Education reforms in National Education Policy
Education Task Force to implement education reforms
Islamabad, Dec 22: Pakistan Task Force on Education will work to increase
the capacity of the federal and provincial governments to implement
the education reforms set out in the National Education Policy (NEP). The
official sources informed that the task force was approved by Prime Minister
Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani on the recommendation of Education Ministry. It will
support the federal and provincial ministries and prioritize and identify clear
goals for improving the school system and set targets for improvement and
cascade them out through the system. The Task Force recently held a two-day
meeting to look into the ongoing status, performance and capabilities of various
stakeholders. The meeting focused on private and public sector partnership to
remove disparities and implement a uniform education system in the country. It
called on devising an effective mechanism to ensure the up-gradation of the
educational system and meet modern day requirements. Advisor to PM on Social
Sector and Co-Chairperson of the Task Force Shahnaz Wazir Ali told this agency
the task force has been given responsibility of upgrading the education system
and devising a mechanism to address the issues of equity, quality and
governance. The task force will focus on implementing the targets set in
education policy toward achieving 85 percent literacy rate by 2015. She said
that private sector is contributing a lot in education sector and equipping the
students with the latest educational facilities but public sector is lagging
behind due to negligence on the part of previous governments. She emphasized
on adopting special measures to control the drop out rate and said private and
public partnership can jointly bring positive reforms in the education sector.
Shehnaz Wazir Ali and Sir Michael Barber are the Co-Chairs of the Task
Force. While other members include Secretary education, Saba Gul Planning
Commission, Representative from Ministry of Finance, Chairman NCHD, Secretary of
Schools from Balochistan, NWFP, Punjab and Sindh. Secretary of Education,
AJK, Gilgit-Baltistan, Director (Education), FATA. Dr. Muhammad Memon, IED,
Karachi, Shahid Kardar, Former Minister of Finance, Punjab, Dr. Fareeha Zafar,
Society for Advancement of Education, Lahore, Mehnaz Aziz, Children Global
Network, Islamabad. Ahsan Saleem Member on Board of Director, Citizen's
Foundation, Representative of Religious Education, International Expert
nominated by USAID and International Expert nominated by DFID, UK. APP
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Quaid-I-Azam University faculty for end to 'nepotism'
Islamabad: The teaching faculty of Quaid-I-Azam University (QAU) has expressed
concern over favouritism during appointments on different posts, demanding
equitable processing of applications for faculty appointments. It has been
learnt that the Vice Chancellor, who has been given extension in the contract
till the appointment of new vice chancellor, is all set to appoint his
favourites against five posts when nearly 50 posts are also lying vacant at the
university. In this regard, a meeting of Academic Staff Association of the
university was also held the other day wherein besides this issue various other
problems of the university were discussed by the representatives of the teaching
faculty. Several members of the association noted that applications for the
appointment of faculty are processed inequitably. While, in certain cases,
applications are processed on fast tracks, in other cases various types of
delaying tactics are used. It was also noted with concern that the process of
obtaining consent of potential foreign referees is very slow. Moreover, the
process of obtaining consent, sending the application dossiers and the follow up
are also not transparent. The members agreed that there is a need to make
the procedure more efficient and more transparent. The deliberate delay by the
university administration in processing of the application is affecting
seniority of faculty members. It was proposed that in order to preserve
seniority in appointments, all applicants under one advertisement should be
appointed from the same date irrespective of the date of Selection Board. In
order to deliberate on these issues and propose improvements in the system, the
faculty members constituted a committee consisting of Dr. Eatzaz Ahmad, Dr.
Muhammad Ayub and Dr. Muhammad Ishaq. After the detailed discussion on BPS
Incentives, the faculty members noted with concern that the applications for BPS
Incentives were invited in the light of the criteria approved by the Syndicate
of the university by circulation and vetted by HEC. Unfortunately, in a meeting
of Syndicate not a single representative of the university was present when a
committee was formed to reframe these rules. The professors resolved that the
BPS Incentives package is a part of Tenure Track System document. Under this
system, anyone who qualified for TTS was eligible and given TTS benefits. The
same principle must be observed while offering BPS Better Incentives. They
demanded that BPS Incentives for the years 2007 to 2009 to all the faculty
members on BPS who qualify the criteria circulated among the faculty by the
university administration must be given with no further delay. The nation
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Two more full-fledged universities in Azad Kashmir
Muzaffarabad: AJK President Raja Zulqarnain Khan here on Monday
announced that two more full-fledged universities would be established in the
region in near future to create maximum opportunities of acquiring higher
education. "I would like to see the upgradation of Rawalakot and Kotli
campuses as independent universities in near future. We should start working in
this direction so that we are able to establish at least two more universities
during the next five years," said the president, while speaking at the seventh
convocation of the AJK University. As many as 1,800 graduates were awarded
degrees, including 42 recipients of gold medals. The president stressed
that the government should also establish a public sector medical college in AJK
at the earliest to provide medical education to the region's talented students.
He said the PC-Is for the construction of Muzaffarabad and Rawalakot
campuses had been approved by the CDWP and tendering process was being initiated
by the Erra. The president called upon the government to take urgent
measures to complete the process of acquisition of land in the two cities so
that construction work on this important national project could be started
without further ado. He also congratulated the graduates and expressed
the hope that they would utilise their knowledge and abilities to put their
region on path to progress and prosperity. Earlier, the university
vice-chancellor Prof Habibur Rehman presented the past one year performance
report. He said recently three projects namely 'Reconstruction of the
Muzaffarabad Campus' against Rs4,190.911 million, 'Reconstruction of Rawalakot
Campus' against Rs1,276.343 million and 'Strengthening of Existing Facilities at
Kotli Campus' against Rs473.382 million had been approved by the CDWP, Planning
Commission of Pakistan. A project of two prefabricated hostels in
Muzaffarabad for 200 men and as many women students had been approved at a cost
of Rs204.629 million, whereas another hostel for 200 boys in Rawalakot has also
been approved at the cost of Rs99.966 million. In addition, he said, the
university had granted Rs4 million from its recurring budget to complete a
building in Rawalakot to be used for the lectures. PC-IVs of 12 projects have
been submitted to the HEC while PC-IVs of another three projects were under way,
he added. Regarding human resource development, he said about 32 faculty
members had been sent abroad on scholarships for higher studies. About
15 faculty members had completed their doctorate studies in the recent past and
another 27 completed their MPhil studies within the country, he said. Dawn
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Students poster contest
Islamabad: The winners of a poster and slogan competition, organised by the All
Pakistan-China Friendship Association (APCFA) in collaboration with the Embassy
of China, were awarded prizes and shields, says a press release. The
competition, organised in connection with 60th Founding Day of the People's
Republic of China, was participated by more than 3,000 students from over 100
schools of the country. Federal Minister for Youth Affairs Shahid Hussain Bhutto
was the chief guest on the occasion. Ambassador of China Luo Zhaohui also
attended the ceremony. The two guests distributed prizes among winners of the
competition. The first prize (2 for posters and 2 for slogans) went to
Areeba Aslam of Lahore Grammar School, Lahore; Zainab Mehmood of Lahore Grammar
School, Lahore; Malik Ammar of Roots School System, Islamabad, and Mahnoor Arif
of Roots School System, Rawalpindi. They were given shields, certificates, cash
prizes of Rs15,000 each and a sponsored visit to China. The second prize
(2 for posters and 2 for slogans) went by Fatima Abid of Army Public School
& College, Peshawar; Usama Yousif of Siddeeq Public School, Rawalpindi;
Fatima Ejaz of Froebel's International School, Islamabad, and Farwa Ali of
Lahore Grammar School, Lahore. They were given shields, certificates and cash
prizes of Rs15,000 each. The third prize (2 for posters and 2 for
slogans) went to Khadija Hanif of Siddeeq Public School, Rawalpindi; Laiba Latif
of Siddeeq Public School, Rawalpindi; Faryal Yazdani of Beaconhouse School
System, and Afnan Arshad of Beaconhouse School System. They were given shields,
certificates and cash prizes of Rs10,000 each. During the ceremony, 25
students were given certificates, Rs2,000 each and a gift box. Among them were
four special students, Rabia Dogar, Ayesha Ghulam Murtaza, Ayesha Babar, Tooba
Sehr, of Hamza Foundation for Deaf, Lahore, who were also given special prizes
by Mrs Habib Ullah, wife of the APCFA president. In the end, Habib Ullah,
president of the All Pakistan-China Friendship Association, presented shields to
Chinese Ambassador Luo Zhaohui and Federal Minister of Youth Affairs Shahid
Hussain Bhutto.
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Report on student expulsion
Rawalpindi: Justice Asad Munir of the Lahore High Court (LHC), Rawalpindi
Bench, Monday directed the administration of Bahria University (Islamabad
Campus) to submit a report on expulsion of a student, Shawez Iqbal
Khan. Shawez Iqbal Khan was expelled for allegedly violating the
discipline of the university. The lawyer of the university told the court that
Shawez was expelled after he asked a teacher to repeat the lecture, upon which
the judge said that asking the teacher to repeat the lecture is in no way
derogatory. The court asked the university lawyer to produce the record
of the discipline committee proceedings and directed the teacher of Shawez Iqbal
to appear in person and explain how he (Shawez) violated the discipline.
The university lawyer told the court that the petitioner was expelled
from the university for the second time. Earlier, he was fined Rs20,000 which he
had paid to the university. The lawyer of the petitioner told the court that
Shawez is a brilliant student and he obtained either A or B grade in all his
semesters. The university administration had expelled him in the fifth semester
when examinations were going to be held on January 18. The university
administration had affixed a photograph of the petitioner on the gate
disallowing him to enter the premises.
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Lecture on food crisis
Islamabad: The International Institute of Islamic Economics, International
Islamic University (IIU) is organising a lecture on `Food Crisis and the Future
of Agriculture in Pakistan' here today (December 22). The lecture would be
delivered by Dr. Mahmood Hassan Khan, Professor Emeritus, Simon Fraser
University Canada at the Faisal Mosque Campus of the University. IIU President
Dr. Anwar Hussain Siddiqui will be the chief guest on this occasion. Academic
and administrative personnel, student community, policy-makers, bureaucrats,
media-persons and others have been invited to attend the lecture, said a news
release issued on Monday. The news
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