Needed: A National Dialogue on Science, Technology, Research and Higher/Basic Education

For once, the Pakistani chowkies have realized that it is futile to respond to zealots and extremists like Jay....

Nicely ignored, might I say!

I hope he can be made part of the fading background with each successive discussion like this.

hasan, send your article to education@dawn.com -- if we like it, we can print it -- and u will get a monetary reward too :)

jay -- plz plz plz plz get a life :)

Athar:

A very nicely done article.

My submission is that it is too early to classify the initiative as a failure. We should give Government`s initiatives more time before we can actually start gauging the performance.

Athar:

Neat Idea. It seems that you are trying to emulate the example set by OPEN-Boston. They came up with a business plan contest a few years back and it was quite successful. After briefly reviewing the line of thought, it seems to have very specific audience: mostly fresh graduates, post grad students and probably educationists. Some of your questions take one back at least 5 - 7 years. I think way back Dr. Ata was asking similar questions to Pakistanis abroad.

Positive efforts must be appreciated, but unfortunately such initiatives do not have a tendency to take it to the next step. To give an example: You learn certain mathematical equations in your formative years. Once you have learned the nuances, you move on. Many of these studies do not move on and keep on coming back with different colors and covers. By the time they come back, the audience has moved 10 years ahead based on their exposure and development. And, unfortunately they lose interest in such initiatives. The above is a very personal observation.

Hopefully, this line of thought will have a smooth transition to the next step.

Good Luck!

Osama,

This is the ultimate display of sofistry, pretending that pakistan problems are as complicated as it is in other countries. In pakistan 7 year olds are learning to count by counting the corpses left behind by the jihadis.

Do you really need any discussions to stop this type of questions from maths education, jihadi kills 6 infidals why a lasjer kills 3, how many totally killed.
Osama, if this is maths education, one can only imagine what the socila studies are like, and what science is like.
Osama, these maths books were not written by the jihadis, they were written by the educated sitting in ministries. Osama, take it from me , the problem of pakistan is the jihadic minds of the educated.
Take the case of your article, it is merely intended to delay the changes to the maths books, You are only trying to delay it by making it look like siomething more complicated than what it is.
Your this article is no different from the plans of mushy to have a discussion on honour killing to decide whether it should be banned or not.
The problem of pakistan is the educated like you, coming up with subterfuges to support the jihadis.

Dear Hasan. The competition is open for ALL Professionals and Students

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all citizens of Pakistan--who have a story to tell or a point to make on Education, Research, Science and Technology in this country. You may visit the competition`s wesbite http://npds.vttp.org to read the detailed writers guidelines and get some ideas about how/what to write.

Dear Sir,

Is this contest open only for proffessionals? I am an undergraduate student and I have a LOT to say on the subject of education in Pakistan. I really am prepared to write an essay on this issue. I don`t really care about the monetary rewards. I just want to know whether you will take an undergraduate student`s essay seriously enough.

Thanks
Hassan.