Higher salary or suicide | LUMS accident accused at large
Higher salary or suicide, say lecturers and professors
Lahore, April 22: Professors and lecturers of
public sector universities on Tuesday staged a protest outside the Punjab
Assembly (PA), demanding the government increase their salaries and grant
permanent status to contractual employees. The protest was marked by
sheer dissatisfaction among the teachers and professors as the teachers'
association threatened to conduct organised suicides outside the PA if their
demands were not met. A large number of female teachers also participated in the
protest. Protest: Professors and lecturers from 490 government colleges
and universities from across the province marched on The Mall and blocked the
flow of traffic for hours. They held banners that requested Chief Minister (CM)
Shahbaz Sharif to take notice of their problems. Numerous protesters chanted
anti-government slogans during the protest. The professors demanded permanent
status for all contractual employees along with a 100 percent increase in their
salaries. They said it was extremely unfair for professors to be earning the
same amount of money even if they serve for over 20 years due to an extremely
slow promotion process. They said lecturers and professors would gather at MAO
College in a larger number on May 7 if their demands were ignored again. Some
teachers said professors and lecturers would commit suicide in groups of 50
after May 7, adding that they would take out rallies and protests instead of
performing their duties as examiners and invigilators. Dissatisfaction:
"It's better to be recruited as a constable instead of becoming a lecturer,"
complained Gulnar Hussain, who has been teaching at MAO College for the past 22
years. He said the Punjab government had doubled the salaries of police
officials but had denied the same rights to the province's
teachers. Punjab Professors and Lecturers
Association (PPLA) President Nazim Hassnain Shah said the association had
presented the teachers' demands to the CM and Chief Secretary (CS) Javed Mehmood
on May 2, 2008. He said the CM and the CS assured the association that the
government would resolve their problems by taking appropriate measures. He said
the CS had asked the then education secretary to work on their demands, adding
that a year had passed by but no measures had been taken. He said the
association had paid several visits to the education secretary but to no
avail. Demands: Shah said the teachers who were recruited in 1987 as
lecturers in grade 17 were still working in the same grade. He said numerous
teachers had retired in the same grade, adding that the system of promotions was
flawed. He said recruitment of teachers on contracts was another major
problem facing the teaching community. He said contractual employees could not
acquire legal leaves, maternity leaves, and other similar benefits. PPLA Lahore
President Majid Wazir said the service structure was in four tires and
promotions were due after 10 years in grade 17, additional five years in grade
18, additional five years in grade 19, and additional five years in grade 21. He
said out of 17,229 teachers, one percent were professors, 15 percent were
associate professors, 34 percent were assistant professors, and 50 percent were
lecturers. He said the government used the excuse that there were no vacant
seats whenever they voiced their demands.
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Third accused of LUMS accident still at large
Lahore: The police have not yet arrested the third accused in the case against
the death of a student, Waheeb Alam, of the Lahore University of Management
Sciences (LUMS) in an accident. Investigation Officer (IO) Sub Inspector
Zaheeruddin said the police were conducting continuous raids for the arrest of
Bilal Sheikh. The IO said the other accused were still at the hospital and not
in police custody, adding that they could not be considered prisoners until they
were in police custody. LUMS students have constituted a three-member committee
of Waheeb's classmates to coordinate with the police throughout the
investigation. The LUMS students on Tuesday had initially planned to
stage a protest at Raiwind outside Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif's house for not
arresting the third accused. They had even hired two buses but could not go as
the administration refrained them from doing so. Tariq
Ahmed, a LUMS student, said the students would stage another protest if the
third accused was not arrested within two days. Daily Times
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Career management workshop
Lahore: The Career Guidance and Placement Centre of the Government College
University (GCU) organized "Career Management Workshop" for the final year
students of various BSc (Hons) programmes. The training was provided by
the experienced and competent professionals of Telenor Pakistan led by Faisal
Khan, Recruitment Manager, Khubaid Ahmad, Operation Manager, Ata-ul-Nasir,
Recruitment Officer and Ms Fatima, HR and Operations Executive. The
focus of the training workshop was on real life professional examples. The event
included interactive sessions, games and mock interviews, resume/CV preparation,
interview skills and negotiations skills. Addressing the workshop,
Placement Officer of GCU Muhammad Waqar Ahmad said the GCU utilized the most
current practices and technologies to access advanced information to support
students in each area of their career research or job hunting processes.
The students, who participated in the workshop, were from BSc (Hons),
Economics, Business Accounting & Finance, Engineering &
Telecommunication, BS (CS) (Hons), BS Applied Management, MSc Banking &
Finance, MSc ESME and MBA. The News
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PU VC to open Book Fair 2009 today
Lahore: Punjab University Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Mujahid
Kamran will inaugurate the Book Fair 2009. A ceremony will be held today
(Wednesday, April 22) at 4:00 pm in the Main Corridor of Institute of Education
& Research (IER) here at New Campus. Deans of all faculties, chairmen of
teaching departments and heads of colleges will attend the ceremony. The book
fair will be conducted from April 23, 24, 25 (Thursday, Friday, Saturday). As
many as 177 book sellers, publishers, IT organizations submitted applications
for stalls and the PU administration had allotted the stalls by draw. Books on
40% discount would be available to students, teachers and other public. Literary
persons, professors, poets, politicians, religious leaders and people from every
walk of life will participate in the three-day book fair. The administration had
taken security arrangements. The book fair will conclude on April 25. F.P. Report
PU student wins contest
Lahore: The Punjab University Hailey College of Banking and Finance (HCBF) student Sehar
Sheikh has won second prize in the All Pakistan Essay Competition, 2008,
organised by the Quaid-e-Azam Law College, Lahore. According to a press release,
the prize, comprising a cash prize of Rs15,000 and an appreciation certificate,
will be awarded to the student in a ceremony to be held in the first week of May
at the Quaid-e-Azam Law College. The News
PU BSc (Hons) result declared
Lahore: Punjab University Examination Department has
declared the results of BSc (Hons) Computer Science, Fourth Year, 1st Annual
Examination 2008. The pass percentage in the exam remained 60%. Detailed result
is also available at PU website www.pu.edu.pk.
PU teacher's distinction
Lahore: Apex Group of Institutes, Pune, Maharashtra, India
has appointed Punjab University Hailey College of Banking & Finance (HCBF)
Principal Prof Dr Khawaja Amjad Saeed as Professor Emeritus. F.P. Report
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