Karachi University removed teacher on plagiarism charges

KU defends decision to remove teacher
Karachi, Aug 10: The University of Karachi defended its decision of removing a cooperative teacher on charges of plagiarism in a hearing held at the provincial ombudsman office by its regional director, Karachi (east), on Saturday.

KU registrar Prof Dr Raees Alvi and vice-chancellor's adviser Dr Fahimuddin represented the university before retired Colonel Ghulam Muhiuddin, the regional director of the provincial ombudsman.

During the proceedings, the KU representatives conceded that no show-cause notice was issued in writing or verbally to the complainant, Dr Zakia Bibi, to enable her to clarify her position on the matter.

The KU officials maintained that the administration could take action against any teacher on charges of misconduct under the University Act. Though the institution had not formulated or adopted any policy on plagiarism to date, the matter was still being worked out in light of the Higher Education Commission's policy.

This policy, they argued, served as guidelines on plagiarism and was not binding on the institution.

Upon this, the ombudsman's director observed that the HEC policy on plagiarism was very clear on the subject, as all articles published before Sept 27, 2007 were not to be considered for plagiarism and this rule was being strictly followed in all public sector universities. The research paper in question was published before the said date, he said.

"The university authorities, it seems, punished Dr Zakia Bibi with mala fide intentions," he remarked.

Dr Zakia Bibi, a cooperative teacher at the KU's chemistry department, was removed from service on charges of plagiarism over two months ago. Three other teachers, who were regular employees of the university, were suspended and a judicial inquiry is proceeding against them.

Upon removal, Dr Zakia Bibi approached the ombudsman's office, whose jurisdiction on the matter was challenged by the university in the Sindh High Court. The court dismissed KU's petition and accepted the stand of the ombudsman's office that it had the authority to hear matters related to maladministration. Dawn

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Committee recommends sealing of YMSS head office
Karachi: The committee constituted to probe the Yaqeen Model School System (YMSS) matter has recommended that the head office of YMSS be sealed and all the bank transactions between YMSS and building owners be checked in order to verify the allegations levelled by the building owners.

The government should arrest people currently working, or who had worked, in the top positions at YMSS to probe the matter and fix responsibility. Besides this, administrators should be given control of each campus of the schooling system so that students and teachers do not suffer anymore.

Teachers and parents had suggested that it was the best available option to handle the matter. It was also endorsed by the Chairman Private Schools Management Associations, Sharaf-uz-Zaman, who is also a part of the committee.

These suggestions were made after teachers and parents came to know that some building owners of YMSS campuses were trying to take over the control of the schooling system at different campuses on their own. Some of the campuses are now under the control of new management and had removed the signboards of YMSS.

It has been learnt that various landlords were trying to run the education system under new names and almost six schools have been re-named illegally and without any permission.

The owners of several buildings claimed that they were not paid the rent for the last five to six months and now they would run the school on their own to meet the expenses of building(s) and other expenditures.

Sharaf-uz-Zaman said that taking notice of YMSS affairs, the education minister had formed a committee to find out the facts. "A report of more than 100 pages was submitted on Saturday to the authority concerned," he said, adding: "Our first priority is to save students' educational year as well as teachers' careers".

At least 60 per cent of the students were being brought back to the educational network and complaints from 150 teachers and 50 non-teaching staff were received by the committee, he added.

Sharaf-uz-Zaman disclosed that YMSS had paid Rs 1.8 million to Employees' Old-age Benefits Institution (EOBI), Rs 1 million to Sindh Employees Social Security Institution and a huge amount in lieu of other taxes and building rents. "They collect more or less Rs10 million per month and no security fee and admission fees is included in it," he said.

"It was a profitable business for the government and if the government responds well then they would still earn good money from this schooling system," he said, adding: "Mufti Din Muhammad was found shifting school properties to his personal building, while some office-bearers deployed at the head office have stolen electronic equipment and furniture from the campuses and sold it outside at cheaper rates."

The committee also found that Rs0.54 million were deposited in a local bank and the same were collected from students in lieu of security deposit at one campus only.

Teachers and parents have also requested the government to verify the agreement deal between YMSS and building owners and confirm how much tax these owners were paying for their buildings.

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Class IX (gen) results today Karachi: The Board of Secondary Education Karachi has announced that the results of SSC part-I (Class IX) general group annual examination 2009 will be declared on Monday (August 10). App

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Two employees of education dept suspended
Karachi: As many as two employees of the Sindh Education Department were suspended and are facing corruption cases. Assistant District Officer (ADO) Lyari, Lutufullah Khoso, who was serving in Grade 18 at Khankashan Lower Secondary School, Lyari, was suspended by the District Coordination Officer (DCO), Karachi, Javed Hanif. In another case, Ghulam Rasool Bhutto has been suspended by Secretary Education, Rizwan Memon and a notification number SO(S-II) 6-443/09 on August 8, 2009, had been issued in this regard. Bhutto was working in Grade 16, DO Elementary (Male), as an Account Officer. He joined the office on detailment from Larkana and at that time, he was at Grade 11 only.

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Breaking new grounds in research and education
Karachi: Proud of their Faculty of Education, Dr Wasim Qazi Executive Director of Gulshan-e-Iqbal Campus, Iqra University (IU) explained that IU has one of the best educational standards that too at affordable rates, compared to other big names.

"We have seven full time faculty members who have PhD degrees in Education. No other university can claim that honour,' said Dr Wasim Qazi. Dr Qazi, who is also a Professor of Education in the university, is adamant that his university was doing better than another more reputed private university in the city, in the field of Education. "We are producing one of the best graduates in education and we charge only one hundred thousand rupees compared to the other university that charges 2.3 million rupees for the same programme – Masters in Education (M.Ed.)."

It may be of some interest to note that the Dean Faculty of Social Sciences Dr Ismail Saad was the father of Department of Education in Karachi, as he was first to obtain a PhD in Education from George Peabody College of Teachers Nashville, Tennessee, USA and established the Department of Education in the University of Karachi (KU) in the sixties.

Dr Khalid Jamil Rawat, another Professor at the IU who has his interest in research added that "We conduct the research in two paradigms. The first one is Logical Positivist for quantitative method and the second one is Naturalistic Enquiries that include Qualitative research with Phenomenology, Grounded Theory, Ethnography and Hermeneutics. "I can tell you with certainty, that these methods are not used in any university of Pakistan except for some tidbits at a private university in Gulshan-e-Iqbal", he said with conviction.

Dr Rawat is happy with his university for the depth they are providing to their M.Phil and PhD researchers. "We adopt a sort of 'assembly line' approach for the research. We test the aptitude of the student who submits his or her proposal for research. One has to complete the M.Phil and then go on for the PhD degrees. We believe in quality and do not go for the quantity in order to claim that we are producing PhDs in such a large number," added Rawat.

"The IU makes it imperative that the research papers of the teachers and students are published in the Higher Education Commission (HEC) – approved journals. Again we are seeking research in the real sense and encourage our faculty and students to produce genuine research and on no account get involved in plagiarism. We have zero tolerance for it. We are in the process of launching our own International journal on Education and hopefully we would be able to do it in a short time.

We have provided decent library for our students and enabled them to log in to the HEC Digital Library that has more than 40,000 books. IU has made inroads towards teachers' Education and training and has been able to get assignments from private and public sectors.

The Bureau of Curriculum and Extension Wing, Department of Education and Literacy, Government of Sindh has awarded a project to the university to initiate Masters Courses for teachers. The Project boasts of 53.35 million rupees and the duration for the project is three years. The Project included M.Ed (Two Years Programme) for 16 teachers and Educational Administrators working in the public sector. 14 candidates have already completed the degree requirements.

The Project also includes training of 15 teachers and Educational Administrators for MS in IT. This course will be completed by the end of December 2009. Four Months Certificate Course in Educational Management and M.Phil Leading to PhD Programmes in Education are the other components of the project. A total of 37 students have completed their M.Phil degrees and 35 are now registered for the PhD research. The news

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