No teacher for SSC level students

Students paying Rs50 each to hire services of private teacher
Rawalpindi, Apr 22: The helpless matriculation standard students of Government Boys High School, Dera Khalsa, Kalar Syedan Road, have no other option but to hire services of a private teacher by paying Rs50 each, because there has been no teacher for them for the last six years.

The hired teacher is only intermediate himself and the students fear that due to shortage of proper qualified teachers their future is at stake. They have appealed to Punjab Chief Minister Mian Shahbaz Sharif for appointment of teachers and headmaster in the school.

The school, where students of around 4 union councils Mangot, Gazniabad, Dakhali and Guff with 30,000 population study, is run by four primary level teachers, whereas the students of matriculation have to contribute Rs50 each to pay for the salary of a teacher, who teaches them science and arts subjects. It merits mentioning here that the said teacher is only intermediate and the students fear their future is at risk because of lack of quality teaching staff.

The former headmaster of the school, Anwar Baig was retired in February 2004 and since then the school was without a headmaster and teachers.

Muhammad Aijaz Bhatti, an Elementary School Teacher (EST) in Government Boys High School, Dera Khalsa, said that only four teachers were imparting education to students of primary classes. But teachers for middle and higher secondary levels have not been available in the school for the last six years.

"The total number of students in the school are 525 including 87 students of Arts Group and 57 students of Science Group in 9th/10th standards and they don't have a teacher. Therefore the students contribute from their own pocket Rs50 each for getting tuition from a hired teacher," he added.

He said the future of these students is in jeopardy because they need proper guidance for preparation of matriculation examinations, but it is unfortunate that the government has failed to fill the vacant posts for the last six years.

He also revealed that the condition of school building was dilapidated and they take open-air classes to protect student from any untoward incident.

The students of school including Danish Akbar, Hasnain Aftab and Muhammad Anis studying in class 10th said that they are facing great difficulties in studies due to non-availability of teaching staff. "We are continuously paying Rs50 each to pay the salary of privately hired teacher," they said.

Reliable sources from District Education Department informed that there are around 2,019 primary, middle and higher secondary schools for boys and girls in the entire Rawalpindi district.

The sources said that around 50 per cent schools are without headmasters and all institutions are facing worst shortage of teachers and non-teaching staff. Several schools like Government Boys High School, Dera Khalsa, have been functioning without teachers and headmasters for years.

When contacted Executive District Officer (Education) Muhammad Ashraf Malik, he admitted all facts and figures. He said that several schools including Government Boys High School, Dera Khalsa, are being run without proper teaching staff and headmasters for many years. He said that in Phase-I they had appointed 1,998 teachers on vacant posts in 2009 and now in the second phase in 2010 around 425 vacant posts will be filled.

The new appointments, he said would be completed in May and all matters would be resolved. "All kinds of promotions were stopped, but now the education department has started promotions of senior teachers and all schools would get regular headmasters," he assured. He also regretted that students were paying salary to private hired teachers. The news

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QAU students protest 10 percent annual raise in fee
Islamabad: The Quaid-e-Azam University (QAU) students during a protest on the university campus on Wednesday demanded an immediate end to the policy of 10 percent increase in tuition fee every year.

They demanded provision of electricity, water and Internet facilities in hostels, proper use of the students' welfare and sports fund and an end to corruption in award of mess and canteen contracts.

The QSF organised the protest, which was joined by the NSF. The protest rally started from the main cafeteria and the protestors marched to the new administration block. Daily times

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Quick access to real-time info made possible
Islamabad: A Campus Management Solution (CMS) has been launched at Quaid-i-Azam University (QAU) that is the first of its kind in any educational institution in the country.

Minister for Education Sardar Assef Ahmed Ali formally inaugurated the QAU CMS, while Vice Chancellor QAU Dr Masoom Yasinzai, Executive Director Higher Education Commission (HEC) Sohail Naqvi and faculty members were also present on the occasion.

The data showed that CMS is aimed at providing students and faculty members with immediate access to real-time information and connects that information to specific action. CMS has been logically divided into several modules, each of which maps a university function/department.

HEC selected six public sector universities for the implementation of Oracle People Soft Campus Solutions and Quaid-i-Azam University is the first ever university that has formally introduced CMS, based on this kind of campus solution.

Sardar Assef Ahmed Ali said being a strong nation, every one should keep working towards excellence and put in best efforts to embark the country on the path of progress and prosperity. "Being a minister, I try not to interfere in the internal affairs of HEC to ensure its autonomy that can certainly help it work with freedom and more dedication. The launch of CMS has proved that we are moving in the right direction and we will achieve our targets with concerted efforts," he said.

VC QAU Dr Masoom Yasinzai while lauding the efforts of the CMS project team said the project would provide the ability to streamline processes, reduce manual handling and consolidate information into one database besides promoting transparency, compliance and efficiencies by effectively managing funding and student accounts.

"HEC has given a new vision that is fast changing the educational environment in higher learning institutions. We hope that HEC will continue to provide the required assistance to universities in pursuance of their goals," he said.

Executive Director HEC Dr Sohail Naqvi said the CMS would provide the administrative and financial information back to the university students as well as the faculty members. He said QAU is a premier research institute and enjoys an excellent reputation, as it has also been bracketed among the top 500 universities of the world.

Earlier, while briefing the audience about the CMS Project, Director Dr Abdul Hameed Toor said the successful launch of CMS at Quaid-i-Azam University is a result of the constant efforts made by the CMS team in collaboration with HEC and Techlogix.

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Prize for Foundation School
Rawalpindi: The Foundation School, Satellite Town, won third prize in the category of Plants and Animals of Wetlands, second prize in Global Warming and Climate Change and it also clinched the trophy for the second place in over all stall presentation, at the Nature Carnival 2010, organised by WWF, Pakistan at the F9 Park, says a press release.

The school principal, Madiha Imran, owed this success to the teamwork of her staff and the students. She appreciated the unstinted efforts of her Art teacher, Zakia Naqvi with whose guidance the students managed to win laurels for the school. She also thanked the parents of the students for their participation and presence at the carnival. She acknowledged WWF for organising such an event which always provides students an opportunity to become true earth warriors and contribute in their own way to save their planet.

The chief guest at this occasion was the CDA Chairman Imtiaz Inyat Elahi who appreciated the effort put in by the students and teachers of this school.

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PEIRA to conduct surprise visits of private schools
Islamabad: Private Educational Institutions Regulatory Authority (PEIRA) would conduct surprise visits of the private schools to check overall performance and availability of basic facilities. The authority will send its inspection committee to the registered private schools, which were instructed earlier to improve their facilities.

Talking to APP, PEIRA Chairman Atif Mehmood Kiyani said inspection committee would check if private schools were fulfilling the set criteria in terms of maintaining standard of education and providing facilities to the students.

The private schools registered with the authority are bound to ensure proper strength of students, number of classrooms and presence of equipped laboratory and library stocked with up to 3,000 books.

Atif Kiyani said the authority send an inspection committee after some time to keep vigilance on the schools. The authority cancels the registration of the school after issuing three warnings, if its administration fails to ensure basic facilities especially proper rooms, library and science laboratories.

So far, the authority has cancelled the registration of only one private school for not observing the criteria despite several warnings, he said.

About registration of the private schools, Atif Kiyani said the authority has registered 665 schools, following a transparent procedure. While the registration of around 50 private schools is in progress.

Those schools which could not fulfil the criteria are sometimes registered on temporary basis with some directions to improve their standards within a limited time period. The situation vary from place to place as if someone opens a school in a rural locality with less facilities where there is no other school, then the authority give it registration on temporary basis to save the future of students, he observed. The permanent registration certificate is awarded after complete satisfaction over the authority's reservations, he informed.

For getting registration, the private school owner has to fulfill a required criteria set by the authority to discourage those who open schools just to mint money. The schools charging up to Rs1,000 as monthly fee are bound to pay Rs5,000 for registration along with inspection fee of Rs2,500.

While Rs2,500 is charged after every two years to renew the registration of the schools, Atif said. However, the schools charging fee over Rs1,000 per month are supposed to pay double registration, inspection and renewal charges.

Atif said that the authority will launch its website in the coming month to keep the parents well informed about the registered private schools of the capital. PEIRA is working on self-finance basis since its establishment through an ordinance in 2006 and it took various initiatives for regulation and promotion of private sector schools.

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FIA, HEC officials issued notices
Rawalpindi: Justice Asad Munir of the Lahore High Court (LHC), Rawalpindi Bench, here on Wednesday issued notices to director immigration Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and chairman Higher Education Commission (HEC) asking them to respond to a petition filed by a student seeking removal of his name from the exit control list (ECL).

Muhammad Usman Afzal who has been studying in South Korea on HEC scholarship through his lawyer Raila Saleem Subohi has challenged the order of FIA putting his name on ECL and declaring him an absconder on the complaint of HEC.

The petitioner who is a student of PhD at South Korea has maintained that he returned to Pakistan following the agreement with HEC and remained in the country

for six months looking for job and even requested the

HEC to procure a job for him but he could not find the job and then he returned to South Korea.

His lawyer told the court that if there was any breach of agreement with HEC by the student, civil suits could be filed against the violators but no criminal proceedings

could be initiated merely on the basis of violation of an agreement.

The court will take up this case after the respondents file their reply. The news

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