KU position holders and gold medal

KU position holders to protest over refusal of gold medal
Karachi, Dec 19: Karachi University (KU) BS students who have secured top positions in their examinations will formally launch a protest campaign on Tuesday against the non-issuance of gold medals to them.

During the institute's 22nd convocation held on Saturday, BS students handed over a letter of demands to Professor Dr Khalid Iraqi, who promised to arrange a meeting of students with Vice Chancellor (VC) Pirzada Qasim.

One of the demands was the issuance of a "letter of acknowledgement" to the BS position holders, citing reasons for not awarding them with gold medals. However, the VC office was not aware of any such letter.

"When we protested during the convocation, Professor Iraqi made false promises to hush up the matter. We tried contacting him on Monday to follow up on the issue and neither him nor the VC was available," a BS degree holder lamented.

Sonia Javed, like many others, did not attend the convocation in protest. "I intend to join the demonstration against this injustice to BS students," she said.

On the other hand, Dr Iraqi said that he had given his word to arrange a meeting between two BS students and Pirzada Qasim on Tuesday so that the VC could be informed of the students' grievances.

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First female dean at Islamic Studies faculty
Karachi: Prof Dr Rehana Firdous has been appointed as the first female Dean of the Faculty of Islamic Studies at the University of Karachi (KU). A notification issued on Monday said that Dr Firdous was appointed as Dean on November 14. She received her PhD degree from the University of London in 1990 on the Quaid-e-Azam Merit Scholarship. She has been associated with the Department of Islamic Studies since 1992. Meanwhile, Prof Dr Shakeel Auj has been appointed as Chairman of the Department of Islamic Learning, KU.

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New BSEK chief
Karachi: Professor Muhammad Saeed Siddiqui is to hold dual office as he took charge of the Board of Secondary Education Karachi (BSEK) as the new chairman for the next three years on Monday.

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Exam boards decide against accepting external influence
Karachi: Representatives of the examination boards in Sindh have unanimously decided that they would not allow any external influence to affect the process and results of examinations.

This decision was made public in an announcement by the Chairman of the Board of Intermediate Education Karachi (BIEK), Anwar Ahmed Zai, at a conference held by the BIEK on Monday.

The conference was held to review the examination system and was attended by the representatives of all educational boards, including chairmen, controllers of examinations, the director general colleges, and the director of the Directorate of Private Institutions Sindh, as well as representatives of school and college teachers' associations.

Zai, who is also the chairman of the Committee of Chairmen (CoC) of the Sindh Educational Board, said that the examination boards would not change the final result, no matter how much students demonstrated or protested.

"An objective analysis of the current examination system was made at the conference and the participants discussed several important issues. Emphasis was put on the need to re-evaluate the examination system and to facilitate measures that would ensure transparency, validity and authenticity of the results," he said.

"During the conference, all the participants accepted the proposal that examination boards should not accept any external pressure and that they should get media support to remove the misconception among parents about the examination boards."

Zai further said: "It should be noted that the results of thousands of candidates were changed after a series of demonstrations were launched by the students against the board's office. But such a thing would not happen in Sindh, where there is a far better policy and examination system than in other parts of the country."

"Copy assessment is carried out by senior teachers while the staff of the examination board has command over administrative matters. This is done to reduce the chance of the error during the checking process," he mentioned.

The students of classes IX, X, XI and XII will be briefed about the new examination pattern at the time of their admissions. Meanwhile, the examination boards will conduct workshops for teachers, paper-setters, invigilators and other concerned persons to implement a uniform standard during the exams.

The examination boards have decided not to accept the examination forms of candidates who fail to get a score of less than 75 percent. The participants also agreed that the examination boards would impose fines on examiners or copy checkers who committed mistakes during answer-sheet checking and that such persons would be blacklisted if found guilty of committing recurring mistakes.

"If a student has a legitimate reason to call for a review of their exam, then they should approach the concerned board office and apply for a review rather than staging a protest against the examination board. Students will be entertained according to the established procedure and board offices will not change any result because of demonstration or protest," Zai declared. The news

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'200,000 visit fair'
Karachi: Around 200,000 people visited the 7th Karachi International Book Fair on its third day on Sunday, organisers said.

The fair is being held by Pakistan Publishers and Booksellers Association at the Expo Centre.

An office-bearer of the PPBA said people had taken advantage of Sunday and visited the fair showing their passion and love for books. app

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Student injured in clash between rival organisations
Karachi: A student was injured in a clash, which erupted between the activists of rival student organisations here at the Govt National College in the precincts of New Town police station on Monday. The skirmish took place between the activists of Islami Jamiat Talba (IJT) and Pakhtoon Students Federation (PkSF) apparently as an offshoot of the recent clashes that broke out at different colleges of the city. SHO Aslam Jutt said Waseem Ahmed, an activist of PkSF was shot at and injured in the clash. Following the incident, a heavy contingent of law enforcement agencies reached the scene, however, the agitators had dispersed and no arrest could be made. Police officials said that the students of the college called help line 15 and police immediately rushed to the scene and controlled the situation. Jutt was shifted to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre for treatment and no case could be registered till filing of this report. Daily times

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Cambridge announces names of award winners
Karachi: The University of Cambridge's Board of International Examinations has announced the winners of the Outstanding Cambridge Learner Awards, Pakistan. The awards are announced to celebrate the outstanding academic achievements of secondary school learners in Pakistan in the June 2011 Cambridge examination series.

A number of schools across the country will be holding individual awards ceremonies for their students. There are over 280 students that have achieved excellence awards, with 50 students achieving the highest marks in the world and 40 attaining the highest in the country in their respective subjects.

Honorable mentions include Sohail Idrees from Lahore Grammar School who achieved "top in the world" in O Level Add. Math, Biology, Business Studies, Mathematics and Physics; Urwat Til Vaqsa from BeaconHouse Public School who achieved "top in the world" in O Level Add. Math and Mathematics; Aemen Muneeb from BeaconHouse –Jubilee campus who achieved "top in the world" in O Level Add. Math and Mathematics and Sana Waheed from Engro Grammar School Daharki who received "top in the world" for A Level in Biology, Mathematics and Physics. The news

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