Assignment No.1
Q.1 Explain the pal formulation stage in educational planning process. Also highlight the basic factors which the planner should take into consideration while formulation an educational plan.
Peer Assisted Learning (PAL) activities encompass “People from similar social groupings who are not professional teachers helping each other to learn and learning themselves by teaching” [1]. Within health professional curricula, PAL is well accepted and utilised as an educational method, involving a process of socialisation, often with junior and senior students acting as tutees and tutors respectively. PAL activities provide a framework whereby students are permitted to practice and develop their healthcare and teaching skills [2, 3]. Through the contribution of students’ varied experiences, and the use of shared resources, students learn with and from each other. However, the success of PAL activities is dependent upon two key factors: the “agency” of the individual students (tutors and tutees), that is, their willingness to participate; and importantly, the “affordance” of the activity and the workplace, that is, the invitational quality provided by the clinical school [4]. To clarify terms used within this paper, we refer to the ‘tutor’ as the students who are assisting their student peers with their learning; and we refer to the ‘tutee’ as the students being assisted in their learning by the student peer ‘tutor’.
A common purpose for implementation of PAL programs is the requirement of students to teach in their future careers, and the provision of early opportunities in helping them to prepare for these roles Initial knowledge and skills are gained through participation in tutor training programs, where students are taught how to teach. However, there is an additional responsibility for staff to ensure that appropriate opportunities are made available for health professional students to practice these teaching skills The act itself of peer tutoring is thought to provide a rich learning opportunity for students to revise their own knowledge and skills [3, 7]. Additionally, PAL offers resource saving measures for universities and hospitals. Participation in PAL activities provides additional support in preparation for assessments, and may address gaps in curriculum delivery [8].
The purpose of this paper is to assist healthcare educators and administrators responsible for curriculum design, course co-ordination, and education research, in the development of their own PAL activities. Health professional students and junior health professionals leading or participating in PAL activities may also find the paper useful. Based on the authors’ collective experience, and relevant literature, we aim to provide tips for the design, implementation and evaluation of PAL activities.
Design of PAL activities
Engagement in tasks, and a commitment to the PAL activities from both students and faculty is increased through careful planning and advanced preparation [1, 3, 9]. The following areas should be considered:
How does the PAL activity align with the curriculum?
It is important to consider how the PAL activity aligns with the curriculum, and how it might be embedded within the curriculum in future years. PAL programs afford opportunities not otherwise available within traditional healthcare curricula. Learning involves a process of preparation before class; and socialisation during class, supported by structured teaching methods and communication tools, where students’ development of knowledge and skills are jointly constructed. Health professional students have many differing roles across their clinical school, university, and beyond [7]. PAL activities that are employed should make explicit the professional expectations of students as healthcare graduates, highlighting the alignment with the current curriculum (for example, preparation for clinical assessment), and requisite graduate competencies [10].
Who will lead the PAL activity?
Planning and implementation of PAL activities requires detailed preparation and support, usually by a team of academic and administrative staff members. Although PAL activities require a team approach in terms of organisation and implementation, it is necessary to have a ‘lead’ for each activity, with an outline of responsibilities. Generally, the role of the lead, in consultation with key stakeholders entails co-ordination of: design, planning, curriculum alignment, delivery, and evaluation. The lead needs to maintain the direction of the PAL activity, ensuring good communication between team members. Although there are reports of ‘student led’ PAL activities, our own experience suggests that the support of staff and the university/hospital helps to formalise and promote the program, and gain ‘buy-in’ from students [4].
What are the resource costs?
Well run PAL activities require high levels of administrative time. The training of staff and students, creation of learning resources, and evaluation design, all require faculty time [3, 9, 11]. The expertise, time commitment for administration of the PAL activities, and associated costs, including timetabling, room bookings, notifications, catering, distribution and collection of evaluation forms, and trouble shooting, should not be underestimated. Most PAL activities require additional financial support, particularly when PAL is not embedded within the curriculum. Preparation of a budget for each PAL activity will assist in justification of resource investment by the School.
Student participation in PAL activities
Who tutors who?
Tutor and tutee roles with PAL activities are not necessarily fixed, and at different times, the tutor may also be a tutee [3, 9, 11]. For example, a reciprocal form of PAL occurs within the same cohort of students, providing a ‘same year dyadic PAL’ [1, 12, 13]. There can also be variations in the dynamics of the PAL activities. For example:
Direct peer-to-peer (students tutoring or assessing within the same cohort)
Near peer (senior students tutoring or assessing junior students)
Recruitment of participants?
Student participation in PAL activities can exist on a voluntary or compulsory basis. Ten Cate and Durning posit that PAL participation should be “part of the regular mandatory programme” as a means to increase efficiency [12]. Our own experience suggests that this is certainly true for some PAL activities, particularly when the participating student cohort is preparing for summative examinations. However, some PAL activities are better as a combination of both mandatory and voluntary participation. For example, mandatory participation for student tutees, but voluntary participation for student tutors who are enthusiastic.
What motivates students to participate in PAL activities?
Tutor motivation for joining PAL activities can include both intrinsic and extrinsic rewards [3]. While some universities have reported using monetary rewards for participation in PAL programs, intrinsic rewards feature predominantly in the literature [3]. These include: altruistic reasons for helping other students; gaining insights and understanding in assessment processes; developing a greater understanding of the topic; and the development of teaching and assessment skills [3].
Can your PAL activity be interprofessional?
Currently, there are limited examples of interprofessional activities within university healthcare education, with most being discipline specific [14]. Although there is often a preference for activities within individual disciplines, there is a need to consider how interprofessional education can be enhanced to mirror, and better prepare students for the complex healthcare systems in which they will work [15]. Early training and experience in interprofessional activities has many potential benefits, including improvements in leadership, collaboration and communication between healthcare teams, ultimately improving patient safety [16,17,18]. Although challenges include logistics, resource allocation, and differing terminology, there are many associated benefits [19]. Importantly, an interprofessional context provides a dynamic tool to increase participants’ understanding of the various roles of healthcare professionals, and shape opportunities for interprofessional activities [19, 20]. The provision of networking opportunities helps to build relationships between healthcare disciplines, and positively impacts the culture of organisations. For example, small group interprofessional activities, where participants are able to share their experiences with students from other healthcare professions, has the potential to improve communication skills, and provide a deeper understanding of the multidisciplinary work required in patient care.
1) Management and Executive time / input –
Planning needs a 360 degree approach. The executive and middle level managers of your company are the ones most in touch with the end customers. They know the external environment and competition in and out. Thus taking regular inputs from the ground level staff is important. Once the management has this input, they can take the right decisions and form a plan to implement new strategies. This new plan can bring better results for the company. However, gathering input from middle and lower level managers should be encouraged by the top management itself.
2) Commitment –
There is no use of making a time table or having an organizer if you don’t use it. Similarly, there is no use of planning if you do not follow it. While planning, you should not ignore the time and resource commitments you will have to make to implement the plan. Furthermore, the top companies generally has a whole team dedicated to the job of watching over the plans being implemented across the company and whether or not these plans are taking effect. This planning team can guide the various departments if they are straying away from the desired planning output.
3) Cost –
No plan is complete without the costing factor. There is a software known as business planning pro. This software which does business planning for you has 60–80% of tools which are focused on financial planning and forecasting. Determining the cost of implementing your plan is crucial. If the end result is going to give you 1000 dollars in profit but the cost of implementing the plan is 1500 dollars, then the plan is unviable for you. This is why costing is very important and is done extensively during the planning stage. Another factor which also needs to be taken into consideration is the contingency costing. If your plan fails, and if you have to implement a contingency plan, than what will that contingency plan cost? Thus you can understand from this that planning answers many levels of questions and sub questions.
4) Research –
Research was initially used by only the top organizations. At that time, research was for discovering new products and finding new markets. However, with a tremendous increase in buying power, competition and the overall options available to consumers, research has become a necessity. In today’s world, if you need to find whether a customer is satisfied with you – you need to conduct a research. To find whether a new product will be accepted in the market or not – you need to conduct research. To know more about your competitors – You need to conduct research. This is restricted not only to the top companies, but also to the SME’s and various small organizations out there. Thus today, research has to be applied to planning. Your planning cannot proceed without proper research and statistical analysis to support your forecasts.
5) Assumptions –
Although it does not sound a very important part of planning, it is nonetheless equally important as any other step. You need to make some assumptions as you go along with the plan. Assumptions like, what if your plan fails? What if there are some unforeseen events? What if your plan succeeds faster than you expected? These are some circumstances not under your control. These outcomes are fairly possible in any plan you make. Thus you need to have contingencies for such assumptions in your planning. An advertising agency will generally have 2–3 creatives. If one fails, they will immediately implement another. This is only because of the assumption factor. If we simply assume, that the plan will succeed, than we will have no contingencies if the plan fails.
6) Review –
This is as basic a step as possible. Whatever you implement, you have to review to learn further and to improve your planning. The review will tell you whether or not the plan was implemented properly. If the results were good, the plan was proper. Thus you will get some positive learning’s from the plan which will help you in the future. If the results were bad, you need to know which part in the plan was not implemented / planned properly. You need to make the necessary changes and implement an altogether new plan if necessary. Whether the results are good or bad, there’s always scope for improvement.
Q.2 Explain the basic elements of a project with examples. Also formulate a project for community development.
A good project plan is one of the most essential elements of success in project management. From preventing scope creep, overblown budgets, and missed deadlines to minimizing stress and frustration. An ounce of prevention in project planning is worth a pound of cure. So, how do you create a good project plan and what are the essential elements of a project plan?
This article shares ten key ingredients to create the perfect plan and keep your team and projects running smoothly. We also have an infographic below to summarize these project elements.
Who creates project plans?
The obvious answer to this is project managers. But everyone who has to manage projects in their roles can benefit from creating project plans before starting a new project, especially in cases of similar or recurring projects. A project plan saves you the time it takes to recreate the same project over again.
Team members and stakeholders involved in the project and its results may provide input, expertise, costs, and other relevant information to be added and approved before the project manager puts the finishing touches on the project plan.
Why are project plans important?
Project plans are important because they provide a shared vision for what the project aims to accomplish. This shared understanding keeps the team working together to achieve the project’s goals and deliver excellent results.
Project plans give clarity on the responsibilities of each team member and stakeholder in the project. They also organize the project’s work from start to finish and prevent extraneous work from crowding out critical tasks.
Project plans can become a powerful communication tool within the team throughout the project. They serve as an important written reference for the project manager, team members, and external stakeholders. These plans also help to mitigate risk and maintain quality at all stages of the project — from planning to completion.
Elements of a project plan you shouldn’t overlook
There are essential elements you must include to create a good project plan. Keep in mind that creating and working with a flawed project plan is just as bad as working without one.
Timeline, costs, and deliverables should be detailed clearly to show the scope of your project. In the ten sections below, you’ll find ten essential elements of a project plan you shouldn’t overlook.
- Outline business justification and stakeholder needs
Before starting your project, it is essential to align the project’s goals and needs with your team and organizational aims. How important is this project to the organizational objectives? How does it tie in with the goals for the year or quarter? What do the involved stakeholders expect?
These are a few questions you can ask to outline and align the new project with your organization and stakeholder needs.
- List of requirements and project objectives
Even though a project plan is a living set of documents that is sure to change during the project, it is necessary to set a deliberate course to meet the project objectives.
As a project manager, you should analyze the needs of all parties involved in the project and determine the requirements to achieve them. What objectives must the project achieve to be successful? What features and capabilities should the deliverables have?
As the project progresses, there may be a need to correct some aspects of your project plan and that’s okay.
- Project scope statement
The project scope statement is one of the most essential elements of a project plan. It forms a foundation for the rest of the project plan.
In the project scope statement, the project manager finalizes and records all project details to get everyone involved on the same page. This statement describes the project and its steps and requirements. It is usually the reference to get agreement and buy-in from external stakeholders involved in the project.
- List of deliverables and estimated due dates
From the preparation of the project scope statement, you should now have a clearer idea of the deliverables and outcomes to be delivered to complete this project. From there, you should list out what tasks and deliverables each team member is expected to produce and when.
A work breakdown structure is typically the best way to achieve this step. You can use a simple list, flow chart, spreadsheet, or Gantt chart to map out all the project work, assign to teammates, set due dates, and mark any dependencies.
In this breakdown, it is also necessary to note which deliverables or tasks will need to be approved by external stakeholders and ensure there are no delays due to task dependencies or reviews and approvals.
- Detailed project schedule
A common misconception about project plans is that the project plan is the same as the project schedule. The project schedule is simply one of many components of a project plan.
In a project schedule, you estimate how long it will take to complete each task while leaving enough room for slack and dependencies. It is a clear calendarization of all required tasks and timelines. It shows the project’s duration, who is doing what, and when each task begins and ends.
Helping the Hungry and/or Homeless
Build a house with Habitat for Humanity.
Donate your old clothes.
Volunteer at a soup kitchen.
Donate old eyeglasses to an organization that collects that and distributes them to people in need.
Donate non-perishable food to a food bank.
Donate blankets to a homeless shelter.
Q.3 Critically review the educational system of Pakistan. Also suggest measures to make this system more efficient and effective.
Education in Pakistan is overseen by the Federal Ministry of Education and the provincial governments, whereas the federal government mostly assists in curriculum development, accreditation and in the financing of research and development. Article 25-A of Constitution of Pakistan obligates the state to provide free and compulsory quality education to children of the age group 5 to 16 years. “The State shall provide free and compulsory education to all children of the age of five to sixteen years in such a manner as may be determined by law”.
The education system in Pakistan is generally divided into six levels: preschool (for the age from 3 to 5 years), primary (grades one through five), middle (grades six through eight), high (grades nine and ten, leading to the Secondary School Certificate or SSC), intermediate (grades eleven and twelve, leading to a Higher Secondary School Certificate or HSSC), and university programs leading to undergraduate and graduate degrees. The Higher Education Commission established in 2002 is responsible for all universities and degree awarding institutes. It was established in 2002 with Prof. Atta-ur-Rahman FRS as its Founding Chairman.
The literacy rate ranges from 82% in Islamabad to 23% in the Torghar District. Literacy rates vary by gender and region. In tribal areas female literacy is 9.5%, while Azad Kashmir has a literacy rate of 74%. Pakistan produces about 445,000 university graduates and 25,000-30,000 computer science graduates per year. Despite these statistics, Pakistan still has low literacy rate. And Pakistan also has the second largest out of school population (22.8 million children) after Nigeria.
Primary education[edit]
A primary school in a village in the Sindh region
Only about 67.5% of Pakistani children finish primary school education. The standard national system of education is mainly inspired from the English educational system. Pre-school education is designed for 3–5 years old and usually consists of three stages: Play Group, Nursery and Kindergarten (also called ‘KG’ or ‘Prep’). After pre-school education, students go through junior school from grades 1 to 5. This is followed by middle school from grades 6 to 8. At middle school, single-sex education is usually preferred by the community, but co-education is also common in urban cities. The curriculum is usually subject to the institution. The eight commonly examined disciplines are:
Computer Studies and ICT
General Science (including Physics, Chemistry and Biology)
Modern languages with literature i.e. Urdu and English
Religious Education i.e. Islamic Studies
Social Studies (including Civics, Geography, History, Economics, Sociology and sometimes elements of law, politics and PHSE)
Most schools also offer drama studies, music and physical education but these are usually not examined or marked. Home economics is sometimes taught to female students, whereas topics related to astronomy, environmental management and psychology are frequently included in textbooks of general science. Sometimes archaeology and anthropology are extensively taught in textbooks of social studies. SRE is not taught at most schools in Pakistan although this trend is being rebuked by some urban schools. Provincial and regional languages such as Punjabi, Sindhi, Pashto and others may be taught in their respective provinces, particularly in language-medium schools. Some institutes give instruction in foreign languages such as German, Turkish, Arabic, Persian, French and Chinese. The language of instruction depends on the nature of the institution itself, whether it is an English-medium school or an Urdu-medium school.
As of 2009, Pakistan faces a net primary school attendance rate for both sexes of 66% , a figure below estimated world average of 90 percent.
An English textbook dialogue:
“Mother: Ali,…not going to pray today?
Ali: Mama,…not feeling well.
Mother: ..you are grown up now,
..should not miss your prayers.
Ali: Mama! Why do we pray?
Mother: Because …to thank ALLAH
Almighty for His blessings.
Ali: Can’t we skip prayers
even for a single day?
Mother: No, we cannot.
Ali: Ok mama. I’ll not skip…
Mother: Good…”
~English Textbook of
Punjab Textbook Board
of Grade 8 in Pakistan
As of 2007, public expenditure on education was 2.2 percent of GNPs, a marginal increase from 2 percent before 1984–85. Very little (only about 12%) of the total national allocation to education goes to higher education with about 88% being spent on lower level education. Lower education institutions such as primary schools suffer under such conditions as the lower income classes are unable to enjoy subsidies and quality education.
Secondary education[edit]
Federal Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education office in Islamabad
Secondary education in Pakistan begins in grade 9 and lasts for four years. After end of each of the school years, students are required to pass a national examination administered by a regional Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (or BISE).
Upon completion of grade 9, students are expected to take a standardised test in each of the first parts of their academic subjects (SSC-I). They again take these tests of the second parts of the same courses at the end of grade 10 (SSC-II). Upon successful completion of these examinations, they are awarded a Secondary School Certificate (or SSC). This is locally termed a ‘matriculation certificate‘ or ‘matric’ for short. The curriculum usually includes a combination of eight courses including electives (such as Biology, Chemistry, Computer and Physics) as well as compulsory subjects (such as Mathematics, English, Urdu, Islamic studies and Pakistan Studies). The total marks for Matric are 1100 divided between 9th and 10th. The marks are divided in each year follows: 75 marks for Maths, English and Urdu, 50 marks for Islamic Studies (religion) and Pakistan Studies, 65 marks for Sciences (Biology, Chemistry, Physics). an additional 60 marks are allotted for practicals (20 for each science). Students then enter an intermediate college and complete grades 11 and 12. Upon completion of each of the two grades, they again take standardised tests in their academic subjects (HSSC-I and HSSC-II). Upon successful completion of these examinations, students are awarded the Higher Secondary School Certificate (or HSSC). This level of education is also called the FSc/FA/ICS or ‘intermediate’. There are many streams students can choose for their 11 and 12 grades, such as pre-medical, pre-engineering, humanities (or social sciences), computer science and commerce. Each stream consists of three electives and as well as three compulsory subjects of English, Urdu, Islamiat (grade 11 only) and Pakistan Studies (grade 12 only).
Alternative qualifications in Pakistan are available but are maintained by other examination boards instead of BISE. Most common alternative is the General Certificate of Education (or GCE), where SSC and HSSC are replaced by Ordinary Level (or O Level) and Advanced Level (or A Level) respectively. Other qualifications include IGCSE which replaces SSC. GCE and GCSE O Level, IGCSE and GCE AS/A Level are managed by British examination boards of CIE of the Cambridge Assessment and/or Edexcel International of the Pearson PLC. Generally, 8-10 courses are selected by students at GCE O Levels and 3–5 at GCE A Levels.
Advanced Placement (or AP) is an alternative option but much less common than GCE or IGCSE. This replaces the secondary school education as ‘High School Education’ instead. AP exams are monitored by a North American examination board, College Board, and can only be given under supervision of centers which are registered with the College Board, unlike GCE O/AS/A Level and IGCSE which can be given privately.
Another type of education in Pakistan is called “Technical Education” and combines technical and vocational education. The vocational curriculum starts at grade 5 and ends with grade 10. Three boards, the Punjab Board of Technical Education (PBTE), KPK Board of Technical Education (KPKBTE) and Sindh Board of Technical Education (SBTE) offering Matric Tech. course called Technical School Certificate (TSC) (equivalent to 10th grade) and Diploma of Associate Engineering (DAE) in engineering disciplines like Civil, Chemical, Architecture, Mechanical, Electrical, Electronics, Computer etc. DAE is a three years program of instructions which is equivalent to 12th grade. Diploma holders are called associate engineers. They can either join their respective field or take admission in B.Tech. and BE in their related discipline after DAE.
Furthermore, the A level qualification, inherited by the British education system is widely gained in the private schools of Pakistan. Three to four subjects are selected, based on the interest of the student. It is usually divided into a combination of similar subjects within the same category, like Business, Arts and Sciences. This is a two-year program. A level institutions are different from high school. You must secure admission in such an institution, upon the completion of high school, i.e. the British system equivalent being O levels. O levels and A levels are usually not taught within the same school.
Tertiary education[edit]
The University of the Punjab, established 1882 in Lahore, is the oldest university of Pakistan.
According to UNESCO‘s 2009 Global Education Digest, 6% of Pakistanis (9% of men and 3.5% of women) were university graduates as of 2007. Pakistan plans to increase this figure to 10% by 2015 and subsequently to 15% by 2020. There is also a great deal of variety between age cohorts. Less than 6% of those in the age cohort 55-64 have a degree, compared to 8% in the 45-54 age cohort, 11% in the 35-44 age cohort and 16% in the age cohort 25–34.
GIK Institute from the Clock Tower
Quaid-i-Azam University entrance
After earning their HSSC, students may study in a professional institute for Bachelor’s degree courses such as engineering (BE/BS/BSc Engineering), medicine (MBBS), dentistry (BDS), veterinary medicine (DVM), law (LLB), architecture (BArch), pharmacy (Pharm.D) and nursing (BSc Nursing). These courses require four or five years of study. The accreditation councils which accredit the above professional degrees and register these professionals are: Pakistan Engineering Council (PEC), Pakistan Medical Commission (PMC), Pakistan Veterinary Medical Council (PVMC), Pakistan Bar Council (PBC), Pakistan Council for Architects and Town Planners (PCATP), Pharmacy Council of Pakistan (PCP) and Pakistan Nursing Council (PNC). Students can also attend a university for Bachelor of Arts (BA), Bachelor of Science (BSc), Bachelor of Commerce (BCom) or Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) degree courses.
There are two types of Bachelor courses in Pakistan: Pass or Honors. Pass degree requires two years of study and students normally read three optional subjects (such as Chemistry or Economics) in addition to almost equal number of compulsory subjects (such as English, islamiyat and Pakistan Studies). Honours degree requires four years of study, and students normally specialize in a chosen field of study, such as Biochemistry (BSc Hons. Biochemistry).
Pass Bachelors is now slowly being phased out for Honours throughout the country.
Regarding teacher education programs, there are multiple paths in which a pre-service teacher can take. The first option includes; 12 years of schooling. Then, the person would receive an Associate’s degree in education. Finally, they would receive a Bachelor’s degree in education for two more years to become an elementary teacher. The second option available would include 12 years of schooling and four years of schooling to receive a Bachelor of Education for either elementary or secondary educators. The other options range from 14 to 16 years of schooling. Finally, one could receive their master’s or Ph.D. in education. According to the article, “Teacher Education in Pakistan”: there are many teacher training institutes throughout Pakistan. In the past, there had been around 40,000 teachers being trained in short term programs per year. Even with this amount of training, there are a few criticisms regarding teacher training. These programs are more knowledge based and not application based. There is more focus and interest on memorizations to qualify and pass exams. Lastly, these trainers do not have any extra qualifications and are not highly qualified to begin with.
Quaternary education[edit]
Pak India Comparison of Research publications per 10 million population for period 2000-2018; Pakistan green India blue;Pakistan overtook India in 2017 due to reforms introduced by Prof. Atta-ur-Rahman FRS
Prof. Atta-ur-Rahman receiving the Fellowship of Royal Society(London) from Prof. Martin Reese, after signing the 360 year old book of the Royal Society with a feather pen.
HEJ Research Institute of Chemistry is integral part of International Center of Chemical and Biological Sciences at University of Karachi, Pakistan’s leading research center[citation needed]
Dr. Panjwani Center for Molecular Medicine and Drug Research is part of International Center for Chemical Biological Sciences, at University of Karachi, the UNESCO Regional Center of Excellence.
Most of Master’s degree programs require two years education. Master of Philosophy (MPhil) is available in most of the subjects and can be undertaken after doing Masters. Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) education is available in selected areas and is usually pursued after earning a MPhil degree. Students pursuing MPhil or PhD degrees must choose a specific field and a university that is doing research work in that field. MPhil and PhD education in Pakistan requires a minimum of two years of study.
Nonformal and informal education[edit]
Out of the formal system, the public sectors runs numerous schools and training centres, most being vocational-oriented. Among those institutions can be found vocational schools, technical training centres and agriculture and vocational training centres. An apprenticeship system is also framed by the state of Pakistan. Informal education is also important in Pakistan and regroups mostly school-leavers and low-skilled individuals, who are trained under the supervision of a senior craftsman. Few institutes are run by corporates to train university students eligible for jobs and provide experience during education fulfilling a gap between university and industry for example: Appxone Private Limited is training Engineers with professional development on major subjects of Electronics and Computer science and other fields.
Madrassas[edit]
Main article: Madrassas in Pakistan
Madrassas are Islamic seminaries. Most Madrasas teach mostly Islamic subjects such as Tafseer (Interpretation of the Quran), Hadith (sayings of Muhammad), Fiqh (Islamic Law), Arabic language and include some non-Islamic subjects, such as logic, philosophy, mathematics, to enable students to understand the religious ones. The number of madrassas are popular among Pakistan’s poorest families in part because they feed and house their students. Estimates of the number of madrasas vary between 12,000 and 40,000. In some areas of Pakistan they outnumber the public schools.
Q.4 Explain the function and computational techniques of project appraisal in the context of Pakistan.
Some of the methods of project appraisal are as follows:
- Economic Analysis:
Under economic analysis, the project aspects highlighted include requirements for raw material, level of capacity utilization, anticipated sales, anticipated expenses and the probable profits. It is said that a business should have always a volume of profit clearly in view which will govern other economic variables like sales, purchases, expenses and alike.
It will have to be calculated how much sales would be necessary to earn the targeted profit. Undoubtedly, demand for the product will be estimated for anticipating sales volume. Therefore, demand for the product needs to be carefully spelled out as it is, to a great extent, deciding factor of feasibility of the project concern.
- Financial Analysis:
Finance is one of the most important pre-requisites to establish an enterprise. It is finance only that facilitates an entrepreneur to bring together the labour of one, machine of another and raw material of yet another to combine them to produce goods.
In order to adjudge the financial viability of the project, the following aspects need to be carefully analysed:
- Assessment of the financial requirements both – fixed capital and working capital need to be properly made. You might be knowing that fixed capital normally called ‘fixed assets’ are those tangible and material facilities which purchased once are used again and again. Land and buildings, plants and machinery, and equipment’s are the familiar examples of fixed assets/fixed capital. The requirement for fixed assets/capital will vary from enterprise to enterprise depending upon the type of operation, scale of operation and time when the investment is made. But, while assessing the fixed capital requirements, all items relating to the asset like the cost of the asset, architect and engineer’s fees, electrification and installation charges (which normally come to 10 per cent of the value of machinery), depreciation, pre-operation expenses of trial runs, etc., should be duly taken into consideration. Similarly, if any expense is to be incurred in remodeling, repair and additions of buildings should also be highlighted in the project report.
- In accounting, working capital means excess of current assets over current liabilities. Generally, 2: 1 is considered as the optimum current ratio. Current assets refer to those assets which can be converted into cash within a period of one week. Current liabilities refer to those obligations which can be payable within a period of one week. In short, working capital is that amount of funds which is needed in day today’s business operations. In other words, it is like circulating money changing from cash to inventories and from inventories to receivables and again converted into cash.
This circle goes on and on. Thus, working capital serves as a lubricant for any enterprise, be it large or small. Therefore, the requirements of working capital should be clearly provided for. Inadequacy of working capital may not only adversely affect the operation of the enterprise but also bring the enterprise to a grinding halt.
The activity level of an enterprise expressed as capacity utilization, needs to be well spelt out in the business plan or project report. However, the enterprise sometimes fails to achieve the targeted level of capacity due to various business vicissitudes like unforeseen shortage of raw material, unexpected disruption in power supply, inability to penetrate the market mechanism, etc.
Then, a question arises to what extent and enterprise should continue its production to meet all its obligations/liabilities. ‘Break-even analysis’ (BEP) gives an answer to it. In brief, break-even analysis indicates the level of production at which there is neither profit nor loss in the enterprise. This level of production is, accordingly, called ‘break-even level’.
Q.5 Analyze the basic difference between project appraisal and evaluation
What is Project appraisal (or evaluation)?
Project appraisal (or evaluation) is an independent activity, but similar to monitoring is related to project monitoring in some aspects. The project evaluation is an analysis of the information collected and systematized during the monitoring. It focuses on how the results contribute to the immediate objective and to what extent it will lead to the achievement of the common goals.
The aspects of the project evaluation (appraisal)
The project evaluation or appraisal is a purposeful and systematic assessment that can cover various aspects:
Relevance – whether the strategy adopted is consistent with the goals set;
Impact – aims to clarify the differences and changes caused by the project and to check whether the project is relevant to the specific circumstances;
Efficiency and efficiency – whether the finances are used appropriately.
The main purpose of the project evaluation (appraisal)
The main purpose of the project evaluation (appraisal) is to provide information on the results, and its purpose is to improve the quality and effectiveness of project management. The evaluation is carried out at certain stages – during the preparation of the project, at some point after its implementation and after its completion.
The ex-ante evaluation analyzes the adequacy of the implementing and monitoring provisions and assists in establishing procedures and defining project selection criteria. It checks the coherence between the project and the proposed activities, the quality of the strategy and objectives, the allocation of resources, results, and impacts. The results of the ex-ante evaluation are essential for the functioning of the monitoring system.
The mid-term evaluation aims to evaluate the initial results and make recommendations for the changes needed to achieve the objectives. Outcome and impact indicators, together with monitoring indicators, are a source of information on which the evaluation of projects during their implementation is based. The evaluation addresses a set of specific project implementation issues – relevance, efficiency, effectiveness, impact, and sustainability, in the context of the defined objectives. It is important to note here that the evaluation of projects carried out by an independent evaluator is based on the monitoring information, and its results are used by the monitoring bodies to outline problems and opportunities for corrective action.
The data for the interim evaluation
The data for the interim evaluation (including, where necessary, revision of the indicators) is contained in the interim evaluation reports. Performance is measured based on a limited number of monitoring indicators reflecting the effectiveness, quality of management, and financial implementation of the projects. The mid-term evaluation data shall be provided to the monitoring body for the evaluation of the initial results of the project support, their relevance, and the degree of achievement of the objectives. All information provided to the monitoring body shall specify the frequency and timetable for its collection and provision, as well as the authorities and institutions responsible for providing the data at all levels of government (project, program).
Performance evaluation
The performance evaluation considers the extent to which the resources, efficiency and effectiveness, socio-economic impact, and relevance of the project have been used in the context of the objectives set. It identifies the factors that contribute to the success or failure of the project, achievements, and results, including from a sustainability perspective, and identifies good practices.
Ex-post evaluation is usually carried out in the form of an independent review of the history, objectives, results, activities, and resources to draw lessons from the lessons learned that may be useful in future project activity. A detailed analysis of the original plan, changes made over time, actual development and relative success should be made. The main objective is to identify procedures and techniques that have not been effective. Missing or insufficient management tools, new project management techniques must also be identified, and unnecessary processes and tools eliminated if necessary.
Project evaluation efficiency
For evaluation efficiency, the techniques used must have the following characteristics: reach and involve all key actors; carry out a quality analysis, enabling end-users to express their views; use different techniques to collect quantitative information. Information can be collected through surveys, questionnaires, surveys, and discussions.
The evaluation process can be complicated due to differences in understanding and objectivity, reluctance to provide/disclose information, difficulty in measuring quality indicators.
Completion of the project is carried out with the preparation of a final report describing the results achieved by the project, the type, and extent of its impact on the improvement of the situation of the sector or region concerned.
The Project evaluation (appraisal) report
The report shall contain the following information:
Progress made on implementation in line with project objectives;
Financial performance;
Actions taken to ensure the quality and efficiency of implementation;
Information on significant implementation problems and measures taken to address them.
Information on the actual costs and duration of activities, costs, and use of resources, as well as all contracts, reports, and project reports, should be stored in an organized database to support planning for future projects.
SUMMARY
Monitoring is an activity consisting of the systematic and continuous collection, reporting and transfer of information on the reached stage of project implementation and spending, identifying problems, making recommendations, and taking corrective measures.
Project monitoring indicators are physical and financial and show specific goals, physical implementation, and implementation of the financial plan.
The system of monitoring indicators consists of baseline indicators, program indicators, performance indicators.
Baseline data form the basis for developing the project plan, setting goals, and assessing project impacts.
The program indicators are input indicators, end-product indicators, performance indicators, indicators for general and specific impacts.
Performance indicators measure interim performance over the original quantitative targets and address three issues: efficiency, quality of management, and financial performance.
The monitoring system contains four interconnected elements: collected data, management information systems, procedures for collecting, processing, and transferring data via the database, institutions operating the system.
The primary purpose of project control is to ensure compliance with the principles of sound financial management – economy, efficiency, and effectiveness.
The project’s financial management and control system include:
control criteria;
frequency of inspections;
units and specialists exercising control;
forms for providing control results;
types of control (control of the physical implementation of the project and financial control).
