The concentrations of primordial radionuclides (226Ra, 232Th and 40K) in commonly used building materials (brick, cement and sand), the raw materials of cement and the by-products of coal-fired power plants (fly ash) collected from various manufacturers and suppliers in Bangladesh were determined via gamma-ray spectrometry using an HPGe detector. The results showed that the mean concentrations of 226Ra, 232Th and 40K in all studied samples slightly exceeded the typical world average values of 50 Bq kg−1, 50 Bq kg−1 and 500 Bq kg−1, respectively. The activity concentrations (especially 226Ra) of fly-ash-containing cement in this study were found to be higher than those of fly-ash-free cement. To evaluate the potential radiological risk to individuals associated with these building materials, various radiological hazard indicators were calculated. The radium equivalent activity values for all samples were found to be lower than the recommended limit for building materials of 370 Bq kg-1, with the exception of the fly ash. For most samples, the values of the alpha index and the radiological hazard (external and internal) indices were found to be within the safe limit of 1. The mean indoor absorbed dose rate was observed to be higher than the population-weighted world average of 84 nGy h–1, and the corresponding annual effective dose for most samples fell below the recommended upper dose limit of 1 mSv y–1. For all investigated materials, the values of the gamma index were found to be greater than 0.5 but less than 1, indicating that the gamma dose contribution from the studied building materials exceeds the exemption dose criterion of 0.3 mSv y-1 but complies with the upper dose principle of 1 mSv y−1.

The government schools in Pakistan are showing low performance for different reasons such as low level of leadership, untrained teachers, minimum community involvement, 2% education budget, and nonavailability of resources. This study clarifies the way through selfdevelopment of schools to get effectiveness in such circumstances of schools in Mardan district of Pakistan. The study tries to prove that the school culture development by the instructional leaders can help them to achieve their goals. The main aim of this study is to find out that the development of school culture needs no extra budget, but has a great role in motivation. The research design was non-experimental design with survey study. Different statistical methods such as descriptive statistics and Spearman rho were used to analyze the data using SPSS-22 and AMOS-22. It was found that the present level of school culture in the stated schools is low and there is a significant relationship between school culture and school effectiveness. It was concluded that high level of school culture will help achieve high the level of school effectiveness.

This article looks at high-performing education systems in Asia through the lens of leadership and leadership development. It proposes that the top-performing education systems systematically build the leadership capacity for improvement and that this is part of an implementation science geared to maximizing performance. Drawing upon initial findings from a cross-national comparative study (The 7 System Leadership Study is funded by the

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This study highlights the pivotal role of the school principal in relation to organizational commitment and expected student outcomes in schools in Pakistan. By critically examining the available literature, and by evaluating relevant data, this study will draw attention to how successful principals manage their schools, by providing an environment conducive to the teaching and learning process. It will demonstrate that teacher-principal relations are important, by highlighting professional development and its impact on school effectiveness and student outcomes.