approach can turn the youth bulge from a liability to an asset, paying out a “demographic dividend” as young workers accumulate wealth without a large retired population to support.

It was also identified that Pakistan is ripe with opportunities for alternative financing to traditional collateral based lending, especially for the enterprising youth, who do not have the initial capital. 

Foreign investors have another reason to invest in Pakistan. As western investors seek to hedge against market volatility, they seek to diversify their investments and reduce exposure to any one market. Recent external research has examined the potential for Africa to provide regional diversification through its low market correlations with the United States and Europe. Research by Pakistani economists indicates that the market correlation with Pakistan is even lower (around 0.05). As banks and institutional investors try to limit their exposure to risk, Pakistani investments are likely to yield good returns and could shield investors from market fluctuations elsewhere.

The roundtable was a follow-up to a stakeholders’ meeting Lahore earlier this week. The 3^rd roundtable on entrepreneurship and private sector development will be held in Islamabad by the end of this month.

CSIS is a bipartisan, nonprofit organization headquartered in Washington, D.C. The Center’s 220 full-time staff and large network of affiliated scholars conduct research and analysis and develop policy initiatives that look to the future and anticipate change.

Pakistan’s Entrepreneurial Potential and Private Sector Development Discussed at a Roundtable by CSIS and Mishal Pakistan

Roundtable discussion on "Private Sector Development in Pakistan" by US think tank CSIS in Lahore chaired by Ms. Sadika Hameed,
fellow with Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and Mishal Pakistan.

Pakistan’s Entrepreneurial Potential and Private Sector Development Discussed at a Roundtable by CSIS and Mishal Pakistan.

“Pakistan presents a confluence of interest for both U.S. businesses and the people of Pakistan. Despite dire predictions, Pakistan’s economy has a number of structural factors that will translate investment into growth”; Sadika Hameed, Fellow with the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), said at a roundtable organized by CSIS and Mishal Pakistan. Ms. Hameed is an expert on competitiveness, private sector development, political risk and frontier markets.

CSIS is carrying out a series of roundtables and interviews to discuss the entrepreneurial potential and private sector development in Pakistan. This activity will result in a report for policy makers and the business community in the United Sates and Pakistan. The businesses in both countries will also be brought together through investors conferences in Washington DC and Pakistan as well.

Representatives of political parties, the business community, education, media, and civil society attended the roundtable.

The participants also discussed and agreed on addressing international business and media perceptions of Pakistan. International news coverage and public attention centers on the threats emanating from Pakistan and the strained relationship between the U.S. and Pakistani governments. This focus obscures: first Pakistan’s tremendous economic potential, with its 180 million potential consumers, rapidly growing private sector, second, location as a shipping hub, and third, one of the most favorable demographic age distributions in the world. Investment in Pakistan presents a confluence of interest for both U.S. businesses and the people of Pakistan. Despite dire predictions, Pakistan’s economy has a number of structural factors that will translate investment into growth.

Lack of access to finance in Pakistan also presents opportunities for financial investment. A very low percentage of Pakistani small and medium enterprises (7%) have bank loans. This figure stands in contrast to 32% of SMEs in Bangladesh and 33% in India, indicating potential for growth in the commercial lending sector. From a development perspective, small and medium enterprises are more able to rapidly increase employment than large firms and their local ties ensure that they both invest and operate locally, even in the face of security threats.

Foreign investors have another reason to invest in Pakistan. As Western investors seek to hedge against market volatility, they seek to diversify their investments and reduce exposure to any one market. Recent external research has examined the potential for Africa to provide regional diversification through its low market correlations with the United States and Europe. Research by Pakistani economists indicates that the market correlation with Pakistan is even lower (around 0.05). As banks and institutional investors try to limit their exposure to risk, Pakistani investments are likely to yield good returns and could shield investors from market fluctuations elsewhere.

In the longer term, existing U.S. government institutions for promoting trade, including the Overseas Private Investment Corporation and the Export-Import Bank, can change their priorities to include small and medium business growth in fragile countries, as the Ex-Im Bank has already begun to do. Such a policy could help U.S. companies invest in growing, but potentially risky countries, and at the same time further U.S. foreign policy priorities of poverty reduction and increased stability in fragile states. This approach would be especially appropriate for encouraging U.S. business growth in the commercial centers of Karachi and Lahore.

For 50 years, the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) has developed practical solutions to the world’s greatest challenges. CSIS scholars provide strategic insights and bipartisan policy solutions to help decision makers chart a course toward a better world.

CSIS is a bipartisan, nonprofit organization headquartered in Washington, D.C.  The Center’s 220 full-time staff and large network of affiliated scholars conduct research and analysis and develop policy initiatives that look to the future and anticipate change.

5% Children in Azad Jammu & Kashmir
still out of School with remaining 95% learning
not satisfactory as well

Pakistan’s education reporting in media fairly weak:
ILM-O-AGAHI Workshop

Pakistan’s education and academia reporting within the industry is fairly weak. Alarming factors contributing to the knowledge deficit is the media’s limited exposure to real challenges of education sector in Pakistan and lack of relevant trainings in the media sector.

“Most of the issues related to education and literacy are being reported not in the right context; this not only undermines but also diminishes the importance of educational, training and child development challenges faced by the society.” This was stated by Prof. Dr. Muhammad Arif Khan, Principal Govt. Degree College Mirpur, at the inaugural session ILM-o-Agahi education journalism workshop held at Kasmir Press Club, Mirpur Azad Jammu and Kashmir today.

The ILM-o-AGAHI, one day workshop was organized by Mishal Pakistan in collaboration with Ilm Ideas (a 3 year UKaid funded program). More than thirty education reporters participated in the workshop.

Speaking at the workshop, Syed Abid Hussain Shah, President, Kashmir Press Club, said that “the ILM-o-AGAHI initiative will help strengthen media institutions and create awareness on the education emergency. The initiative will facilitate sustainable literacy and educational development, providing children especially girls a better access to educational facilities.” He further said “It will encourage journalists to create narratives which enable equal access to education for all while analyzing the policy reforms within the education sector.” Media will play its role to safeguard the right of the citizens to education and better life, added Hussain.

Senior Journalist, Mubashir Zaidi conducted the training workshop and shared with the participants that, “more awareness amongst the general public on issues concerning quality and quantum of education in Pakistan is required. It is important to create dialogue on such issues fetching immediate attention of concerned authorities and stakeholders.” Zaidi told the participants the according to article 25-A of the constitution of Pakistan, “The state shall provide free and compulsory education to all children of the age of 5 to 16 years in such manner as may be determined by law”, however according to the Economic Survey of Pakistan (2011-12) only 59% of children have been enrolled in schools across Pakistan.

Asif Farooqui, Program Manager, ILM-o-AGAHI, while discussing the salient features of the initiative said that, a learning platform for journalists on education would be developed as a ready reference for journalists working on education related issues. He further said, “Mishal is also introducing special categories on education journalism in the upcoming annual journalism “AGAHI Awards 2014” to promote education journalism in Pakistan.”

Zaheer Abbas, ASER Pakistan representative, discussed ASER’s findings on education inAJK with the Journalists during the session. He said according to the Annual Status of Education Report – ASER 2013 National Survey, fortunately, the percentage of out of school children, in AJK, is one of the lowest in the country, at 5%. However, despite this good news, the learning levels of the remaining 95% are not satisfactory.

Through the ILM-o-Agahi initiative, 18 education journalism workshops will be held across Pakistan for education reporters to increase their capacity and improve the coverage on education issues in media. In each workshop, more than 30 education reporters will be selected to enhance their capacity to report on identified educational challenges and issues, improve understanding and skills among journalists to capture community’s perspective and voice including children’s voice.

Mishal Pakistan is the partner institute of the Center for International Media Ethics and the Global Competitiveness and Benchmarking Networks of the World Economic Forum. Mishal assists the forum in creating soft-data on Pakistan, identifying Pakistan’s competitiveness challenges including primary health & education and higher education.

MISHAL launches Education Advocacy Program, “ILM-o-AGAHI”

MISHAL launches Education Advocacy Program, “ILM-o-AGAHI”

Every child has the right of free education in Pakistan, but only 59% children enrolled in schools.

Mishal Pakistan has launched ‘ILM-o-AGAHI’ Education Advocacy Program to sensitize the media and policy makers to build consensus on priority education issues. Under the ILM-o-AGAHI initiative, Mishal will conduct education journalism workshops for reporters and editors responsible for education related content. Round table meetings and provincial level education conferences will create consensus among the stakeholders to highlight education issues among media, educationists, policy-makers and legislators. This fourteen month long activity is being funded by Ilm Ideas (a 3 year UKaid funded program).

According to Article 25-A of the constitution of Pakistan, “it is the right of every child to have free education and the government to provide free education to every child”, however according to the Economic Survey of Pakistan (2011-12) only 59% of children have been enrolled in schools across Pakistan.

Asif Farooqui, Program Manager, ILM-o-AGAHI, while discussing the salient features of the initiative said that, a learning platform for journalists on education would be developed as a ready reference for journalists working on education related issues. He further said, “Mishal is also introducing special categories on education journalism in the upcoming annual journalism “AGAHI Awards 2014” to promote education journalism in Pakistan.”

Through the ILM-o-AGAHI initiative, a series of education journalism workshops will be held across Pakistan for education reporters. The workshops aims to increase the capacity of journalists and improve coverage on education related issues in media. 30 education reporters will be selected to participate in each workshop, to enhance their understanding on the key education issues identified in this initiative and build the skill-set of journalists to capture community’s perspective and voice when reporting on the aforementioned issues.

These education journalism workshops will be held in Islamabad, Peshawar, D.I. Khan, FATA, Lahore, Multan, Bahawalpur, Karachi, Hyderabad, Sukkur, Quetta, Mirpur and Muzaffarabad in Azad Jammu and Kashmir throughout March and April 2014.

Mishal Pakistan is the partner institute of the Center for International Media Ethics and the Global Competitiveness and Benchmarking Networks of the World Economic Forum. Mishal assists the forum in creating soft-data on Pakistan, identifying Pakistan’s competitiveness challenges including primary health & education and higher education. 

Mishal to Conduct Nationwide Survey to Measure Pakistan’s Global Competitiveness Ranking for 2014-2015

Mishal to Conduct Nationwide Survey to Measure Pakistan’s Global Competitiveness Ranking for 2014-2015

The World Economic Forum in partnership with Mishal will conduct the Executive Opinion Surveys across Pakistan.

The World Economic Forum in partnership with Mishal Pakistan will conduct the Executive Opinion Survey 2014 in Pakistan beginning in March 2014. 

The Executive Opinion Survey, “The Voice of the Business Community” is a major component of The Global Competitiveness Report and provides the key ingredient that turns the Report into a representative annual measure of a nation’s economic environment and its ability to achieve sustained growth. The Survey gathers valuable information on a broad range of variables for which hard data sources are scarce or nonexistent. High-level business executives operating in Pakistan will be surveyed to capture their opinion on the business environment in which they operate.

The Global Competitiveness Report has been the World Economic Forum’s flagship publication since 1979 and is widely recognized as the world’s leading cross-country comparison of factors affecting economic competitiveness and growth.

A sample of company executives in Pakistan will be asked to complete this important and confidential survey.  Mr. Amir Jahangir, Chief Executive Officer of Mishal Pakistan notes that it is vitally important that each executive sampled complete the survey to ensure that Pakistan has accurate and reliable data in the Report. The report for 2014-2015 is expected to be issues in the Q4 of 2014.

Established in 2003, Mishal Pakistan is the Partner Institute of the Global Competitiveness & Benchmarking Network, World Economic Forum. As a partner institute Mishal is working on measuring Pakistan’s performance on multiple international indices and reports including the Global Competitiveness Index/Report, Global Gender Gap Index, Global Enabling Trade Index, Global Information Technology Report - Network Readiness Index, Financial Development Index and the Global Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index.