Medical colleges teacher-student criteria
Private medical colleges not fulfilling criteria
Lahore, Dec 21: Young Doctors Association (YDA) has pointed out that private
medical/dental colleges are not fulfilling the teacher-student criteria laid
down by the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC), therefore, these private
medical colleges are a fit case for closure. The YDA office-bearers,
including Dr Rana Sohail, Dr Salman Kazmi, Dr Aslam Rao and others, said that
under PMDC regulations, there should be one demonstrator for teaching 25 medical
students, one assistant professor for 50 medical students, one associate
professor for 100 students and one professor for 200 students. They said that
the classes in these private medical colleges comprised 200 students of MBBS and
100 students of BDS which implied that most of these 26 private medical colleges
in Punjab didn't have the required number of medical teachers against the
criteria of the PMDC. "These private medical colleges are earning 30 crore
rupees per annum without fulfilling the criteria of the PMDC," they said. They
stressed the government to immediately close down these private medical colleges
which were imparting inferior quality of medical/dental education to the
students who would then become bane rather than boon for the society.
They also urged the PMDC to conduct regular inspections of private
medical/dental colleges in order to implement its regulations to maintain a
standard of quality medical/dental education in the province. Punjab
Health Department has said that the promotion cases of
doctors are being disposed of speedily for filling the vacant posts of
professors, associate professors and assistant professors in the medical
colleges of the province. The Health Department spokesman said that the
doctors, selected by the Punjab Public Service Commission for various vacancies,
were being posted in the medical colleges according to the requirement so that
besides Lahore the educational activities of the medical colleges established in
other cities of the province might not affect and treatment facilities could be
ensured to the patients.
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Private campuses open despite holidays
Lahore: abrupt announcement of annual winter holidays has exposed
mismanagement on the part of the Punjab government besides it highlighted
lethargic attitude of those at the helm and absence of coordination. The
eleventh-hour move has also emphasised the need of much-awaited regulatory body
for private sector educational institutions as implementation of its decision in
these institutes will not be less than a challenge for the
government. The Punjab government, through a notification on 19 December,
announced annual winter holidays for public and private sector schools from
December 21 to 31. The unexpected announcement perturbed students of both
public and private schools as majority of the institutions were holding
examinations. Secondly, the schools where no such exercise was being carried out
had not prepared any plan regarding home assignments for students for the winter
break. The parents of a number of students strongly
reacted against the government's hasty decision, saying that along with their
kids, they were also confused as the management of schools had not announced any
closure owing to exams and other issues. A citizen, whose son goes to the Lahore
Literati School, Shadman, said the government announced winter vacation for
private and public schools, ignoring the fact that many private schools were
conducting exams these days. "The school management has not announced any
holidays yet, therefore, my son will be going to school on Monday (today)," he
said. A spokesman for the Beaconhouse School System, Mr Tabraiz, said the school
would be observing annual winter break from December 24 as assessment tests
would be starting from December21. To a question, he said the government's
notification had nothing to do with private schools. "Its meant for
public schools only," he concluded. Similarly, a number of other private
schools, including the Lahore Grammar School (LGS) and The City School will open
as per routine on Monday, December 21. It is pertinent to mention here
that like private schools, a number of government schools in different parts of
the province were also holding winter tests these days so one can imagine the
confusion and disturbance faced by the students and teachers. Punjab Govt
Schools Senior Staff Association (PGSSSA) President Hafiz Abdul Nasir also
believes that the government took the decision in haste. "We were
expecting there will be no winter break this year as educational institutions
remained closed for weeks in the recent past owing to terrorism in the country,"
he said. "How the academic loss faced by the students will be
recovered," he questioned. The PGSSSA president also informed that many
government schools were conducting tests these days. "If it was
necessary to have holidays this year too some time must have been given to
prepare students as well as teachers for the break," he
maintained. Academic circles are of the view that by taking the decision
in total isolation and haste the government has in fact invited strong criticism
from the stakeholders. They say that taking private institutions on board has
always been a challenge for the government as there is no body to regulate
affairs of the private sector educational institutions. At the same time, the
stakeholders are also critical of the Punjab government for its inability to
establish a controlling authority for privately-managed schools despite the
passage of almost a complete one year since establishment of a committee by
Chief Minster Shahbaz Sharif in this regard. Sources in the School
Education Department said the task suffered a lot as Chairman of the Chief
Minister's Task Force for Elementary Education Raja Muhammad Anwar, who was
convener of the committee, was overburdened since he was also working as
chairman of the Punjab Education Foundation (PEF). The sources further
said that since most of the elite schools were owned by families of political
leaders, it was feared the government might have been facing extreme pressure
from different quarters in establishing the regulatory body which was supposed
to oversee fee structure, registration, quality assurance and other aspects of
private sector schools. The Environmental
Protection Department (EPD), Ministry of Environment, Punjab has granted a
research project worth Rs 1 million to the Lahore College for Women University
(LCWU) under its programme of providing financial assistance to develop
environmental pollution control/monitoring technologies (water treatment).
According to a press statement, Dr Muhammad Atiqur Rahman, assistant professor,
Environmental Science Department, LCWU, is the principal investigator for this
project. Before joining the LCWU, he was working as research scientist in Tokyo
Institute of Technology (TITECH), Japan. Explaining the objectives of the
project, Dr Atiq said that modern GIS technology would be used for groundwater
quality monitoring and hazard identification mapping in Kasur city. "The project
aims at engaging civil society network and local community organizations to get
their cooperation for hazard identification in the city and to pave the way for
solving the issue of the provision of cleaning drinking water in Kasur," he
maintained. The Lahore University of
Management Sciences (LUMS) has appointed Dr Arif Nazir Butt, associate professor
of management, as acting dean of the university's Suleman Dawood School of
Business (SDSB). According to a press release, Dr Butt took over from Dr Shaukat
Ali Brah who served as dean SDSB for two and half years. The City School Network on Sunday
organised a conference to explore the new avenues to meet the challenges in
education. The theme of the conference was "Rethinking Education' in which the
speakers said the 21st century education challenges were diverse and needed
robust plan of action. The main focus was given to the areas, such as,
online learning (class room/learning management system), leadership and change
management skills, measuring the way to success, career development and image
building with a special emphasis on A-Level Program. The speakers included Dr
Farzana, Mrs Mathew, Prof Arshad, Dr Umza Qureshi, Maqool Babri, Zehra Shah, Dr
Dania Qazi and Jenny Rosoa.
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PU PhD degree awarded
Lahore: The Punjab University (PU) has awarded a PhD degree to a student
in the subject of Molecular Biology after the approval of research thesis
entitled "Search for Drought Tolerant Gene by Differential Display". Asma
Maqbool completed her thesis under the supervision of PU National Centre of
Excellence in Molecular Biology (CEMB) Prof Dr Tayyab Husnain. Meanwhile
the Punjab University (PU) students won the postgraduate level of
the Chief Minister's Speech Competition for Lahore district held at the
Government College for Women, Wahdat Road. According to a press release, PU
students Fahad Ali Kazmi and Hina Naseem achieved first and third positions
respectively while in Urdu speech contest PU's Mian Faraz won second
position. Meanwile Punjab University (PU) Affiliation Committee postponed its
visits to the educational institutes of Faisalabad division due to winter
vacation. In a press statement, the PU spokesman said that new schedule would be
announced later. The news
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Danish schools education
Lahore: Modern and fully-equipped Danish schools are being set up in the
province to provide quality education to students, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz
Sharif said on Sunday. Speaking with assembly members at the Sheikh Zayed
International Airport in Rahim Yar Khan, he said the schools' standard would be
at par with other prestigious educational institutions of the province. "The
facilities of higher education would be available for the children of poor
families free of cost," he said. He said the students of remote and backward
areas had as much right to a quality education as the children of the elite
class, adding the Danish schools project would not only remove disparities in
the education sector, but also result in polishing the talent of the students of
remote areas enabling them to play their role in national development and
prosperity. Shahbaz said the promotion of quality education was
essential to achieving the goal of progress in the country, adding the
government had taken "revolutionary measures" for the uplift of the education
sector. He said the provincial government had completed the project of setting
up IT labs in more than four thousand schools at a cost of Rs 5 billion. The CM
said the government had adopted a comprehensive strategy to promote vocational
education, adding that TEVTA had been reorganised and made an autonomous
institution. He said a skilled workforce was being developed
to serve the country in various sectors as well as earn foreign exchange. He
said the best principals and teachers would be selected for the Danish schools,
adding the government was also paying attention to the provision of healthcare
facilities to the masses. APP
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Interschool art exhibition
Lahore: An interschool art exhibition of O and A-levels students
from the leading schools of the city was held at Royal Palm Golf and Country
Club last week. Sponsored by London Metropolitan University (LMU), the
event was arranged and organised by Bilal Mukhtar. Though most of the students
who participated in this competition were from business and sciences groups,
their aesthetic sense and natural talent was evident from their work. LMU
Regional Manager Faisal Hasan said the event was organised to give an
opportunity to students to express themselves. "This event was a platform for
students to come up with their innovative ideas and give them shape in form of
an art piece," he said. Eminent artist, and Beaconhouse National
University (BNU) Dean Salima Hashmi was the guest of honour and judged the
works. Fatima Rehman of Lahore Grammar School (LGS) won the first prize while
Mariam Siddiqui from Lahore College of Arts and Sciences (LACAS) and Rafia Ali
of Beaconhouse School System shared the second prize. The third prize was
awarded to Ahsan, a student of the City School. Daily times
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Seminar on swine flu
Lahore: Allama Iqbal Medical College/Jinnah Hospital, Lahore, will
host a seminar on swine flu to be held at AIMC Auditorium on Monday (today) at
11am. Secretary Health Anwaar Ahmed Khan will be the chief guest while Director
General Health Services, Punjab, Dr Muhammad Aslam Chaudhry along with EDOs
(Health) will participate in the seminar. Modalities from prevention to
diagnosis and treatment will be comprehensively addressed at the forum. A large
number of consultants and healthcare providers, nurses, students, members of
media, prominent lawmakers and citizens are expected to attend the colloquium. The news
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