AGAHI Awards for Journalism Excellence to be held in Pakistan.

AGAHI Awards for Journalism Excellence to be held in Pakistan.

The AGAHI Awards, Pakistan's most prestigious journalism awards, have opened submissions for journalists across the country. Journalists can submit their best work in print, television, radio and blogs through the Agahi Awards' website, www.agahiawards.com. With Awards to be held on 15 April 2015, the deadline for submission of articles, news reports has been announced as 22 March 2015.

The Agahi Awards, launched in 2012, has received an overwhelming response by the journalist community, development organizations and support from international media development and representative organizations. The platform for appreciating quality journalism was created by Mishal Pakistan and AGAHI represented by Amir Jahangir, Young Global Leader (YGL) and Puruesh Chaudhary, Global Shaper of the World Economic Forum.

This year the AGAHI Awards – Beyond 2015 will be creating appreciation for journalists reporting on Pakistan’s development challenges, especially in the context of the Global Beyond 2015 initiatives for socio-economic empowerment for improving the human conditions, said Puruesh Chaudhary, President AGAHI and Co-Founder AGAHI Awards.

“The awards are a way of recognizing journalists for their efforts and contributions towards Pakistan’s young media industry”, said Amir Jahangir, CEO Mishal Pakistan and Co-Founder of Agahi Awards. Furthermore he said, “the Pakistani media industry in its short duration has played an important role in developing public and stakeholder opinion”. “Through a transparent judging system awards create a space for qualitative and ethical journalism to be acknowledged in Pakistan”, said Jahangir.

More than 1500 journalists submitted their work in the AGAHI Awards 2013, which were almost 100 more than the awards debut in 2012. This year with more than 30 categories, the Awards aims to create content diversity in media by introducing journalistic genres, which impacts the society at large. With a large number of categories the journalists will compete on qualitative and ethical journalism standards. The categories for this year's awards include: Agriculture, Business & Economy, Competitiveness, Creating Shared Value, Crime, Dignity, Disaster and Catastrophe, Education, Energy, Water & Food Security, Corporate Social Responsibility, Entrepreneurship, Environment, Extremism & Terrorism, Foreign Policy, Governance, Health, Human Rights, Information Communication Technology, Infotainment, Innovation, Interfaith, Journalism for Peace, Judiciary, Media Ethics, Millennium Development Goals, Photojournalism, Post-2015 Development Agenda, Right to Information, Social Entrepreneurship, Sports, and Youth Empowerment with several other subcategories. Agahi Awards - Beyond 2015 has one of the most respected, reputable and globally recognized Jury Panel, which will assess the performance of journalists on a content evaluation criteria developed by AGAHI in collaboration with the Center for International Media Ethics (CIME).

The Agahi Awards are the most sought after journalism awards in Pakistan, which are held in collaboration with leading press clubs, local, and international media development institutions, regulatory authorities, civil society organizations, private sector and other stakeholders. The awards have identified some of the most brilliant and professional journalists in the industry. The Agahi Awards winners have gradually progressed in their profession; where some have either reached a decision-making or leadership position in the industry or have received academic and scholarly excellence for “Shaping the Future of Journalism”.

2.8 million children between the age of 5 and 16 remain out of school in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa despite Rs. 73,685 million budget.

2.8 million children between the age of 5 and 16 remain out of school in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa despite Rs. 73,685 million budget.

Education is the best tool to ensure long term 'rule of law' in Pakistan, conclude participants at the education governance roundtable.

"The PTI led coalition provincial government has worked hard to ensure transparency of education governance through the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Right to Information Act 2013", said Mushtaq Ahmed Ghani, Minister for Information, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa,  while chairing the Education Governance Roundtable at the Peshawar Press Club. "We declared education emergency in the province, started an education campaign and brought 0.35 million students back to school", he further said.

"The Right to Information Act passed by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Provincial assembly in 2013, has further strengthened the constitutional rights of citizens, empowering them to hold government officials accountable", said, Puruesh Chaudhary, Director Mishal Pakistan, while facilitating the group discussion. Education is the key to cultivate peace and rule of law in society, she added.

The Provincial Meeting on Education Governance convened in Peshawar today to discuss the current state of education in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The roundtable discussion took place among key stakeholders from the education sector, the dialogue aimed to highlight the importance of government and media partnership in enhancing accountability. The provincial meeting was organized by Mishal Pakistan in collaboration with ILM Ideas (a 3 year UKaid funded program).

The objective of ILM-o-AGAHI initiative is to improve accountability and media coverage of priority education issues and build consensus on education policies by engaging stakeholders, including media and policy makers.

The ruling party in the Khyber Pakthunkhwa, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf's (PTI) manifesto advocates budget allocation of 5% of GDP for education. The Economic Survey of Pakistan (2013-2014) states that the enrollment rate has improved to 91% in the year 2012 to 2013 as compared to 89% in 2011 to 2012 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP).

Zahir Shah, Senior Journalist, while moderating the discussion highlighted that in past, said that the education institutional structure in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has suffered a lot due to the regional conflicts, further worsening educational indicators in the province and adjoining areas. The way forward to the province is to address the community needs and upgrade the standards of the lost infrastructure along with the capacity building of the teachers and other human resources.

Media and government both have ignored education; we should design a curriculum that will unite the entire nation, said Nasir Hussain, former president Peshawar press club.

The participants also argued about the government's methodology to engage the same development partners in education sector reforms and curricular development, who have failed to deliver for the past several years.

Curriculum definitely requires due attention but meanwhile the government has improved enrollment and has focused on merit based selection of teachers, said, Azam Khan, District Education Officer, Peshawar. He stressed on the importance of education to improve the collective consciousness of the society. He further said that the government has made education a priority and is working towards improving the quality standards at the primary and the secondary level.

Asif Malik, Assistant Registrar COMSATS University Islamabad, said that education is like linchpin in the development of nations, without which the house of cards falls. In a country like Pakistan, the house has already fallen due to lack of seriousness towards most pressing issues of Pakistan.

Mushtaq Ahmed Ghani, Information Minister to Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Muhammad Arif, Deputy Director Elementary and Secondary Education, Azam Khan, District Education Officer Peshawar, Zahir Shah, senior journalist Khyber Pakthunkhwa, Nasir Hussain, former president press club and representatives of the non-governmental organizations and the journalist community attended the roundtable dialogue.

Mishal Pakistan with academicians and researchers produced a literature review in 2014 assessing an overarching complexity and trivial underlying causes that has subjugated the communities to an idealistic narrative on education. The study witnesses “Education Governance and Accountability” as the most underreported area in media. While the literature reviewed does speak volume of increasing public spending on education little does it discuss the possible Educational Governance models. This underreporting further positions the growing need for a dialogue to essentially build mechanisms that streamlines the transparency and utility of existing budgetary allocation for primary and secondary education.

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. Agahi Awards, an annual series of journalism awards in Pakistan, is an initiative of Mishal Pakistan and AGAHI, developed under the umbrella of the Credibility Lab creating an appreciation methodology for ethical and quality content. The theme of this year's Agahi awards is also going to be 'Education'.

40,000 Ghost Teachers and 5200 Ghost Schools remain unaddressed in Sindh despite Rs. 145 Billion budget.

40,000 Ghost Teachers and 5,200 Ghost Schools remain unaddressed in Sindh despite Rs. 145 Billion budget.

60% schools remain without drinking water facility, 40% without electricity, and 35% without any boundary walls. Over 40,000 ghost teachers and 5,229 ghost schools loiter unaddressed in Sindh despite allocation of Rs. 145.02 billion budget for education.

The Provincial Meeting on Education Governance convened in Karachi today to discuss the current state of education in Sindh. The roundtable discussion took place among the key stakeholders of in the education sector. The participants highlighted the importance of government and media partnership to enhance accountability. The meeting was organized by Mishal Pakistan in collaboration with ILM Ideas (a 3 year UKaid funded program).

The objective of ILM-o-AGAHI initiative is to improve accountability and media coverage of priority education issues and build consensus on education policies by engaging stakeholders, including media and policy makers.

Fazlullah Pechuho, Secretary Education to the Government of Sindh, Aamir Latif, President Press Club Karachi, and representatives of the non-governmental organizations and the journalist community attended the roundtable dialogue.

Puruesh Chaudhary, Director Mishal Pakistan, facilitating the group discussion said that, “education is a neglected theme in Pakistan, while the government has not given education sector a priority, media has also failed to safeguard the rights of the citizen to universal education”. Education reporting lacks the accountability perspective, she further said.

'During Pervez Musharraf's tenure schools used to be constructed without any need assessment, this has resulted in an uneven distribution of institutions across the province', said Dr. Fazlullah Pechehu, Secretary Education, Government of Sindh. He also stressed on the importance of constructive role of journalism in monitoring government's work in the education sector. He further added that the system of accountability is there but it is defective. He also said that the merit-based recruitment of teachers is essential to improve the education sector. He also informed that his department has got the approval of the cabinet for public and private partnership for schools in Sindh.

Aamir Latif, senior journalist, while moderating the discussion highlighted that in past, the most incompetent individuals used to join police department or the teaching sector, which has led to the current state of education in Sindh. 

Mishal Pakistan with academicians and researchers produced a literature review in 2014 assessing an overarching complexity and trivial underlying causes that has subjugated the communities to an idealistic narrative on education. The study witnesses “Education Governance and Accountability” as the most underreported area in media. While the literature reviewed does speak volume of increasing public spending on education little does it discuss the possible Educational Governance models. This underreporting further positions the growing need for a dialogue to essentially build mechanisms that streamlines the transparency and utility of existing budgetary allocation for primary and secondary education.

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. Agahi Awards, an annual series of awards for journalism in Pakistan, is another initiative of Mishal Pakistan, developed under the umbrella of the Credibility Lab at Mishal for creating an appreciation methodology for ethical and quality content. The theme of this year's Agahi awards is also going to be 'Education'.

Quality Education Still a Challenge in Punjab, Pakistan

Quality Education Still a Challenge in Punjab. 

A public school, just a few kilometers away from Prime Minister’s Model Town Home remains in deteriorating condition since 1973, Education Governance Roundtable, Punjab. 

Provincial Meeting on Education Governance convened in Lahore on 15 January 2015, to discuss the importance of Government and Media Partnership to Enhance Accountability. The meeting aimed at generating a discussion among major education stakeholders about the current state of education governance in the province. The ILM-o-AGAHI Education Governance Roundtable was organized by Mishal Pakistan in collaboration with Ilm Ideas (a 3 year UKaid funded program).

The objective of the ILM-O-AGAHI initiative is to improve accountability and media coverage of priority education issues and build consensus on education policies by engaging various stakeholders, including media and policy makers.

Qaiser Rashid, Deputy Secretary Education (Schools), Engineer Qamar-ul-Islam, Chairman Standing Committee on Education and Dr. Hafiz Muhammad Iqbal, Former Dean Faculty Education Punjab University along with representatives from the non-governmental organizations and the journalist community attended the roundtable dialogue.

Puruesh Chaudhary, Director Mishal Pakistan, facilitating the group discussion said, While the authenticity of data and information are essential to policy development, the use of technology can not only ensure accountability but also assess the performance of the provincial education departments in Pakistan. 

“The government plans to ensure sustainability and allocate more funds in education sector in coming years”, said Qaiser Rashid, Deputy Secretary Education (Schools). He also said that the teachers and students' attendance is highest in the region but quality remains a challenge for the Punjab government. The government is also spending Rs. 4 billion on free textbooks in Punjab and is giving a stipend of Rs. 200 every month to every female student on 80% attendance.

Engineer Qamar-ul-Islam, Chairman Standing Committee on Education, Punjab Assembly, said that teachers' attendance in Punjab is 90% and even the 10% absents are informed in advance. Education budget shouldn't include teachers' salaries in non-developmental budget. Qamar-ul-Islam further states that in future 10% disadvantaged kids will be admitted to all the schools including private schools by law. To ensure 100% attendance, Chairman Standing Committee on Education said that parents who will not send their kids to school would not be allowed to benefit from any community service initiative like Benazir Income Support etc. Chairman Standing Committee on Education then asked journalists to give input on the state of education and said that despite sending formal invitations to journalists in 2014 the department did not received anything from the journalists community.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Hafiz Muhammad Iqbal, former Dean of the education faculty of the Punjab University said, “building a sustainable system of accountability is the most critical factor for improving the education standards in Punjab”. He further said that the Punjab Government is only paying attention to the initiatives that can be counted and showed to public, however the quality of education remains unaddressed.

Mishal Pakistan with academicians and researchers produced a literature review in 2014 assessing an overarching complexity and trivial underlying causes that has subjugated the communities to an idealistic narrative on education. The study witnesses “Education Governance and Accountability” as the most underreported area in the media. While the literature reviewed does speak volume of increasing public spending on education little does it discuss the possible Educational Governance Models. This underreporting further positions the growing need for a dialogue to essentially build mechanisms that streamlines the transparency and utility of existing budgetary allocation for primary and secondary education.

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.

Pakistan at 141 Among 142 Countries on the Global Gender Gap Report 2014 of the World Economic Forum

Pakistan at 141 Among 142 Countries on the Global Gender Gap Report 2014 of the World Economic Forum.

The Global Gender Gap Report 2014
click to download the Report.

In nine years of measuring the global gender gap, the world has seen only a small improvement in equality for women in the workplace. According to the Global Gender Gap Report 2014, launched by the World Economic Forum, the gender gap for economic participation and opportunity now stands at 60% worldwide, having closed by 4% from 56% in 2006 when the Forum first started measuring it. Based on this trajectory, with all else remaining equal, it will take 81 years for the world to close this gap completely.

The ninth edition of the report finds that, among the 142 countries measured, Pakistan has been ranked at 141 and occupies the last place in the regional ranking. The country score has been fluctuated over the past nine years, ending with a slight improvement compared to 2006.

On the Economic Participation and Opportunity subindex Pakistan has experienced one of the highest negative percentage change relative to its 2006 score. Yet it has achieved one of the highest percentage change relative to its own 2006 score on the Educational Attainment subindex – even the score still falls below 2014 world average on that subindex. Pakistan ranks 141st on the Economic Participation and Opportunity subindex this year. It is one of the ten lowest-performing countries on all indicators of this subindex with the exception of Wage equality for similar work. Pakistan is one of the three countries with the lowest percentage of firms with female participation in ownership. Finally, the country ranks 119th on the Health and Survival subindex and 85th on the Political Empowerment subindex.

Amir Jahangir, Chief Executive Officer of Mishal Pakistan, a partner institute of the Global Competitiveness and Benchmarking Networks, World Economic Forum, said, “as compared to 2013, Pakistan’s indicators have not changed much, instead other countries have shown improvements. Gender parity and socio-economic empowerment has not been a priority for governments in Pakistan.” “The fact that, there is not a single female full minister either in federal or any of the provincial governments, is an alarming situation”, he further added.

     

On the global front, the gender gap is narrowest in terms of health and survival. This gap stands at 96% globally, with 35 countries having closed the gap entirely. This includes three countries that have closed the gap in the past 12 months. The educational attainment gap is the next narrowest, standing at 94% globally. Here, 25 countries have closed the gap entirely. While the gender gap for economic participation and opportunity lags stubbornly behind, the gap for political empowerment, the fourth pillar measured, remains wider still, standing at just 21%, although this area has seen the most improvement since 2006. 

With no one country having closed its overall gender gap, Nordic nations remain the most gender-equal societies in the world. Last year’s leading four nations – Iceland (1), Finland (2), Norway (3) and Sweden (4) – are joined by Denmark, which climbs from eighth place to fifth. Elsewhere in the top 10 there is considerable movement, with Nicaragua climbing four places to sixth, Rwanda entering the index for the first time at seventh, Ireland falling to eighth, the Philippines declining four places to ninth and Belgium climbing one place to tenth.

Further up the index, the United States climbs three places to 20 in 2014, after narrowing its wage gap and improving the number of women in parliamentary and ministerial level positions. Among the BRICS grouping, the highest-placed nation is South Africa (18), supported by strong scores on political participation. Brazil is next at 71, followed by Russia (75), China (87) and India (114).

Nine years of data from the Global Gender Gap Report – first published in 2006 – reveal the pattern of change around the world relative to countries’ own past performance and in relation to each other.

“Much of the progress on gender equality over the last 10 years has come from more women entering politics and the workforce. While more women and more men have joined the workforce over the last decade, more women than men entered the labour force in 49 countries. These are far-reaching changes – for economies and national cultures, however it is clear that much work still remains to be done, and that the pace of change must in some areas be accelerated, ” said Saadia Zahidi, Head of the Gender Parity Programme at the World Economic Forum and lead author of the report.

Progress has not been even across the four pillars of economy, politics, health and education. On educational attainment and health and survival, although many countries have already reached parity, the trend is actually reversing in some parts of the world. In fact, nearly 30% of the countries covered have wider education gaps than they did nine years ago, and over 40% of countries have wider health and survival gaps than they did nine years ago.

“Achieving gender equality is obviously necessary for economic reasons. Only those economies who have full access to all their talent will remain competitive and will prosper. But even more important, gender equality is a matter of justice. As a humanity, we also have the obligation to ensure a balanced set of values,” said Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum.

The Global Gender Gap Index ranks 142 countries on the gap between women and men on health, education, economic and political indicators. It aims to understand whether countries are distributing their resources and opportunities equitably between women and men, irrespective of their overall income levels. The report measures the size of the gender inequality gap in four areas:

•    Economic participation and opportunity – salaries, participation and leadership

•    Education – access to basic and higher levels of education

•    Political empowerment – representation in decision-making structures

•    Health and survival – life expectancy and sex ratio

Index scores can be interpreted as the percentage of the gap that has been closed between women and men, and allow countries to compare their current performance relative to their past performance. In addition, the rankings allow for comparisons between countries. Thirteen out of the 14 variables used to create the index are from publicly available hard data indicators from international organizations such as the International Labour Organization, the United Nations Development Programme and the World Health Organization.

The World Economic Forum is an international institution committed to improving the state of the world through public-private cooperation in the spirit of global citizenship. It engages with business, political, academic and other leaders of society to shape global, regional and industry agendas.

Incorporated as a not-for-profit foundation in 1971 and headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, the Forum is independent, impartial and not tied to any interests. It cooperates closely with all leading international organizations.