9,866 madrassas registered between 2005-09
9,866 madrassas registered between 2005-09, NA told
Islamabad, Aug 07: The government registered 9,866 madrassas
between 2005 and June 30, 2009, taking the total number of madrassas registered
across the country to 15,843, Minister for Religious Affairs Hamid Saeed Kazmi
told the National Assembly on Thursday. The registration began after the
promulgation of Societies Registration (Second Amendment) Ordinance 2005, Kazmi
informed parliament in a written reply. He said there were 5,355
madrassas operating in Punjab, 2,852 in Sindh, 1,242 in the NWFP, 297 in
Balochistan, and 120 madrassas in the federal capital. The minister said round
5,977 madrassas were registered in Punjab before the promulgation of the
ordinance, while the data on those registered in other provinces prior to the
ordinance's promulgation was not available with the ministry. Minister for Education Mir Hazar Khan
Bijarani said over 3,000 students were granted foreign scholarships in the last
three years. He said the National Book Foundation was establishing village book
clubs across the country to promote reading in the society. Daily Times
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Education sector reform project fails to take off
Islamabad: The government had miserably failed to implement President's
Education Sector Reforms Programme during the last two years as against a
massive allocation of around Rs2 billion, the government could only utilize
little over Rs160 million for provision of missing facilities at school level,
adult literacy and revamping of science education at secondary level.
The National Assembly was informed on Thursday that under the programme,
an allocation of Rs1.772 billion was made during the last two years, but the
government could only release Rs636 million, whereas actual utilization on
ground stood at Rs160.191 million. In a written reply, Federal Education
Minister, Mir Hazar Khan Bijarani told the house that complicated release
process, disengagement of military operations directorate from the project of
provision of missing facilities and non-submission of reports by the provinces
had led to the dismal performance of the project. Providing more
details, the minister said, until now Rs105.05 million could be spent on the
provision of missing facilities at primary and middle level schools, Rs39.61
million for the revamping of science education at secondary level and only
Rs15.531 million on the adult literacy programme. Initially, army
engineering corps was engaged for building missing facilities at primary and
middle level schools, but later on the decision was reversed. In
response to another question, education minister informed the house that
provincial textbook boards would only be able to print books according to new
curriculum before the academic session of 2010. The minister clarified,
originally, there was a proposal to introduce new curriculum from academic
session of 2009, however, considering the state of textbooks development by the
provincial boards, the 14th meeting of provincial education ministers conference
held on December 20 postponed the decision. Replying to another query,
the minister informed the house that over the last three years, the Higher
Education Commission (HEC) had awarded 3033 scholarships to students for
education in foreign universities. The amount of scholarship varied from
country to country basis, however, on average it cost Rs0.09 million to Rs2
million per scholarship. He said, scholarships were offered on open competition
basis without any quota system. Dawn
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Second term of NIP to start from next week
Islamabad: Minister for Youth Affairs Shahid Hussain Bhutto on Thursday
said that the second term of national internship program (NIP) will be started
in the second week of current month to accommodate 30,000 post graduates in
various departments. "The future of our country depends on the development of
youth, with proper utilization of their potential. The government is committed
to provide respectable jobs to country's youth", he said, talking to this news
agency here. The Minister informed that a youth convention is being held in
the federal Capital to get suggestions in order to resolve problems of youths
with their consent in future. He said as the majority of the youth is living
in the rural areas, therefore the government has established 100 youth centers
in those areas where different activities regarding youth affairs would be
started.Shahid Bhutto said that the government has planned to reorganize
National Volunteer Movement to make it a useful platform for the purpose. He
vowed to establish senior citizens counters in different hospitals of the
country where youth will extend their services to the senior
citizen. The nation
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Programme to develop teachers professionally
Islamabad: The National Accreditation Council for Teacher Education on
Thursday launched a programme to provide guidelines for reforming the teachers'
education and professional development system with a holistic and cohesive
approach. The programme 'Standards for accreditation of teacher
education programme' consisting of a set of principles elaborates the
requirements for specific and essential components of the teachers' education
programme as a part of 'Strengthening teacher education in Pakistan (STEP)'.
Speaking on the occasion, Unesco Director Dr Maurice Robson highlighted
key areas of the project. The project, he said, focused on three key areas:
improving the policy framework, improving coordination in teacher education
sub-sector and professional standard setting in teacher education. Shehnaz Wazir
Ali, Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Social Sector and in charge Higher
Education Commission (HEC), said government was fully alive to the requirements
to improve the education system. She said the programme developed by
accreditation council was an important step towards introducing quality
institutions for improvement of teachers' education. Government is
determined to support those educational institutions which were imparting
quality education, she said, adding that ultimate goal of the accreditation
system was to create a culture and system for quality enhancement of teacher
education institutions. Dawn
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Ministry to multiply Special education centers
Islamabad: Minister for Social Welfare and Special Education, Samina Khalid Ghurki has
stressed the need for increasing the number of Special Education Centers across
the country and improving their efficiency and performance. The Minister stated this during a meeting held here with the representatives of
Special Education Centers from all over the country on Thursday. She said
that her ministry had 127 Special education centers across the country and there
was a need to increase them to cater the needs of a large number of special
people. "The number of centers was not enough to serve to the growing
population of disabled persons and to fill this gap we are working on the
inclusive education system which would enable the Persons with disabilities
(PWDs) to study in normal schools," Ghurki said. During the meeting, it was
emphasized that educational work in special education centers should adhere to
the principle of combining ideological cultural and labour skill education with
attention to meet the physical and mental needs of special persons. Samina
Khalid Ghurki further directed the introduction of classification teaching so as
to meet the individual needs of students with diverse disabilities and also
teaching on a one-to-one basis to be offered in centers where conditions
permit. She urged the teachers and administration of special education
centers to devote themselves to their professional responsibilities and value
their students with the spirit of humanitarianism. The Nation
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PAL to launch compilation of Ayesha's columns
Islamabad: Pakistan Academy of Letters (PAL) will today (Thursday)
launch a collection of Ayesha Masood's published columns on its
premises. The collection has been titled as 'Wadairon Say Wardi
Tak'. PAL Chairman Fakhar Zaman will chair the function. Prof Fateh
Muhammad Malik, Senator Dr Saeeda Iqbal, Javed Siddique, Tariq Khursheed, Sattar
Syed, Afzal Butt and Zeeshan Hanif are among the key speakers on the occasion. Daily Times
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