Pakistani Schools--- Please Advise!

Thank you very much

Ghazalz Jee, I don't know much about "petriotic sentiments" since these are very politically abused phrases which I would leave for our politicians.
All I want for my children, like all other expatriates of Pakistani descent, to have a strong connection to their roots, thats about it. I am not here to start a dispute or to gain admiration for my " sentiments".

Brother Xray, I checked out the links that you have provided and found them very informative.

Thank you , once again.

Its upto parent choice where they want to send their children for education... Of course all want to send to the best of best school within their available resources..

in my personal opinion getting prior information about school is a mendatory step that all parents should do.

Nomad, I am also looking for my kid, and facing same feedback for Pakistani schools. A bit confuse but we have to admit that our system has some flaws that affecting institutions as well. Recently few staff and management of Pakistani Embasyy school in Syria has been sacked by Mr. Zardari and he put his freind there, with these kind of issues it is very tough to put career of your kid in doldrums.

I am thinking to go for british system as eventually every advance studies would be in english only, we dont use urdu not even in government and courts of Pakistan then what would be the use. I suggest you to get your kid learn arabic language instead urdu but after english is must.

Being a patriotic is good and I appreciate your sentiments for urdu and Pakistan but my freind you have to accept the reality. Today even if you have to develop a web portal for URDU you must know hand full of english language...

All the best in your hunt.

Live and let live...

nomad.me, Quality of education is a real issue in Pakistani schools. If your purpose is to teach your children Urdu and Pakistani culture, you can do that at home. However, when it comes to bringing up kids, I think in addition to Urdu and knowledge about Pakistan, we should have a great focus on teaching kids our values, which is still a job of parents. You don't have to compromise the 'real education' for learning Urdu. I am an ardent proponent of learning Urdu and I believe Pakistani children should know Urdu at a good level regardless of what it takes.

Once a similar topic (about teachers) was discussed at our forum Guzergah-e-Khayal, which I have started with another QLer (CE) to promote Urdu language and literature. I have taken my comments from there and posted underneath. They might be of some benefit to research and decide on the school for your kids.

"...., you have raised an issue which is frankly true and relevant as to many teachers appointed locally who are mainly school leavers. It is not only you who have a very jaundiced view of some teachers, I too hold the same. I have some reservations to call them teachers in its strict sense. But the fact of the matter is that they are 'teachers'! This should provoke some deep thinking over this significant issue. After I met a couple of teachers at BFPS, this became my excessive concern.

Thanks to ..... for your illuminating comments which are adroitly presented..particularly that 'all teachers are not the same'. As you said, in any profession there are unprofessionals and they have a great impact on the overall reputation of others sailing in the same boat.

In here, I would not blame those young men and women for the reason that they wanted work and they were given that, what if it was teaching.. but if the implication is stretched further to include the honest assessment there is a general disdain of knowledge and unprofessionalism, that would be true justice to the this genre of people.

Higher social status people who think that teachers are not highly respectable due to the lesser money they earn, do not have any good ground for their belief. They should stop and think that if they had not had good teachers in their schools and universities they would have not been what they are now.

But this does relate back to teachers too. Some who take teaching just as a job to earn extra bucks with no real interest in it and who do not adopt or have ability to adopt scientific methods of inquiry in the field of education, are not the 'right sort of materials' for this noble profession. Just transmission of settled body of knowledge is not what is really needed. When most of the teachers do not have the aim to improve mind and spirit of their students students do not place them very high especially after they are grown up.

I studied in Doha in two old Pakistani schools. In those times hardly anything was done to foster the growth of mind and spirit. I do love my teachers and revere them more than anyone but I hardly remember if we ever together went on a mental adventure."

nomad.me, My suggestion is to admit your kids to an English school and teach them Urdu (religiously) at home. A friend of mine whose sons were born and raised in NY till the age of 8 and 10, learned Urdu just in less than a year. They could not speak a single word of it when they came to Doha. Their parents stopped talking to them in English and switched to Urdu. Also started giving them lessons in writing Urdu. Soon boys starting picking up and they were fluent in a few months. Children are quick learners and quicker in learning languages.

Mathboy Bhai, your comments helped me resolve my dilemma.
Regarding admissions in Pak schools, I am already having second thoughts since too many red flags are coming up jinke tafseel me may jana nahee chahtee .
MashaAllah, my children are exremely proud of their roots and I have already taught them basic Urdu reading and writing skills. Spoken language is a challange because my husband and I speak another language at home.
For now, I will follow your advice about avoiding English altogether and see how it goes. As they say, when there is a will ,there is a way and hopefully, we will find a way.
Shukriya again.

i agree with mathboy... just for the sack of Urdu learning it would not be a wise decision to select lower standard school...

mathboy, Can anyone do that? Please only ask my kids to explain it not their mom!
Jokes aside, Ameen and I really appreciate your thought.

Absoloutely MB bhai,
I had taught my daughter some couplets from Allama Iqbal's poems when she was only three and she still remembers them. I, as a parent, am to be blamed for discontinuing my efforts and choosing the easy option.