Technology has revolutionized the field of education. The importance of technology in schools cannot be ignored. In fact, with the onset of computers in education, it has become easier for teachers to impart knowledge and for students to acquire it. The use of technology has made the process of teaching and learning enjoyable. The Internet is a huge information base. It can be used as an effective tool for acquiring knowledge. All web user needs to do is to key in queries to search engines. Users are having thousands of search results. There are several websites and web directories that offer information on topics. And all this is just a few clicks away. Both teachers and students can a benefit from this.
Computers offer an interactive audio-visual medium. PowerPoint presentations and animation software can be used to present information in an interactive way. Owing to the audio-visual effects, this way of teaching invites greater interest for students. The method is equally helpful for teachers. The Projectors and screens facilitate simultaneous viewing of information by a large number of students. Addressing systems using microphones and speakers make it possible for teachers to reach a larger number of students simultaneously. These teaching aids have led to improvements in student attendance. Interactive media have proven to be useful in increasing students’ concentration levels. Technology aids student expression. Students can use much more than just pen and paper to express themselves or present what they have learned. They can use software to make presentations and projects. This makes them more interested in the subject and leads to better retention of information. With technological aids. they can make easy-to-remember notes and a creative presentation of the information they have acquired. It won’t be wrong to say that application of technology has made a student’s life easy. It’s easier for students to carry a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) than carrying big books to school. An iPad is less bulky than a pile of notebooks or an e-book reader much lighter than a book.
The importance of technology in education cannot be stressed enough. The introduction of technology in the educational field has made the process of learning and knowledge sharing, a more interactive and pleasurable experience. Perhaps, the greatest impact of technology on education is the change in perspective. The paradigm shift in thinking from local to global can be attributed to technology. Indeed technology is one of God’s greatest gifts to mankind.
“Technology is a gift of God. After the gift of life it is perhaps the greatest of God’s gifts. It is the mother of civilizations, of arts and of sciences”. - Freeman Dyson

Religion and education

Education in Pakistan is heavily influenced by religion. For instance, a study of Pakistani science teachers showed that many rejected evolution based on religious grounds.^[27]However, most Pakistani teachers (14 out of 18) either accepted or considered the possibility of the evolution of living organisms, although nearly all Pakistani science teachers rejected human evolution because they believed that ‘human beings did not evolve from monkeys.’ Although many teachers rejected the evolution of humans, "all agreed that there is ‘no contradiction between science and Islam’ in general".^[27]

Language

Education in Pakistan is carried out in two languages, Urdu and English. While Urdu is the national language, it was originally and initially developed in Uttar Pradesh in neighboring India. The language was chosen as the national language by the founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah and has no relation to the belief that it was brought to Pakistan during the Partition of India by migrants called Muhajir Urdu. Urdu quickly dominated the Pakistani political landscape and Urdu is mandatory in all schools and educational institutions as part of a strategy to undermine the indigenous languages and cultures of the region (some of them being Punjabi, Sindhi, Pashto, Brahui). Education in Pakistan was severely affected by the language bias.^[25]

According to a 2010 British Council report, this forced imposition of Urdu on non-Urdu speakers in Pakistani schools and universities has resulted in the systematic degradation and decline of many of Pakistan's indigenous cultures, is partly responsible for a rise in reactionary rebellions against this ethnocracy (such as Sindhi nationalism, Baloch insurgency etc.), and contributes to discontent and political instability in the country.^[26] The report also cites rising illiteracy rates in Pakistan among the indigenous and attributes it to the forced imposition of Urdu in schools, leading to non-Urdu speakers, feeling threatened by the neglect of their languages in Pakistani education, becoming increasingly reluctant to enroll in these schools.

Universities world rankings

According to the Quality Standard World University Ranking 2010 there are two Pakistani universities among top 200 Technology Universities of the World. Eleven Pakistani other universities including University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore, Institute Of Space Technology (IST),Quaid-e-Azam University, National University of Science & Technology,University of Karachi, ranked among World Top 1000 Universities of world, according to World Ranking of Universities.

Education expenditure as percentage of GDP

Public expenditure on education lies on the fringes of 2 percent of GDP. However, in 2009 the government approved the new national education policy, which stipulates that education expenditure will be increased to 7% of GDP,^[22] an idea that was first suggested by thePunjab government.^[23]

The author of an article,^{[citation needed]} which reviews the history of education spending in Pakistan since 1972, argues that this policy target raises a fundamental question: What extraordinary things are going to happen that would enable Pakistan to achieve within six years what it has been unable to lay a hand on in the past six decades? The policy document is blank on this question and does not discuss the assumptions that form the basis of this target. Calculations of the author show that during the past 37 years, the highest public expenditure on education was 2.80 percent of GDP in 1987-88. Public expenditure on education as a percentage of GDP was actually reduced in 16 years and maintained in 5 years between 1972–73 and 2008-09. Thus, out of total 37 years since 1972, public expenditure on education as a percentage of GDP either decreased or remained stagnant for 21 years. The author argues if linear trend were maintained since 1972, Pakistan could have touched 4 percent of GDP well before 2015. However, it is unlikely to happen because the levels of spending have had remained significantly unpredictable and unsteady in the past. Given this disappointing trajectory, increasing public expenditure on education to 7 percent of GDP would be nothing less than a miracle but it is not going to be of godly nature. Instead, it is going to be the one of political nature because it has to be "invented" by those who are at the helm of affairs. The author suggests that little success can be made unless Pakistan adopts an "unconventional" approach to education. That is to say, education sector should be treated as a special sector by immunizing budgetary allocations for it from fiscal stresses and political and economic instabilities. Allocations for education should not be affected by squeezed fiscal space or surge in military expenditure or debts. At the same time, there is a need to debate others options about how Pakistan can "invent" the miracle of raising education expenditure to 7 percent of GDP by 2015.^[24]

Abdus Salam[edit]

University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore

Main article: Abdus Salam

Abdus Salam was a Pakistani theoretical physicist and Nobel laureate in Physics for his work on the electroweak unification of the electromagnetic and weak forces. Salam, Sheldon Glashow and Steven Weinberg shared the 1979 Nobel prize for this discovery. Salam holds the distinction of being the first Pakistani and Muslim to receive the prize in the sciences. Salam heavily contributed to the rise of Pakistani physics to the Physics community in the world.^[20][21]

Abdus Salam

University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore

Main article: Abdus Salam

Abdus Salam was a Pakistani theoretical physicist and Nobel laureate in Physics for his work on the electroweak unification of the electromagnetic and weak forces. Salam, Sheldon Glashow and Steven Weinberg shared the 1979 Nobel prize for this discovery. Salam holds the distinction of being the first Pakistani and Muslim to receive the prize in the sciences. Salam heavily contributed to the rise of Pakistani physics to the Physics community in the world.^[20][21]