1

Subject/Course: Secondary Education

Unit 1 Secondary Education: Introduction
NATURE, IMPORTANCE AND OBJECTIVES OF SECONDARY EDUCATION:
A. Definition and Nature:
1) Secondary education is the education which is imparted after elementary education (i.e. after class VIII).
2) The classes Xl and X are considered as secondary classes. The education which is given to these classes is called secondary
education. Secondary education covers the children aged 12 to 18 years.
3) Final two years of secondary is called Higher Secondary. Secondary education is such an important stage for which a pass
certificate is needed (i.e. middle pass certificate).
4) It is concerned or affiliated with boards, central or federal boards i.e. BISE
5) It is a must education before one can pursue higher education including college or professional education/courses.
6) Secondary school education is comparatively a longer and more complicated level of education as compared to primary
education.
B. Importance:
1) This stage of education serves the individual needs of boys and girls on the one hand and social needs, hopes, and also
aspirations on the other.
2) In most countries, secondary education is the phase in the education which is responsible for the development of the
young children during their adolescence period, the most important phase in anyone’s life.
3) It provides a base for the development of all aspects of life and personality. It is also called teen age. The education
provided in this age becomes part and parcel of the personality of learners.
4) Here, students are able to fix their aims and goals in their life.
5) It is the most rapid phase of their physical, mental and emotional growth.
6) It is at this very education level, particularly in its first cycle, where values and attitudes formed at primary school are
more firmly ingrained alongside the acquisition of knowledge and skills.
C. Objectives:
1) To make the students good and responsible citizens of the county. After completion of this education, majority of them
enter into social life. Therefore, it should train students in the art of living and in good citizenship.
2) To make students economically self-sufficient and productive member of society.
3) To provide them ability to discover and identify their native talent, interest, and aptitude for necessary training and
development.
4) To offer diversification of the courses of study; not to make them specialized.
5) At the lower secondary stage, education shouldn’t be exploratory. Curriculum shouldn’t go to depth of knowledge.
6) It should provide the scope of education for leisure to the youths and keep their mental health and hygiene.
7) It should give training in leadership to students in various socio-cultural fields of activity.
8) Also, it should develop the academic abilities and competence of the students for their higher studies and research.
9) Secondary education should aim at the development of both the quality and quantity of education at the same time.
10) To develop the scientific outlook by the curriculum of this level.

D. Difference between Primary and Secondary Education: Primary and Secondary are the 2 distinct levels of education with their
specified aims, objectives and purposes. Their true nature and function may be clear with the following distinguishing points.
Primary School Level Secondary School Level
1 Age group is from 6-10 years Age group is from 12-18 years
2 Stage of development is childhood Stage of development is adolescence
3 The major objective is to give literacy and knowledge The major objective is to make good citizens
4 Education has no vocational bias Education has vocational bias
5 Curriculum is general and introduction to general knowledge Curriculum is explanatory and diversified
6 Education does not involve higher mental faculties Education involves higher mental faculties
7 A child needs a simple memory and understanding The child needs critical judgement and power of analysis
8 Discipline is simple, habitual and playful Disciplines aims at making self-realization
9 Co-education is no problem at this level Co-education may appear as a problem at this level
10 Lesser problem of mental health and hygiene Sensitive to health and hygiene of students
These above-mentioned differences may certainly help the teacher to get an insight into his distinctive role to be played in the respective
levels. Both these two levels are actually interdependent to each other. The primary level produces the students for secondary level
and secondary level produces teachers for primary level. Primary level forms the basis of the mental development of students for the
secondary level.

Composed by M. Khalid (Lecturer in English) Govt. Postgraduate College, Haripur

 2
SECONDARY EDUCATION IN PAKISTAN: Pakistan has a secondary education system centered and based on examinations. In British
India, the structure and curricula of secondary education were mandated/formulated by British colonial rule and culminated in
examinations which were administered by British education boards. As mentioned earlier, after independence, Pakistan then developed
its own Boards of Intermediate and Secondary Education (BISE) which were tasked with developing and conducting final examinations
at the ends of grades 9 to 12. These BISEs are still doing so.

Admission to secondary education requires completion of middle school (grade 8) as well as a passing score on provincial grade 8
examinations, depending on the jurisdiction. About 68% of students at the secondary level and 88% at the higher secondary level
attended public schools in 2017. Private education at the secondary level is also growing. The enrollment in private institutions is
significantly more common in more populated city areas where enrollments in private schools can account for as much as 60 percent
of total enrollments.

Secondary education consists of two years of lower-secondary education (grades 9 and 10) followed by two years of upper/higher-
secondary education, typically called intermediate education (grades 11 and 12). There are two different specialization streams in lower-
secondary education: science and humanities. Students typically elect three specialization subjects from one of these two streams. In
addition, the curriculum includes a range of mandatory core subjects, generally Urdu, English, mathematics, Pakistan studies, and Islamic
studies (ethics for non-Muslim students).

The Secondary School Certificate (SSC), also referred to as “matriculation certificate,” is examined in two parts at the end of grades 9 and 10 and
is awarded upon passing the final SSC exam at the end of grade 10. The exam is graded on the 0-100 marks. The minimum passing
marks/grade in each subject is 33 percent.

Students are most commonly examined in eight subjects. Those who fail more than two subjects must repeat the school year. In 2019,
the overall pass rate in the SSC exams of the Federal Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education was 84 percent, whereas the pass
rate for the private Aga Khan University Examination Board was 96 percent.

A passing score on the SSC examinations is required to progress to higher secondary education, which is two years in duration (grades
11 and 12) and provided by higher-secondary schools or so-called intermediate colleges, most of them public institutions. Only a small
number of Pakistanis can participate or join higher-secondary education—merely about a quarter of students shift from grade 10 to
grade 11. According to UNESCO, the overall higher-secondary NER in Pakistan was 23% in 2017, compared with 38% in Nepal and 46%
in Bangladesh.

There are seven groups or streams available in higher secondary education, including general, humanities, science, pre-medical, pre-
engineering, medical technology, and home economics. Compulsory subjects include Urdu, English, Islamic education (civics for non-
Muslim students), and Pakistan studies along with both required and elective courses in the specific stream. For example, science group
students typically take chemistry, physics, and mathematics; those in the pre-medical group take biology, physics, and chemistry.

Like the SSC exam, the Higher Secondary School Certificate (HSSC) examination (also referred to as “intermediate exam”) is administered in two
parts at the end of grades 11 and 12. The exams are conducted by one of the Boards of Intermediate and Secondary Education (BISE).
The grading scale and minimum passing requirements are the same as in the CSS exams i.e. 33% marks.
ROLE OF SECONDARY EDUCATION IN NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT: Education, especially secondary education, is a vital investment for
human and economic development of any country. It is influenced by the environment within which it exists. Changes in technology, IT,
economics, sciences and other general global environment, require changes in education system too. Different elements of education
change according to the changes in them. Traditions, culture and faith etc. all reflect the education system of concerned state/country.
The element of continuity and change in education remains perpetual and it is up to the society to determine its pace and direction.
We are living in an inquiring and innovation-oriented society. The demand of 21st century is novelty, creativity, and integration of
knowledge at global level, research, critical and analytical thoughts. Rapidly, social changes are creating uncertainty and complexity in
the society. To prepare the children and youth at secondary level to cope with the present situation needs to develop analytical and
critical thinking in them, skill and attitude that would make them more flexible and innovative to deal with uncertainty and crises at
national and global level.
The greatest need of the hour is to re-design curriculum, textbooks, teaching methodology and children’s literature, formal and non-
formal educational systems especially at secondary education level. It has been demonstrated by researcher that active learning
(questioning and investigate the nature of topic) develop creativity and stimulate learning in students at secondary level.
Cultural values of the majority of Pakistanis are derived from Islam. Since an education system reflects and strengthens social, cultural
and moral values, therefore, Pakistan’s educational interventions have to be based on the core values of religion and faith. Secondary

Composed by M. Khalid (Lecturer in English) Govt. Postgraduate College, Haripur

 3
education also plays its important role in strengthening cultural values.
Curriculum, at secondary level, plays crucial role in national integration and harmony. Curriculum role, as observed in the National
Education Policy (1979), should enable the learners to learn knowledge, develop conceptual and intellectual skills, attitudes, values and
aptitudes conductive to the all-round development of their personality. It should also be proportionate with the societal, economic and
environmental realities at national and international level.
Whitehead (1962) says “culture is the activity of thought, and receptiveness to beauty and humane feeling”. A child is a human being in
embryo, a man to be and we are responsible to the future for him. It is considered that a child learns 90 percent of his personality by his
nurturing.
It is, perhaps easier to educate a child in beginning than to re-educate him when he has already formed his mind and personality.
Therefore, books for children at secondary level are not simply a source of entertainment rather inculcate intelligence and values. In
Russia, America and Japan, children’s literature is considered a great cultural and educational phenomenon, and creation of books for
children is responsibility of the state because it is the education that develops any nation.
Textbooks are most widely used a teaching tool. These textbooks represent our national culture. Textbooks reveal national values,
culture, and ideology of a nation. A good text book can be a “teacher in print”, and sometime even superior to an average teacher. In
fact, they influence national integration by sharing common national culture. The selection, organization and presentation of subject-
matter in textbooks show philosophy, integrity, values and intellectual thoughts of a nation.
Questioning methodology is a powerful tool to build analytical and critical skills in pupils at secondary level. In the world of knowledge,
the emphasis has not to be merely mastery to extant the knowledge but on the acquisitions of capacity to think and analyze facts
logically. Teachers must adopt such teaching methodology by which students must learn how to discard old ideas and replace/ modify
them with new ideas. As Toffler once said “learn how to learn”.
Schools of the future will be designed not only for “learning” but for “thinking”. More and more insistently, today’s schools and colleges
are being asked to produce men and women who can think, who can make new scientific discoveries, who can find more adequate
solutions to impelling world problems, who cannot be brainwashed, who can adapt to change and maintain sanity in this age of
acceleration. This is a creative challenge to education.
SECONDARY EDUCATION: A PREPARATION FOR HIGHER EDUCATION: Secondary education is one of the most important phases of
education in the whole education system of any country. It is considered as a source of preparation for higher education. At this crucial
level, students are prepared for higher studies and higher education. This level is also regarded as a pathway to college. As we know that
education at this level contains school education i.e. high and higher secondary education. So, here, high schools can do a lot to prepare
students for college admission and academic success in higher education. Secondary education is actually a preparation for higher
education in the sense that it:
1. Helps students navigate the path to college.
2. Offers different courses and curricula that prepare students for college-level work.
3. Ensures that students understand what constitutes a college level curriculum.
4. Utilizes different assessment measures throughout high school so that students are aware of how prepared they are for college,
and assist them in overcoming deficiencies which are identified in assessment.
5. Surrounds students with adults and peers who build and support their college-going aspirations.
6. Provides several opportunities for students to explore different careers and professions, and work for desired career.
7. Assists them in aligning post-secondary plans with their career aspirations.
8. Engages and assists students in completing critical and important steps for college entry.
9. Increases families’ financial awareness among the students too.
10. Monitors academic progress by conducting different tests/axams like first-term, mid-term and final term etc.
11. Studies of successful college students show that their academic preparation in high school is linked clearly to college
performance. This includes providing courses that are required for entry into a two- or four-year college and providing rigorous
academic coursework that prepares students for the demands of college.
SECONDARY EDUCATION: A PREPARATION FOR HUMAN VALUES: Secondary education is also important from another perspective i.e. it
prepare the students of this level for human values. It creates a sense of humanity in their minds. It establishes a quest for human values
in their hearts. He tries to develop good feeling for his fellows as well as for others. These values are brotherhood, honesty, truthfulness,
affection, love, sympathy for fellow beings, courtesy, trust, equality and respect for others etc. so, it is the hallmark of secondary
education that, alongwith other tasks and functions, it also polishes the students’ character and inner self for other mankind.
***************************************

Composed by M. Khalid (Lecturer in English) Govt. Postgraduate College, Haripur