HEC apologises students | Defaulting scholars
HEC apologises to students for placing names on ECL
Islamabad, Apr 21: The Supreme Court (SC) was informed on Tuesday that the
Higher Education Commission (HEC) has tendered written apologies to the
students for placing their names on the Exit Control List (ECL). A
three-member SC bench consisting of Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP)
Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Justice Chaudhry Ijaz Ahmed and Justice
Ghulam Rabbani heard the case. HEC's counsel Khawaja Azhar Rasheed told
the court that all the students whose names were placed on the ECL had
been sent written apologies. "You should respect the educated
lot. I cannot digest it from yesterday how you implicated the students.
In which country of the world are scholars put behind bars," the CJP
said. The court later dismissed the petitions, after the HEC withdrew
them. The HEC had filed appeals against the verdict of Lahore High
Court Rawalpindi bench, in which the court had ordered the removal of
students' names from the ECL. The court had observed that when
the HEC refused to provide employment opportunities to students, it had
no right to impose restrictions upon their movement. Earlier,
the Supreme Court had issued directions to the authorities concerned to
initiate legal action against the HEC director for placing the names of
students on the ECL with the help of the Federal Investigation Agency
(FIA). Sajid Anwar, a student of MS Engineering, had gone to South
Korea for an MPhil, after entering into an agreement with the HEC to
return within a specific time period. But after two years, the HEC
asked him to return back without the completion of practical training
and refused to provide him employment opportunities in Pakistan. He and
other students were surprised when they learnt that their names had
been placed on the ECL and they could not proceed abroad in connection
with a scholarship or employment. app
'Defaulting scholars': SC allows HEC to recover money
Islamabad: The Supreme Court on Tuesday gave a go-ahead to
the Higher Education Commission (HEC) for recovery of money from its
'defaulting scholars' but with the directions to remove their names
from Exit Control List (ECL). The HEC through FIA has put on ECL
the names of its scholarship holders who failed to comply with
conditions prescribed in the bond they had signed to avail scholarships
for higher studies. However, the affected scholars moved the apex court
against restriction on their foreign travel. A three-member
bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry in its ruling
said, those scholars violating their bonds should be pursued through
civil court, but they could not be put on the ECL. Expressing
satisfaction over the apex court's ruling, a senior official of the HEC
said, "our main issue is the implementation of terms and conditions
explained in the bond which every HEC scholarship winner has signed
before proceeding on higher studies". For example, a scholar who
would avail scholarship for PhD studies has to come back and serve in
Pakistan for five years and the condition for MS students is for two
years. If a scholar will leave his/her studies half way through, he/she
will be liable for the expenditures incurred on their unsuccessful
attempts. If a scholar fell seriously ill, or cannot continue their studies for other genuine reason, the HEC can grant a waiver to them. When
asked how HEC would pursue a scholar who didn't come back or left the
country without completing mandatory time period in the country, the
official said, every scholar had provided names and addresses of a
couple of guarantors from their family members, therefore, the
commission would write to them.Explaining HEC's decision of putting
defaulting scholars name on the ECL, the official said the HEC only
wanted that the commission should be in picture if some scholar tried
to flee the country without prior information. Majority of
defaulting scholars are cooperating with the HEC, but there are cases
which are giving tough time, however, one thing is for sure, "we can
not let any body violate bond and will take every possible measure for
its implementation," the official said. Dawn
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UoB Convocation postponed
Quetta: Tenth Convocation of University of Balochistan scheduled
to be held on April 21, has been postponed for some unavoidable
circumstances. An announcement of University said here Tuesday that new date of the
Convocation would be announced later. Ppi
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IIUI girls push their IJT tormentor out
Islamabad: Students of International Islamic University Islamabad (IIUI) on
Tuesday staged a seven-hour-long protest demonstration against torture
and public humiliation of a female student from Faculty of Management
Sciences (FMS) at the hands of Islami Jamiat Tuleba (IJT) unless the
university administration expelled the main attacker, Abdullah. IIUI
administration has issued a notification to expel Abdullah, a student
of Engineering Department, as well as considering an action against the
protestors for raising their voice against the harassment. According
to sources, all departments of the university remained closed on Monday
and Tuesday against the incident while bus service remained suspended. On
Saturday evening, a group of female students of FMS were taking snaps
in the Engineering Block when Abdullah, accompanied by others, appeared
to preach them against photography, declaring it haram. He then slapped
and reportedly kicked a girl from the group and humiliated them. Sources
said that it was not the first instance that Abdulah subjected a woman
to humiliation; he had done it twice in the past - once he battered two
female students in university's library and then he beat a female
teacher, while she was coming out of a seminar. The sources further
said Abdullah's repeated cruel acts were brought in the notice of IIUI
administration but they did not pay heed to it, encouraging him to
continue bashing women and subjecting them to humiliation through his
hate sermons. The protestors on Tuesday staged a sit-in in front
of the university bus stop from 9:00 am till 3:00 pm. They were of the
view that Abdullah must be taken to task by administration of
university. They demanded that the university administration expel
Abdullah. They did not let the shuttle service to run in a
peaceful manner. Girls, especially, braved rain that kept falling on
and off all through the day. They took out their umbrellas but refused
to leave the venue unless their tormentor is out. It was a
public information that Abdullah was a worker of the IJT but the
party's hold on the IIUI is so strong that Vice President Perveen Qadir
Agha came to the protesting girls to tell them that Abdullah has no
links with the IJT. The sources said Agha was more interested
in punishing the protesting students than Abdullah. The protesting
students said that Agha had noted down their names and
threatened to expel them. Agha, however, said that the
protesting students did not comply with the rules and regulations of
the university. She said Abdullah has already been debarred by
university administration than why this protest was staged. She said
all those students who participated in the protest would now be
punished accordingly. It was witnessed that the protestors
remained peaceful all through the day and not a single glass was broken
during the two-day strike. The sources said that IJT will now back
Abdullah in court, taking plea that the victim girl had not filed an
application against him. IJT Secretary Information (Punjab)
Usama Khalil said all those behind this 'sad' incident should be
punished. He confirmed that Abdullah remained a member of IJT but his
membership was cancelled because of violation of 'party discipline'.
"There are a few elements who want to tarnish the image of IJT," Khalil
said. But during the course of this face-saving act, he
demanded that the group of female students who were attacked should
also be punished as they are held responsible for entering the
Engineering Block on a day when they were 'prohibited'.
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Campus Management Solution at QAU
Islamabd: Federal Minister for Education
Sardar Assef Ahmed Ali formally inaugurated the Campus Management
Solution (CMS) at the Quaid-e-Azam University (QAU) on Tuesday. CMS
is aimed at providing students and teachers with immediate access to
real-time information. It is divided into several modules each of which
maps to a university's department. Higher Education Commission
(HEC) selected six public sector universities for the implementation of
'Oracle People Soft Campus Solutions (OPSCS) and QAU is one of the
universities that introduced CMS based on this kind of campus solution. OPSCS is a campus management system that automates several strategic functions of a university. Daily times
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'National Book Day'
Islamabad: The National Book Foundation (NBF) is celebrating 'National
Book Day' tomorrow (Thursday), at the National Institute of Banking and
Finance (NIBAF), Pitras Bokhari Road, Sector H-8/1, at 9:30 a.m, says a
press release. Leading publishers, book sellers of Pakistan will
hold their stalls at the book fairs, said Managing Director National
Book Foundation Mazhar-ul-Islam, who is also writer, author and editor
of more than eighty books. In order to mark the National Book
Day celebrations, 40 to 50 per cent special discount would be offered
on books only for the day, he added. Federal Minister for Education Sardar Aseff Ahmed Ali has been requested to grace the occasion as chief guest. NBF
has also planned out a long-day programme, which will start with the
hoisting of Book Flag inscribed with a logo "Kitabon ki Dunya, Sub ki
Dunya." The NBF DG said school children would parade with
banners inscribed with slogans to promote love for books. A book theme
song is also composed for this important occasion: "Kitabon ki dunya
salamt rahay; Roshni dosti ki alamat rahay."
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FG Boys High School no. 1, Tariqabad student distinction
Rawalpindi: Usman Mughal student of FG Boys High
School no. 1, Tariqabad, got second position in the school in the
Middle Standard Scholarship Examination 2010, conducted by the
Directorate of Federal Government Educational Institutions
(Cantt/Garrison), says a press release. Usman Mughal is the son of
Mazhar Shahzad. The news
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