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Education lays the foundation for political, social and economic development of any country. A viable education system enables the nation to achieve its national goals. Pakistan as a developing country has faced critical problems of education since its inception and therefore, the system of education has failed to deliver according to the aspirations of the nation. There are various factors responsible for this situation. This paper explores some of the critical problems that have so far plagued the education system of Pakistan. On the basis of critical review of available literature, the paper presents solutions to the existing problems of the education system of Pakistan.

This research aimed to investigate the measures required for the effective implementation of a semester system for undergraduate education in graduate and post-graduate colleges affiliated with the University of Malakand. The study mainly focused on physical requirements (lecture rooms, laboratories, library), human resource requirements (faculty members, staff), issues in the curriculum, and major issues in the assessment system from the perspectives of teachers of public sector colleges affiliated with the University of Malakand. A mixed-method research design was used for data collection. First, qualitative data was collected, and analyzed through thematic analysis, and then a questionnaire was developed for quantitative data analysis. The findings of the study showed that there were several issues in the implementation of the semester system in the affiliated colleges. These included lengthy courses, outdated content, irrelevant content, lack of space such as classrooms, science labs, etc, need for curriculum improvement, poor assessment system, lack of training for teachers, and lack of regular monitoring from management and the university side. Based on the results it is suggested that the implementation of the semester system in the colleges needs to be reviewed and improved for the affiliated colleges and to ensure quality education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study sought to determine the relationship between pedagogical knowledge and classroom practices of teaching reading comprehension to secondary school English teachers. Through a simple random sampling technique, 210 secondary school English teachers were selected for this study. Research data were collected through two self-developed questionnaires, one about pedagogical knowledge and one pertaining to classroom practices of secondary school English teachers. Inferential and descriptive statistics were used to analyze the collected data. Based on the data analysis, most secondary school English teachers appear to lack pedagogical knowledge, as most of their responses were inappropriate. Most participants lacked knowledge regarding activities such as finding the main theme, summarizing, working in groups, scanning, skimming, brainstorming, and activities for different stages and types of reading. Reading comprehension techniques such as scanning, skimming, and visualizing were unclear to them. According to the research study results, they could not teach English reading comprehension using appropriate techniques and strategies. A positive relationship was also found between pedagogical knowledge and classroom practices of teaching reading comprehension among secondary school English teachers. On the basis of the findings, it is recommended that teachers receive proper training to improve their pedagogical knowledge of teaching reading comprehension. The training may be provided through in-service training and material on teaching the teachers reading comprehension. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increasing use of information and communication technology (ICT) in this digital era and its interlinkage with other economic and environmental factors have gotten considerable attention from researchers. ICT tools are considered very important in economic activities such as international trade, the financial sector, and foreign direct investment. ICT is also interlinked with innovation and energy consumption. However, ICT with these activities influences ecological footprint, especially in emerging economies such as BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) countries. Therefore, this topic has got considerable attention from researchers and policy makers on the impact of ICT and economic growth activities on environmental quality. Consequently, this study investigates the impact of information and communication technology, renewable energy consumption and innovation on carbon dioxide emission in BRICS countries from 1990 to 2019 using cointegration, generalized least square, and panel corrected standard errors models. The findings show that two ICT indicators, mobile cellular subscription and fixed broadband subscription, negatively affect carbon emission along with economic growth and financial development. Innovation and renewable energy consumption also significantly reduce emission in presence of ICT indicators, while trade openness and fixed telephone subscriptions increase it. In the case of the ICT index model, all variables are positively associated with carbon emission except renewable energy consumption, however, the square and interaction term of all indicators significantly reduce carbon emission and evidence the environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis except trade openness. ICT growth should be considered in the energy sector, innovation, and financial development to enhance environmental quality. The findings of the study have considerable policy implications for the sample countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic unexpectedly forced the educational institutions worldwide to switch over to online mode of teaching and learning to avoid traditional face to face teaching. In this critical situation, one of the challenges was to ensure quality of teaching and learning in universities. This study aimed to examine the perceptions of university teachers about the challenges and factors influencing implementation of online teaching in universities. A four factor structure model instrument was used to collect data from 242 university teachers. Descriptive statistical calculations were carried out based on Mean Score, Standard Deviation to find out the perceptions of teachers about the strongest and least strong factors influencing online teaching during Covid-19 pandemic. The results revealed that lack of access to learning content was one of the strongest factors affecting online teaching and challenge faced by teachers followed by poor internet connectivity being the second and students’ lack of readiness along with incompetence of teaching faculty while dealing with technological skills to implement the online teaching. The study showed a mixed results based on gender comparison related to the issues and challenges of online teaching. It is suggested that the university teachers may be provided relevant need training online instruction. There is a need to improve internet connectivity problem in universities. The students may also be provided access to internet connectivity to access online educational materials and resources. Further research is suggested to test the findings in other contexts using more robust methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]