FDE institutions summer vacation extended

Summer vacation extended till Sept 4
Islamabad, Aug 15: Capital Administration and Development Division (CADD) on Sunday announced extension in summer vacations for all the educational institutes working under Federal Directorate of Education (FDE) till September 4.

CADD Spokesman Rafique Tahir told this agency that the decision has been taken in a meeting of the officials of CADD and FDE held Sunday.

The division has announced vacations again due to the hot weather conditions and the ongoing month of Ramazan and directed the private educational institutes to follow the same decision, Rafique Tahir said.

The summer vacations that had started on June 1 had ended on August 10 and the students joined their institutes on August 11. And now the students will have vacations till Eidul Fitr.

The parents of the students as well as teachers especially who had moved to their native towns were demanding extension in the summer vacations so that they could observe fasting and celebrate Eid at their home towns. The news

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4 Nust officials arrested
Islamabad: The capital police on Wednesday arrested four officials of National University of Science and Technology (Nust) for stealing entry test papers for pre-engineering department.

Sabzi Mandi SHO Sub-Inspector Shahid Mehmood said that the police had arrested four persons nominated in the FIR.

The accused will be produced in the court on Thursday for seeking their physical remand, he said, adding  that four other accused were still at large.

He said the university's registrar, Saleem Dawood, told Sabzi Mandi police on Tuesday that staff of the university had allegedly

stolen entry test papers last month.

In response to the complaint, the police registered a case against eight persons nominated by the registrar.

The investigation officer said the entry test was held on July 17, but later it was declared null and void when the registrar came to know that papers were stolen. A departmental inquiry was conducted which found the university's officials involved. Dawn

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Girls clinch top honours in HSSC examination
Islamabad: Girls, once again, outshone boys in the Higher Secondary School Certificate (HSSC) Part-II Annual Examination 2011 held under the Federal Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (FBISE), with Fatima Khalid from the Army Public School and College, Sargodha Cantonment, clinching the top position.

The bright girl, with roll number 560752, secured 1029 marks in the Pre-Engineering Group and secured overall first position. Amna Farouk from the Bahria College, Naval Complex, Sector E-8, stood second with 1024 marks. Amna Arshad from the Army Public School and College for Girls, Rawalpindi Cantonment, secured 1021 marks and stood third.

As many as 37,386 regular students appeared in the HSSC Part-II Annual Examination 2011, out of which 30,134 passed. The pass percentage remained 80.60%. On the other hand, 8,969 private and ex-students appeared in the examination, out of which 4,983 passed and the pass percentage remained 55.56%. The overall pass percentage in the examination remained 75.76%.

Seema Kanwal from the Hamza Army Public School and College, Rawalpindi, stood first in the Pre-Medical Group by securing 1019 marks. Uzma Shaheen from the Punjab College for Information Technology for Women, Sargodha, stood second by securing 1015 marks. The third position was shared by Misbah Zeb from the Army Public Science College, Okara Cantonment, and Muhammad Abdullah Mahmood from the Global College System, 115 Range Road, Rawalpindi, by securing 1013 marks.

All three top positions in the General Science Group were bagged by girls. Maria Hamdani from the Askaria College, Rawalpindi Cantonment, secured 997 marks and stood first. Umm-e-Laila Shigri secured 980 marks and stood second. Sundus Maria secured 979 marks and clinched the third position.

Girls also remained on top in the Commerce Group. The first position was achieved by Anab Sundus from the Pakistan Education Centre, Doha, Qatar, who secured 945 marks. Humna Khalid from the Pakistan Education Centre, Doha, Qatar stood second by securing 938 marks. Nageen Abbas from the Punjab College, Sector F-8/4, Islamabad, stood third by securing 907 marks.

In the Humanities Group, Salma Faiz from the Ghazali College for Women, Bhara Kahu, stood first by securing 929 marks. Syeda Bint-ul-Huda Zaidi from the Federal Government College for Women, F-7/2, stood second by securing 913 marks. The third position was shared by Muhammad Mohsin Habib from the Institute of Islamic Sciences, Satra Meel, and Farwa Batool from the Federal Government College for Women, Kashmir Road, Rawalpindi Cantonment. Both of them secured 911 marks.

Addressing the result announcement ceremony, Federal Minister for Professional and Technical Training Mian Riaz Hussain Pirzada said that only those countries have progressed in the world whose citizens have acquired education. "By looking at the results, we can assume that the future of this country is in the hands of women," he said.

Federal Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (FBISE) Chairperson Dr. Shaheen Khan said that the first examination under the FBISE was conducted in 1976 in which 171 education institutions were affiliated, but now more than 988 institutions were affiliated with the FBISE out of which 50 were abroad. "The FBISE is the only education board in the country which is ISO certified," she said.

She said that extensive measures have been taken to improve the quality of services during last three years as a result of which there was not a single incident of paper out, cheating or fake documentation. The news

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HEC cuts 5 to 10 percent budget of universities
Islamabad: Higher Education Commission (HEC) has started reducing budget allocations for universities and it is feared that not only management of the universities will bear the brunt besides severe financial problems could hit scholarships programmes.

Official sources said that HEC had directed all educational institutes in country through a letter to keep the commission informed about the current status of their funds. It can be inferred that the current status of financial conditions is worse than those in last year. The HEC through letter informed the universities that they cut down the budget by 5-10 percent considering the credibility of the universities. Source from HEC have declared the situation to be the worst in the history of the country.

Sources said that HEC had cut down funds of 128 public sector Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs) across the country. HEC cut down five percent budget of International Islamic University (IIUI) funds, seven percent of Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU), five percent of Bahria University, COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, National Defense University, Islamabad (NDU), National University of Sciences & Technology (NUST), Quaid-e-Azam University (QAU), Islamabad, Fatima Jinnah Women University (FJWU) and Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE), Islamabad.

Besides according to sources HEC has planned to cut down 7-10 percent in the budget of Federal Urdu University, Abdul Wali Khan University, Mardan, Frontier Women University, Gomal University, D.I. Khan Hazara University, Dodhial, Mansehra Institute of Management Science, Peshawar (IMS), Islamia College University and other educational institute.

Sources said the financial crisis had also affected six new development projects. The Federal Cabinet allocated Rs 679.895 million for the six new schemes of HEC in the federal budget for 2011-12 under PSDP which Rs 20 million have been sanctioned for the establishment of National Institute of Liver and Gastro-intestine Diseases at Dow University of Health Sciences, Karachi, Rs 60 million to erect a university at Turbat, Rs 50 million for National Defense University, Rs 49.895 million for Establishing a university at Loralai, Rs 300 million for establishment of a university at Malakand/ Swat and Rs 200 million for indigenous PhD fellowship for 5,000 scholars. Out of a total allocation of Rs 14 billion in the current budget, Rs 13,320.105 million have been sanctioned for 166 on-going while Rs 679.895 million for six new schemes.

According to sources, the HEC was allotted budget of about 14 billion rupees for the year 2011-2012. Out of which 120 million rupees were fixed for scholarships. Given that current situation of HEC, it seem unable to maintain the scholarship funds due to which the student study abroad complain of scholarship funds but the commission uses ill will tactics. Besides according to universities officials, 5-10 percent cut in budgets the educational institutes seem difficult to maintained their administrative and other expenses. He also said scholarship programs and the provision of tuition fee under higher education commission would be affected.

The administrative officials of QAU and IIUI on the condition of anonymity said that they have received letter regarding budget detection. They said due to this cut universities would face stationery and due date billing paid problems in first phase then the second phase the educational institutes would face maintaining problems. Daily times

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NSSA launched to provide software to higher education sector
Islamabad: The Higher Education Commission (HEC) in collaboration with the Microsoft Pakistan has launched National Student Software Accessibility (NSSA) portal to provide genuine software availability to the higher education sector.

The service will streamline software distribution to all faculty members and students of public sector universities in the country. All public sector universities recognized by the HEC have been provided a customisable portal for licensed software distribution.

The portal consisting of around 150 software applications will enable over one million students and about 40,000 faculty members to download genuine Microsoft software.

The event to mark the launch of the portal was held at HEC Secretariat on Saturday and was attended by the vice chancellors, rectors,

directors, and representatives from different universities of the country.

Higher Education Commission Chairperson Dr Javaid R. Laghari said that this is a great opportunity for institutions of higher learning to gain access to a broad spectrum of technology and enable the country to move towards a knowledge-based economy, ultimately benefiting the country through socio-economic development.

Microsoft Pakistan's Country General Manager Kamal Ahmed said that Microsoft believes that Information and Communications Technology, combined with education, provides the path to individuals, communities and nations to achieve their potential. The news

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