Do you think the O/A level culture is destroying sports in Pakistani schools?

[Major]

Almost every school that i have seen which has O/A levels, those schools only concentrate on those subjects O level and A level subjects. ANything that doesnt get on a CIE report card is irrelevant, thus after grade 8, schools dont have any sports class, physical education, drama or music class, or any of those sort of things.

When i was in Canada, physical education, team group activities(GYM class) were compulsory subjects in the first 2 years of high school. Having an art or drama or music class, one of which was also compulsory in the first year of highschool.

I realized that having many different kinds of courses allowed students to find out what they are good at.

When i moved to Pakistan, here we didn't have any class that had sports or any fun activites. Every class i attended in Pakistan was a class regarding how to solve a CIE paper. How to look for keywords.

The only sports we played was during lunch time with our own equipment and using the skills that we had only learned in the streets.

While in canada, we had coaches and gym teachers teaching us how to play different sports. I ended up learning how to play volleyball.

Do you think that lack of sports due to the O/A level examination culture will affect us internationally? I believe pakistan's reason for sucking in Hockey is because you dont see people playing hockey in school. Never in my life have i seen field hockey been played in a Pakistani school.

 

[Syed1]

Bhai which school you went to?

In Olevels I had sports period once a week from class 9 to 11. In Alevels on a typical day we had 2-3 free periods to play which ever sports we want to.

 

[Slog]

Couple of things

1) The good schools (or those with big grounds atleast) do have sports. However the problem is that in Pakistan education is a business with many schools opening in 500 square yard houses in whatnot. And good schools! So obviously with schools that small you cant have a sport culture

2) The kids doing O/A Levels are normally from well off backgrounds. If they are so inclined they will have opportunities regardless

3) Kids from such schools will RARELY ever even want to be professional

(As for Hockey. The team was always fed by a few schools)

 

[Major]

Bhai which school you went to?

In Olevels I had sports period once a week from class 9 to 11. In Alevels on a typical day we had 2-3 free periods to play which ever sports we want to.

thats the thing. its your own choice how you want to utilize that free period. Thats not how it was in the canadian schools. The teacher took cahrge and decided what was going to happen.

also, i think your from karachi, dont know whats the culture over their for sports, bu in Pindi/Islamabad there is no sports culture at all once you enter o/a levels.

 

[Major]

Couple of things

1) The good schools (or those with big grounds atleast) do have sports. However the problem is that in Pakistan education is a business with many schools opening in 500 square yard houses in whatnot. And good schools! So obviously with schools that small you cant have a sport culture

2) The kids doing O/A Levels are normally from well off backgrounds. If they are so inclined they will have opportunities regardless

3) Kids from such schools will RARELY ever even want to be professional

(As for Hockey. The team was always fed by a few schools)

i'm not saying sports like you as a group decide to play or having after school teams.

I'm saying sports as part of your course, where every one is forced to play it and work in a group.

Its not about being professional, its about finding something you are good at.


I didn't even realize that i was good at freesbie( ) in canada. We had a special coach who came for a week.

 

[Major]

I remember how i was forced to learn mui thai, freesbie, volleyball, basketball, ball hockey, due to the curriculum.

If these weren't in the curriculum and were just optional time pass courses, i would had never bother joining them and learn from them.

Even drama class taught me alot

 

[Slog]

I remember how i was forced to learn mui thai, freesbie, volleyball, basketball, ball hockey, due to the curriculum.

If these weren't in the curriculum and were just optional time pass courses, i would had never bother joining them and learn from them.

Even drama class taught me alot

Pakistan has other things to worry about man

Ofcourse this is ideal. Lot of things we dont get exposed to as kids which western folks did but what can you do.

That also requires for the schools to have massive budgets which our schools dont

 

[Major]

Pakistan has other things to worry about man

Ofcourse this is ideal. Lot of things we dont get exposed to as kids which western folks did but what can you do.

That also requires for the schools to have massive budgets which our schools dont

I'm talking about Pakistani education. And if we start adding more courses and improving our local board education by adding such coarses we could unleash more talent in different fields.

SPorts is just a topic i picked because i like it, but there are other subjects that could be added like drama, music and much more.

Getting exposed to such things will also help with the drop out rates aswell.

Like i see every now and then we cry about our hockey team, and i believe the reason for our hockey team for sucking is basically that we dont expose our children to hockey early on.

 

[Pakistanian]

Whenever I visit Pakistan and hangout with my cousins and their friends who go to these schools, I've noticed that most of them are gaming nerds that like watching and talking about European soccer but aren't that good at playing any sports.

 

[Pakistanian]

Bhai which school you went to?

In Olevels I had sports period once a week from class 9 to 11. In Alevels on a typical day we had 2-3 free periods to play which ever sports we want to.

You guys don't have varsity sports in Pakistan though, playing intra-mural sports isn't the same.

 

[MMHS]

I think, it's everywhere same case & it's not the education system. Rather it's the device generation, that are not interested for sports, rather more happy to play at Play Station, Lap Tops, Palm tops.

1970s to late 2000s was probably best age for sports, because Tv/Cable tv brought sports superstars to every home, which encouraged younger generation go play any sports. Now, I see kids from 3 to 13 are more interested on YouTubes & other digital games; after that, they open their facebook account ..........

 

[Pakistanian]

I think, it's everywhere same case & it's not the education system. Rather it's the device generation, that are not interested for sports, rather more happy to play at Play Station, Lap Tops, Palm tops.

1970s to late 2000s was probably best age for sports, because Tv/Cable tv brought sports superstars to every home, which encouraged younger generation go play any sports. Now, I see kids from 3 to 13 are more interested on YouTubes & other digital games; after that, they open their facebook account ..........

People still play sports in America though, we have a more outdoorsy culture here. Rich Pakistanis are more sheltered and uninterested in working out or playing sports.

 

[Sarfarazian92]

Hassan Khan of Quetta Gladiators got noticed during the final of an inter-school tournament and from then on played for Karachi U16/17 I think. He went to Beaconhouse which is a O/A level school.

 

[Major]

Hassan Khan of Quetta Gladiators got noticed during the final of an inter-school tournament and from then on played for Karachi U16/17 I think. He went to Beaconhouse which is a O/A level school.

Yeh thats true. Beacon house is one school who does promote sports. They also unleashed that tennis player.

But i wonder if the sports team at beacon house are justan extra curricular or do they force everyone to take part in it

 

[Sarfarazian92]

Yeh thats true. Beacon house is one school who does promote sports. They also unleashed that tennis player.

But i wonder if the sports team at beacon house are justan extra curricular or do they force everyone to take part in it

They don't force lol.

City School, Beaconhouse, and all the prominent convents in Karachi encourage participation in sports. KGS, CAS, Bayview etc don't emphasize too much on sports of what I know and their students are more interested in football and enroll in football academies/clubs on their own.

 

[Suleiman]

That's what I like about the US. Even though I only did my final year of high school here, the multitude of subjects and career paths available so early were appreciable. Pretty much 90% of the teachers teaching classes were also coaches in various sports, mainly american football which is here what cricket is in South Asia. From there you don't have regular "PE" classes, but a different sports class which you choose for the whole semester be it football, american football, basketball, athletics, etc. In the last few weeks of school you get tryouts for varsity, and if you do really really well here you get sports scholarships into big universities and then play for them.

I imagine it is sort of similar in UK? Not sure.

In your last 3 years you had the choice to choose a trade as well like welding for e.g.

 

[Suleiman]

Yeh thats true. Beacon house is one school who does promote sports. They also unleashed that tennis player.

But i wonder if the sports team at beacon house are justan extra curricular or do they force everyone to take part in it

Beacon house... that name sends shudders down my spine.

I came back from Malaysia after 4th grade and went there to take the entry exam to get into 5th grade.

English portion = easy

Math portion = okay, but I passed

Urdu portion = Bigger choke than ABD in knockouts. We had to describe an apple in 5 sentences. I had no idea what to do. I had forgotten 80% of urdu writing that I had learnt in my time in Malaysia for 4 years (could read, but forgot writing). There was a burger bacha next to me describing the apple in english, and I thought what the hell, I'll do that do. Needless to say, I didn't get in.

But alhamdullilah now I know how to write it fairly well and can read it pretty fluently too.

 

[ahmedwaqas92]

I don't know about sports because I played a lot of it during my O/A levels, however, one thing I can attest to is that O/A levels are making BOYS into proper sissies, at least in Karachi.

I grew up studying from grade 1 until my A levels in St.Pats which is located around Saddar town (a slightly rougher part of the city) but even there the kids who specially attended the O/A levels section were proper bangle wearing 'Oh My GOsh!!' type of ............ (you can fill in the blanks)

This is probably the only reason why, even though I was from the Cambridge O/A level section all my life, a lot of my friends were from the Matriculation / Technical studies part of the high School. I love a good scuffle and have had a lot of them while growing up and I believe boys should have this kind of an experience early in their lives as it develops them mentally and instills in them the esscense of being a man.

Don't get me wrong I am not trying to promote violence but a man should be authoritative in nature at least. This was also the reason why I was good in contact sports and played with a certain level of aggression that helped me excel in them (relatively).

Just to put things into perspective, St. Patricks school teams for (Cricket, Hocky, Football) conssited of no boys from O/A levels while the teams for (Volleyball, Badminton, Table Tennis and Basketball) has no blokes from any other section apart from O/A levels.

I couldn't get in either of them Although I think I was quite good in cricket, at least I could bowl really quick and had a vicky bhai sort of action

 

[hafeezrocks]

I think, it's everywhere same case & it's not the education system. Rather it's the device generation, that are not interested for sports, rather more happy to play at Play Station, Lap Tops, Palm tops.

1970s to late 2000s was probably best age for sports, because Tv/Cable tv brought sports superstars to every home, which encouraged younger generation go play any sports. Now, I see kids from 3 to 13 are more interested on YouTubes & other digital games; after that, they open their facebook account ..........

Maybe in developed countries but not in the SC, Sports/Cricket started becoming household entertainment through TV/Cable only during the late 90s and has been a downfall since late 2010s.

 

[MMHS]

People still play sports in America though, we have a more outdoorsy culture here. Rich Pakistanis are more sheltered and uninterested in working out or playing sports.

In general younger generation has gone to devices every where - in north america may be less.

 

[MMHS]

Maybe in developed countries but not in the SC, Sports/Cricket started becoming household entertainment through TV/Cable only during the late 90s and has been a downfall since late 2010s.

In 1960s Cricket was live telecasted in subcontinent. Every Indian Test/ODI in IND was telecasted live even in 1970s, PTv must have done so. 1974 WC was first shown in BD, live telecasted from Argentina in 1978, while Wimbledon QF & later matches had been live telecasted by DD from early 1980s; therefore I am not sure what is your source. It's the terrestrial channels that we are talking, Cable just brought quality in the feed and presentation; but the stars came close to common people from 70s.

 

[Robert]

That's what I like about the US. Even though I only did my final year of high school here, the multitude of subjects and career paths available so early were appreciable. Pretty much 90% of the teachers teaching classes were also coaches in various sports, mainly american football which is here what cricket is in South Asia. From there you don't have regular "PE" classes, but a different sports class which you choose for the whole semester be it football, american football, basketball, athletics, etc. In the last few weeks of school you get tryouts for varsity, and if you do really really well here you get sports scholarships into big universities and then play for them.

I imagine it is sort of similar in UK? Not sure.

In our last two years we played no sport at all. It turned into an exam factory.

Mind you in later years that school produced Owais Shah and Sir Mo Farrah.

 

[Major]

In our last two years we played no sport at all. It turned into an exam factory.

Mind you in later years that school produced Owais Shah and Sir Mo Farrah.

This is what i hate, the exam factory

 

[super hitter]

Thats a lame expectation to make from a developing country that has dozens of far more important problems to deal with.

The more you face barriers in your life to become something you really want to, the more well developed you are once you're done. So be thankful to what you've been blessed with and start finding out your abilities by yourself. Theirs always something good to find out even in the most flawed structures.

I remember I used to moan a lot about the education system in Pakistan and a lot more...But an honest advice from me is that, if you think practically, moaning about the system and its laws, no matter how much flawed they are, will serve you no good and you'll realize this once you cross your 30's and see successful people around you of the same age group who went through the same hardships.

Remember, "Future Planning" is a dish never served appropriately.

 

[Arham_PakFan]

I study in Nixor College(for A'levels).It really promotes sports and puts a lot of emphasis on extra-curricular activities.We have teams for Basketball,football,throwball,rowing,table-tennis,tennis and,of course,cricket(Apart from cricket girls also have a team for each sport).These teams regularly participate in intra school competitions and last year some of the teams travelled to Lahore to play in the LUMS Sports Festival.On top of all thatNixor is academically one of the top A'level schools in Karachi and probably Pakistan too.

My old O'level school,FPS also promotes sports and,as some of you may heard invited a Brazilian football Coach here recently.Infact there was an event held a few weeks ago where Younis Khan also participated.There is a football camp run each year and afterschool football and cricket and throwball for girls as well.Then we also used to have two P.E periods a week and play sports in free periods.

I have always played sports since the beginning of my schooling days.However it is true that some A'level schools don't really provide facilities for sports e.g Lyceum,Bayview etc.

 

[Major]

Thats a lame expectation to make from a developing country that has dozens of far more important problems to deal with.

The more you face barriers in your life to become something you really want to, the more well developed you are once you're done. So be thankful to what you've been blessed with and start finding out your abilities by yourself. Theirs always something good to find out even in the most flawed structures.

I remember I used to moan a lot about the education system in Pakistan and a lot more...But an honest advice from me is that, if you think practically, moaning about the system and its laws, no matter how much flawed they are, will serve you no good and you'll realize this once you cross your 30's and see successful people around you of the same age group who went through the same hardships.

Remember, "Future Planning" is a dish never served appropriately.

so you are saying that a developing country should just make students study only sciences and arts subject, and minimize their career choice and screw the options they could have.

Putting hardships for the sake of it is just stupid logic.

Not everyone could pass those hardships. Not every tandoor walas son will aces the exam. Many will leave the system due to the hardship.

 

[super hitter]

so you are saying that a developing country should just make students study only sciences and arts subject, and minimize their career choice and screw the options they could have.

Putting hardships for the sake of it is just stupid logic.

Not everyone could pass those hardships. Not every tandoor walas son will aces the exam. Many will leave the system due to the hardship.

Thing is you're just blaming the system and not yourself. Its your duty to find your abilities.

I said one should not EXPECT these things, didn't say they should not be implemented.

 

[Sarfarazian92]

I study in Nixor College(for A'levels).It really promotes sports and puts a lot of emphasis on extra-curricular activities.We have teams for Basketball,football,throwball,rowing,table-tennis,tennis and,of course,cricket(Apart from cricket girls also have a team for each sport).These teams regularly participate in intra school competitions and last year some of the teams travelled to Lahore to play in the LUMS Sports Festival.On top of all thatNixor is academically one of the top A'level schools in Karachi and probably Pakistan too.

My old O'level school,FPS also promotes sports and,as some of you may heard invited a Brazilian football Coach here recently.Infact there was an event held a few weeks ago where Younis Khan also participated.There is a football camp run each year and afterschool football and cricket and throwball for girls as well.Then we also used to have two P.E periods a week and play sports in free periods.

I have always played sports since the beginning of my schooling days.However it is true that some A'level schools don't really provide facilities for sports e.g Lyceum,Bayview etc.

Where do the cricket and football teams practice? Nixor is too small for those sports lol. Academics wise it's definitely topnotch.

 

[Arham_PakFan]

Where do the cricket and football teams practice? Nixor is too small for those sports lol. Academics wise it's definitely topnotch.

They book different grounds for each year.Last year it was KDA ground and also a ground next to Karachi United's DHA ground.

 

[syed abbas]

O\A level culture is destroying cricket but promoting other sports like tennis,table tennis,basketball and football.Before going to Roots,I used to play cricket only.Later,I learnt to play basketball and table tennis also.

 

[Abdul]

[MENTION=135038]Major[/MENTION]

I think you lived in Brampton when you were in Canada?

What school did you go to?

I haven't heard anything like you're saying, unless things were changed afterwards.

 

[Badsha]

[MENTION=135038]Major[/MENTION]

You are right. The best schools don't focus on sports at all. Do you blame them though?

 

[junoon]

Forget sports, in Pakistan around 24 to 25 million children are not even in School. In a country of 200 million, these numbers are shocking and depressing

https://www.dawn.com/news/1139423

http://dailytimes.com.pk/islamabad/...ldren-still-out-of-schools-in-pakistan-unicef

Schools offering O/A levels are for the elite. Nothing will change for the better in Pakistan as long as good education remains solely the domain of the rich.

 

[Major]

[MENTION=135038]Major[/MENTION]

I think you lived in Brampton when you were in Canada?

What school did you go to?

I haven't heard anything like you're saying, unless things were changed afterwards.

Williams parkway and north park

 

[Major]

[MENTION=135038]Major[/MENTION]

You are right. The best schools don't focus on sports at all. Do you blame them though?

Yes because we have have become exam factories