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Critical thinking is seen as a highly desirable way of thinking that needs to be encouraged in all areas of higher education. However, it is not easy to conceptualise critical thinking in ways that can help in its development and in its assessment. Recent policy documents in Pakistan have laid emphasis on the development of critical thinking skills in higher education and The Higher Education Commission of Pakistan worked with USAID to publish new course guidance for Functional English, a mandatory course, as a part of introducing a revised four year BEd honours programme. The course includes aims like giving reasons to justify a view, distinguishing between fact and opinion and enabling students to develop argumentation skills. All these aims require students to develop skills involving questioning: asking questions of what is provided, who has provided it and what its meaning might be, key features of critical thinking.

Language and the function it performs in producing meaning is one of the main aims of critical discourse analysis. Discourse analysis deconstructs social practices to examine the ways in which information is conveyed. In this regard, advertisements play a significant role in influencing ideologies. This paper aims to analyze the ideology of "beauty standards" portrayed in different advertisements for popular beauty products. This study is based on Norman Fair clough's three-dimensional model of CDA, which examines how the advertiser's use of language and visual representations of such beauty products attract and manipulate women. The analysis also discusses the ways in which such companies in power present the stereotypical view of beauty associated with"whiteness" and presents it as something essential to living a better life,thus controlling the minds of people.

This qualitative study explored the parents’ perceptions and involvement in homework for secondary school students. The study also explored parents’ challenges and suggestions in completing homework as an engaging activity. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 parents selected through a purposive sampling technique.  Thematic analysis was used to draw themes and sub-themes from qualitative data. The findings revealed that parents of secondary school students believed that homework is an activity that supports the learning process of their children. They considered homework the responsibility of the school and teachers. The challenges were that homework was an overloaded activity that teachers and schools did not support. These findings led to some important implications for the study. It is important to involve parents in devising homework policies and providing training to support their children in homework completion. The study also suggested developing a nation-wide homework policy that may guide teachers, parents, and students.

Purpose: The current inter-tribal conflict and economic crisis have impacted all aspects of life in Yemen, especially hampered the development of education. This study focuses the inter-tribal conflict effects on the development of education Approach: This is achieved by collecting data applying qualitative tools of data collection. The data was collected from the students, teachers and tribal elders in Aden and Taiz through in-depth interview and focused group discussion. The data analyzed in the light of different themes derived from the primary data Findings: The results indicated that the intertribal conflict has significantly affected the education infrastructure. Moreover, we found that inter-tribal conflict hampered the process of the development. More importantly, the educated people left the county and the government and people are not investing in the educational sector Implications/Originality/Value: For the development of (education in) Yemen, all the political parties in the nation and regional and international communities must show more responsibility and commitment towards the current and future generations of Yemen and the world.   ‎