Punjab students admission fee issue
Punjab SSC, HSSC students admission fee issue solved
Rawalpindi, Dec 09: The workers of Punjab Boards Federation (PBF) Tuesday called
off their strike after successful parleys with the management of education
boards of Punjab. The employees associations of boards of intermediate
and secondary education of entire province were on complete strike for the last
ten days demanding alternative funds following provincial government's
announcement of exempting SSC and HSSC students from admission
fee. Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education, Rawalpindi,
Employees Welfare Association (EWA) Secretary Mahr Akbar said: "The Punjab
government has sent a summary to Chief Minster Mian Shahbaz Sharif for approval
of alternative funds to meet the boards expenses following provincial
government's announcement of exempting SSC and HSSC students from admission
fee." He said that this is an encouraging step of Punjab government to exempt
the students from paying admission fee, but on the other hand the government
also has to run the boards because without funds, it is not possible to pay
salaries to these employees. The admission fees were a major source of revenue
generations for education boards throughout the province," he
added. However, Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education Rawalpindi
Secretary Humayun Iqbal said: "The management of the Rawalpindi Board was in
touch with the union leaders and after the negotiations the employees finally
ended their strike. I also think that their demands would be accepted, as the
summery has been sent to the chief minister." However, due to the
ten-day strike the people coming to the boards faced lots of trouble in
resolution of their problems. A number of students
criticised the management of the Rawalpindi Board who wasted several days in
negotiations with the employees association. According to these students
they were waiting for the strike to end because their admissions were at stake.
A student, Nasir Mehmood said: "I have been coming here for the last ten days in
a hope that the employees would end their strike, but in vain and I lost my
chance of admission in a private college due to the non-availability of
migration certificate from Rawalpindi Board. The news"
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Discriminatory laws against private schools
Taxila: The representatives of the private educational institutions have
demanded of the government to abolish discriminatory laws against students of IX
and X classes of private schools. Talking to mediapersons on Tuesday,
All Pakistan Private Schools/ Colleges president Sabir Minhas, central chief
organiser Irshad Nabi, Wah Cantonment chapter chief Shaukat Hayat and
general-secretary Arshad Mughal said all boards of intermediate and secondary
education in Punjab had issued letters demanding fees from private schools
students for the SSC examination scheduled to be held in 2010. While,
the students of government schools had been exempted from admission, sports or
registration fees, they added. The representatives said the admission
fee would go to the government's treasury and not to the private schools'
account. They said there was no justification of collecting fees from
the students of the private schools who were already bearing heavy expenditure
of their school fees, books, copies and uniform. Besides, they also
flayed the decision of the Punjab education department not to allow the private
students to appear in matriculation examination with science subjects.
About 500,000 students would be affected by the decision, they added.
They demanded of Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry to take suo
motu notice of the issue. Dawn
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Teachers launced protest against VC kidnapping
Peshawar: Teachers of the public sector universities Tuesday launched a protest
drive and boycotted classes to protest the failure of the government to recover
the kidnapped vice-chancellor of Kohat University of Science and Technology
(KUST) Prof Dr Lutfullah Kakakhel. The teachers' representatives in a
meeting a few days back had set a three-day deadline for the government to
recover the kidnapped vice-chancellor, otherwise, the would start a full-fledged
protest campaign. With the start of the protest campaign several
universities - University of Peshawar, NWFP University of Engineering and
Technology, Islamia College University, NWFP Agricultural University, KUST and
others - remained closed. A large number of teachers and other staffers
from different universities led by their respective associations from across the
province held a meeting under the aegis of Federation of All Pakistan Academic
Staff Association (FAPUASA) at the convocation hall of the University of
Peshawar. Among others the meeting was addressed by FAPUASA's provincial
head Dr Arbab Khan Afridi, President Engineering University Teachers Association
Prof. Siddique Akbar, President Agricultural University Teachers Association Dr
Fida Mohammad, President Islamia College Teachers Association Izhar Ahmed and
others. Vice-Chancellor University of Peshawar Dr Azmat Hayat, who has recently
rejoined the university after cardiac surgery, also attended the meeting.
The speakers on the occasion strongly criticised NWFP Governor Owais
Ahmad Ghani, who is also the chancellor of public sector universities, for what
they called his failure to ensure the early and safe recovery of the kidnapped
vice-chancellor. They said that more than a month has passed of the abduction of
the vice-chancellor and the authorities knew the whereabouts of him, but even
then no effective measures could be taken to ensure his safe
recovery. "If a governor cannot recover the head of a prestigious
institution of higher education, he does not have any right to stay in power. He
should tender resignation," they maintained. There were also reports that the
kidnapped vice-chancellor made a telephone call to his office the other day,
requesting the university officials to take prompt measures for his safe
recovery. Dr Lutfullah, noted professor and a leading IT and computer
science professional in the country, was kidnapped by unknown people from
Akhurwal area of the semi-tribal region of Darra Adamkhel on November
6. The political administration soon after the kidnapping of the
vice-chancellor launched a crackdown against the Akhurwal tribesmen under the
collective responsibility section of the Frontier Crimes Regulation and more
than two-dozen people were arrested and their property sealed. To build
more pressure on the Akhurwal tribal people for the recovery of the
vice-chancellor, the political administration had threatened to seal their
property in the settled areas as well. Sources informed that the political
administration of Frontier Region Kohat with the support of the local police
started sealing business centres owned or run by Akhurwal tribesmen in the
provincial metropolis, as their several shops and offices were closed during the
previous two days. Setting another seven-day deadline to the government
for the recovery of the vice-chancellor, the speakers declared to stage a sit-in
outside the Governor's House on expiry of the new deadline. Arbab Afridi said
that if the kidnapped VC was not recovered till next Sunday,
their peaceful protest may take a violent turn. In the next phase of the
protest, he said that they would block the Jamrud Road besides staging a sit-in
outside the Governor's House. After the meeting teachers, students and
other staffers of different university held a protest rally on the premises of
the university campus to express their concern. The protestors were holding
placards and chanting slogans seeking early recovery of the vice-chancellor.
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ICCI students internship plan
Islamabad: The Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (ICCI) is in
the process of developing an internship programme for students in corporate
sector with particular focus on female students so that they could understand
practical application of theoretical concepts and learn good business practices
being followed in private sector. This was stated by ICCI President
Zahid Maqbool while addressing female students of the International Islamic
University during their visit to the ICCI office here on Tuesday. He said that
female students could play a crucial role in the economic development of the
country, if provided with better education and knowledge. He stressed on the
need for promoting close contacts between industry and universities for
imparting demand-driven education to youngsters. He informed the
students that ICCI has already inked a Memorandum of Understanding with
International Islamic University for collaboration in research work. He said
that the chamber has formed a committee to closely work with IIU on R&D
projects for mutual benefit of business community and students.
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DSc degree awarded to QAU VC
Islamabad: Quaid-i-Azam University (QAU) Vice Chancellor Professor
Mohammad Qasim Jan has been awarded honorary DSc degree by King's College,
London, for his contribution to the Science of Geology. According to a
press release, he is a distinguished national professor of Higher Education
Commission (HEC) and a leading authority on the metamorphic petrology and
geology of the Himalayas of Pakistan, with an emphasis on crust-building
processes. He studied for his BSc at University of Peshawar, his MS at
University of Oregon, and his PhD at University of London. His academic career
at University of Peshawar led him to become the director of National Centre for
Geology in 1988, and the University's vice chancellor in 1997. In 2001, he
became the founding vice chancellor of Sarhad University, Peshawar, and in 2005,
vice chancellor of Quaid-i-Azam University. Prof Qasim Jan is the
secretary general of Pakistan Academy of Sciences and of the Association of the
Academies of Sciences in Asia. He is a fellow of several societies, including
the Academy of Sciences for the Developing World and the Mineralogical Society
of Great Britain. He is the joint author of 'Geology and Tectonics of Pakistan',
has edited eight special volumes, and has over 200 other publications to his
name. He was the chairman of Himalayan Regional Committee of the
International Lithosphere Programme until 2004, and has served as a member of
the governing bodies of many institutions, of several peer-review committees,
and of the editorial boards of many journals. He received many medals and
honours, including Scientist of the Year award, TI, SI and HI.
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Seminar at IIU women campus
Islamabad: Faculty members of the Department of Pathology of Pakistan
Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) and technologists working in its blood bank
organised a Voluntary Blood Donors' Registration and Information Seminar at the
women's campus of International Islamic University (IIU) here on
Tuesday. IIU Vice President Parveen Qadir Aga welcomed the organisers
while Mrs. Alvi highlighted the significance of raising awareness about the
value of non-remunerated voluntary blood donation. Professor Surraya
Wajahat, ex-chairperson, highlighted the role of blood banks in modern medicine.
"In this day and age, when we are unfortunately beset with frequent acts of
terrorism, the need for voluntary blood donations has increased manifold in
order to save precious human lives," she stated. Dr. Lubna Naseem,
consultant in-charge, described various components of blood and their uses. She
said, PIMS subjects all blood to double checks before it is administered to any
recipient. "We simply do not collect blood from donors whose blood may be
infected with any disease," she added. The head of the Department of
Pathology, Prof. Dr. Anwar Ul Haque focused on the teachings of Islam vis-a-vis
the significance of saving human lives. "Reduced stocks in blood banks provides
an opportunity for wicked elements to sell blood and its products. Once this
door of corruption opens, we must also be wary of the chances of infected blood,
as well as the blood of drug addicts, being openly sold. Dr. Anwar stated that
it requires only a little bit of planning to be able to arrange for sufficient,
healthy and safe blood for every patient, as and when required. "In order to
reduce the tension and stress encountered by patients, we should voluntarily
donate our blood once or twice a year without the fear of any adverse effect on
our health. Every time we donate blood, our body automatically works on
replenishment," he said. Dr. Talib Sayaal informed the students that the
team would register potential donors and perform their free blood grouping. At
this, a large number of female students lined up for registration. These
students will be called upon when necessary; whether they want to donate their
blood at a given point in time will be a matter of their own will. PIMS will
soon hold a similar programme for male students of IIU. The news
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Quality of education
Islamabad: Improving the quality of teacher education will make a lasting
impact on the quality of education all across Pakistan, said participants of a
US-sponsored curriculum development workshop here. The meeting chaired
by Minister of State for Education Ghulam Farid Kathia was attended by education
officials in addition to representatives from Pakistans principal
teacher-training institutions and advocacy groups. The stakeholders will develop
recommendations to refine the teacher certification process during the five
days. The workshop was part of USAID's pre-service teacher education
programme that supports faculties of 15 higher education institutions including
75 colleges. The programme also sponsors over 100 scholars to study
toward postgraduate degrees in the United States besides sponsoring working
groups advocating improved teaching skills and teacher welfare. "The
entire education system in Pakistan will benefit from improved teacher
education," said Katie Donohoe, Deputy Director of Education for USAID. "This
initiative will lead to greater numbers of better-trained teachers in the
classrooms." The participants will seek consensus among major teacher
education partners including curriculum officers in the ministry of education,
the Higher Education Commission and representatives of teacher training
institutions on the content and structure of the bachelor of education honours
curriculum, and how it should align with teacher education offered in the
government colleges of elementary education. Dawn
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