Lawrence College students excellence

Lawrence College students excel in 'O' level exams
Murree, Aug 13: Students of the Lawrence College, Ghora Gali, have achieved exceptional results in the 'O' level examination conducted in May-June 2009, says a press release issued here on Tuesday.

Muhammad Shuja Khan, Saad Bin Muhammad, Sameer Altaf Tunio and Danial Rizwan Masood Butt clinched straight 8 As.

Haider Bashir, Syed Usman Bin Mehmood, Umair Aziz, Hafiz Bilal Ramzan got 7 As.

Hashim Salman got 6 As, while Muhammad Bilal Riaz got 5 As. Shahzaib Afridi and Kazim Raza got 4 As.

The overall percentage of students was the highest ever in the long history of Lawrence College, Ghora Gali, Murree.

Principal Air Commodore (r) Farooq H. Kiyani appreciated the performance of faculty members of the college.

Post your comments

Moot on teachers' development concludes
Islamabad: A three-day conference on teachers' development titled '21st Century Schooling - What Works for Children in Schools Today' concluded at the Pakistan National Council of the Arts (PNCA) here on Wednesday.

The conference, organised by the Roots National Institute of Teacher Training and Education (RNITTE), attracted more than 450 delegates from across the country and abroad. PNCA Director General Tauqeer Nasir was the chief guest at the concluding ceremony.

Roots School System (RSS) Director Faisal Mushtaq, while speaking on the occasion, said that today's students live in a world that is extremely fast-paced and constantly changing.

"The changing paradigm of the 21st century requires that we redefine education, school, curriculum, teacher and the learner. The 21st century teaching is bold, flexible, creative, challenging and complex," he said.

Other speakers spoke on portable tools for powerful teaching, pedagogy and contemporary trends in education, the UK perspective on good classroom practices, vertical tutoring, teaching beyond knowledge society, class interactions and managing student behaviour. The news

Post your comments

Education minister eyes PAL's top slot
Islamabad: Education Minister Mir Hazar Khan Bajarani has set his eyes on the top position in the Pakistan Academy of Letters (PAL) Board of Governors, once the academy formally gets autonomous status, sources said.

Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani approved a summary for grant of autonomous status to the PAL a few months back, but the cabinet could not do same as Mr Bajarani said he had not seen the summary and sought time to go through it.

The sources said that according to the original draft, the PAL chairman was to retain the chairmanship of the academy's BoG, but the minister wanted an amendment in it to head the board, meaning a reversal of something already approved by the prime minister.

They said the PAL chairman was also seeking retention of the BoG chairmanship, saying that otherwise the autonomy would be meaningless.

The summary was likely to be placed before the cabinet for approval shortly, the sources said, adding that Prime Minister Gilani would have to intervene to resolve the matter that had created a tussle between the education minister and the PAL chairman, Fakhar Zaman.

When contacted, Mr Zaman confirmed the tussle, saying that: "We have disagreement over the chairmanship." He hoped Prime Minister Gilani would finally decide the matter. The PAL chief said he recently held a meeting with Mr Bajarani to convince him that the academy's Board of Governors comprising high profile writers should be headed by the PAL chairman, but said the minister was adamant that he would not let it happen.

Mr Zaman was confident that the premier, who had been patronising major projects undertaken by the PAL, would ensure that the BoG chairmanship that had traditionally remained with the PAL chairman was not disturbed.

He said the projects like launching of literary TV channel, international writers conference and publication of books would suffer a setback if the board's chairmanship went to the education minister.

Mr Zaman said he was in New Delhi when the prime minister called him to take over as PAL chairman, adding that he had told him that it was an autonomous body now and the chairman would have to directly report to him.

Mr Zaman indicated that he might quit as PAL chairman, if the education minister succeeded in his attempt to take over as BoG chairman. Dawn

Post your comments

Students display real show of talent
Islamabad: Blended with humour and thought provoking ideas, the inter-university dramatics competition 2009, held at Preston University here on Wednesday, proved to be a real show of talent and skill by the participating students of various universities.

Four selected dramas were presented on the occasion, with one of them focusing on serious issues while the remaining providing mainly non-stop entertainment to the audience.

Students of Arid Agriculture University, Rawalpindi, (AAUR) presented a Punjabi drama titled 'Boli Watna Di' highlighting the strong local cultures and traditions that have a great impact on people's lives.

A drama titled 'Diya Jalae Rakhna Hai', staged by the students of Comsats University, Islamabad, focused the grave challenge of increasing terrorism and the role of patriotic citizens in eradicating this menace from society.

A romantic comedy titled 'Mohabbat Aur Gorha' was presented by the students of Preston University (Islamabad Campus) that showed the power of love among individuals, while the students of Preston University (Kohat Campus) successfully highlighted the miseries of people facing loadshedding across the country.

PPP leader Chaudhry Manzoor Ahmad was the chief guest on the occasion while the judges' panel of the drama competition comprised famous film critic Ejaz Gul, Syed Nabeel and Ghafran Imtiazi.

The participating teams from Comsats, Islamabad, and AAUR were jointly declared the first position holders, as both secured equal marks from the judges, while the team of Preston University (Islamabad Campus) was declared second in the competition. Though the comedy skit by Preston University (Islamabad campus) students was not part of the competition, it provided real fun to the audience, who gave a standing applause to the performing students.

Speaking on the occasion, Ejaz Gul said young and energetic people could play a vital role in restoring the lost glory of performing arts. "Such type of events provide the students with a great opportunity to display their skills and this trend should gain more ground in educational institutions," he said. Ejaz Gul said cinema has a very short history, as the first film was presented in 1895, while drama has been an important segment of performing arts for hundreds of years.

Syed Nabeel and Ghufran Imtiazi also spoke on the occasion and underlined the need to take immediate measures to save the future of performing arts for the coming generations. "We lack nothing in terms of talent but there is a need to provide ripe opportunities to youngsters, who can show outstanding skills in the field of performing arts," they said.

Later, Chancellor Preston University Abdul Basit and Ejaz Gul gave away prizes to the winning teams. The news

Post your comments

Book on Unesco world heritage sites in Pakistan launched
Islamabad: Pakistan National Council of Arts (PNCA) and the Unesco on Wednesday launched a book focusing on Unesco World Heritage sites in Pakistan including Lahore Fort, Makli Necropolis, Rohtas Fort, Shalimar Garden, Moenjadaro, Takht Bahi, Taxila.

The UNESCO country director Maurice Robson praised the author Ayesha Pamela Rogers as well as photographer Asad Zaidi who took two months to capture the heritage locations.

However, the lesson that the books and the pictures impart is to remember past heritage, hold them precious and remember 'what has happened in the past.

Maurice expressed the hope that visitors coming to the exhibition would not only be content with seeing the photos but go to the sites.

The PNCA director general Tauqir thanked Unesco and director Maurice while mentioning also the continuing cooperation between the two organizations, and for his kind gesture in seeing to it that the book as well as photo exhibitions were arranged before he left for home at the end of his assignment in Pakistan.

Another item of cultural preservation was to be found in the PNCA programmes Abbasin Rang and Bolan Rang which reeked with illustration of

our rich folk music, and the value of inestimable musical instruments. One could only sway with the lyrics in Gul Lagi Ila Lagi sung by Farzana Bahar.

Then we had an item by a renowned Pushtu speaking Baloch who delighted the audience with his humorous verses, including one that referred to the shoes thrown at former President George Bush by an Iraqi journalist. Dawn

Post your comments