Sindh schools, colleges timing extended
School hours extended: Teachers with BEd diploma to get better pay scales
Karachi, Apr 29: The Sindh education department's steering committee
recommended on Wednesday the introduction of a bachelor of education
(BEd) diploma course after abolishing the PTC (primary teachers course)
and the CT (certificate in teaching) courses and proposed that all
those primary and junior schoolteachers (PSTs and JSTs) and high
schoolteachers (HSTs) who passed the proposed B.Ed diploma would be
given Grade 16 and Grade 17, respectively. It also recommended the upgrade of government college teachers' grades across Sindh on the pattern of universities. The steering committee which met here with Sindh education minister Pir
Mazhar-ul-Haq in the chair decided to increase the timings in morning
shift schools and colleges by one hour and in the evening shift schools
and colleges by half-an-hour with immediate effect. The
meeting also took a number of other decisions, including the reduction
of fees and funds of government schools and colleges, compulsory
uniform in public sector colleges, inclusion of higher secondary
schools in the centralised admission policy for admission to Class XI
in the city's government colleges, besides allowing non-formal/private
students to appear in Class V and VIII annual examinations from their
nearby government primary and high schools. Divulging the
details of the steering committee's meeting, a spokesman for the
education department said that decision to increase school and
college timings by an hour had been taken in view of the federal
government's decision of observing additional weekly holiday on
Saturdays as a part of energy conservation plan. The decision
aimed at compensating the academic losses to be suffered by students of
schools and colleges in the wake additional weekly holiday on Saturdays
and would be effective immediately for an indefinite period, he added. The meeting decided to decrease fees and funds charged from students at
government colleges and higher secondary schools from the next academic
session, staring from August 1, 2010. According to the
spokesman, the meeting has decided that the science and home economics
students would now be charged Rs550 as against existing fee of Rs950
while commerce and humanities groups students would be charged Rs500 as
against the existing fee of Rs770. Regarding
non-formal/private students, he said that such students who had been
allowed to appear in Class V and VIII annual examinations would be
required to approach headmasters of their nearest schools for this
purpose at least one month before the annual examinations and it would
be the responsibility of the heads of schools concerned to complete all
formalities in this regard. Elaborating, he said that though
there would be no maximum age limit for such students, they would be
required to produce birth certificate and permanent resident
certificate of the union council concerned. Discussing the matter
concerning summer vacation, the meeting decided that there will be no
change in the vacation and it would be observed from June 1, 2010 to
July 31, 2010. Dawn
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Private schools association opposes two weekly holidays
Karachi: The All Private Schools Management Association Sindh (APSMAS)
on Wednesday opposed the government's decision of two holidays in a
week, saying that it was against the interests of education. APSMAS
Chairman Syed Khalid Shah at a press conference held at the Karachi
Press Club said two holidays in a week would further deteriorate the
standards of education. He said there were already plenty of holidays
in our schooling system and they were ruining the education sector. ppi
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Outages at exam centres irk candidates
Karachi: The first phase of the Higher Secondary School
Certificate (intermediate) annual examinations commenced on Tuesday
with around 100,000 candidates taking their first paper amid complaints
of prolonged power outages at most centres during the exam time. Thousands of candidates at the affected centres braved hot and humid
weather conditions as fans in the exam halls stopped functioning
because of loadshedding of one and a half hours. Many of them felt that
the outage affected their performance. A number of the candidates who
spoke at the centres said they could not do well in their first
paper as during the almost half of their three-hour paper time, they
had been profusely sweating. Blaming the Karachi Electric
Supply Company for playing with their career by sticking to its
loadshedding schedule even at their examination centres, they appealed
to the Sindh government to issue directives to top KESC officials
asking them to spare the examination centres during the paper timings. "This uncalled-for attitude may deprive us of an opportunity to seek
admission to a professional college of our choice as power outages are
bound to undermine our efforts towards securing the required marks in
this examination," said a group of students. "My answer
script had become quite wet when I was profusely perspiring during the
outage," bemoaned a female candidate in an angry tone. An
official of the Board of Intermediate Education Karachi (BIEK), when
asked whether the board had made a proper request to the power utility
in this regard, replied in the affirmative, and deplored that repeated
requests made to the KESC not to apply loadshedding in the morning
hours during the examinations seemed to have fallen on deaf ears. He
said that most candidates had to face immense hardship due to the
loadshedding. Over 100 caught cheating
The vigilance
teams of the board, meanwhile, caught 102 candidates (98 male and four
female) cheating or using some other unfair means to solve their
papers. A high-powered vigilance team, led by BIEK Chairman
Prof Anwar Ahmed Zai, visited various exam centres and found a number
of candidates keeping their cellphones in the exam halls in violation
of the relevant ban. The team pardoned such candidates as it
was the first day of the examination, but warned against repeated
violation of the ban. "No one carrying a cellphone will be allowed to
enter the exam hall," Prof Zai declared, adding that the cellphone
found in possession of anyone taking papers would be confiscated. The vigilance team comprising director-general of colleges Dr Nasir
Ali, director of colleges (inspection) Abdul Fateh, inspector of
colleges Prof Sajida Salim, BIEK secretary Prof Haider Naveen Ali and
deputy secretary Imran Chishti and deputy controller of examinations
Syed Liaquat Ali, has been authorised to take action against any
candidate found indulging in cheating or using some other unfair means
at the exam centres or against those involved in impersonation cases. Dawn
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SU acquires 56 acres for new campus
Dadu: The University of Sindh (SU) has taken over possession of 56 acres of
land located on the Badin-Thatta Road for the construction of Sindh
University Laar Campus here on Wednesday. The possession was officially
taken over after the site inspection by SU Vice Chancellor Prof Dr
Nazir A Mughal. On the occasion, the vice chancellor thanked the
Revenue department for extending help in allocation of the land. He
said the university aimed to provide education to people of remote
areas at their doorsteps so that they could be able to contribute to
national development. During a meeting with the faculty members and
students of the Laar College, the vice chancellor approved four point
buses and a coaster for their pick and drop facility. Later, he took a
round of the college building and inspected classes, computer
laboratory, library, teachers' hostel and other parts.
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Lower staff of education dept stage demo
The Sindh Education Department Lower Staff Association held a protest demonstration in
front of the Hyderabad Press Club here on Wednesday for the acceptance
of their demands which include regularization of their services and
implementation of appointments on son quoto and deceased quota. They
warned that if their demands were not met, they would stage a sit-in at
the press club in Karachi on 17th May 2010.
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Two schoolboys drown
Karachi: Two brothers were drowned in the pond at a cattle farm in the remit of the Shah Lateef Town police on Wednesday. Ten-year-old
Sarfaraz and his eight-year-old brother Siraj, son of Muhammad Bachal,
were drowned in the cattle farm pond in Yousuf Goth, while swimming. After
sometime when their employee saw their bodies floating he raised an
alarm. The cattle farm owner Muhammad Bachal and father of deceased
children came out his residence and rushed to the spot. According to
the police the deceased, on their return from school, jumped into the
pond where the cattle were quenching their thirst, to escape the
exasperating heat but drowned while swimming. The news
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