Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education funds

Finance Department denies BISE more funds
Lahore, Feb 19: The Punjab Finance Department on Thursday turned down a request by the Education Department for the provision of Rs 750 million as a supplementary grant to meet the expenditures of the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (BISE).

In December 2009, employees of various unions, along with BISE workers, observed a complete pen-down strike and held protests. They were protesting the Punjab chief minister's (CM) announcement regarding the abolition of examination and registration fees for students of public sector educational institutions.

They claimed that since the educational boards were autonomous bodies and generated revenue on their own, the CM's decision would have an adverse financial impact on education boards.

President for Employees Association BISE, Muhammad Aslam, said the protest would continue until the government provided funds to the Education Department. "The government should either reverse the decision or provide funds immediately; otherwise, no exams would be conducted," he said. Daily times

Post your comments

PEF to manage dysfunctional schools
Lahore: Punjab Education Foundation (PEF) Chairman Raja Muhammad Anwar stated on Thursday that the provincial government had offered PEF to take control of 150 dysfunctional public sector schools situated across the province, including 30 in Cholistan area of Bahawalpur district.

He said the total number of such schools was 1,050 in the province which were not working properly due to some reasons, including lack of teaching staff, dearth of students or the unavailability of suitable buildings.

Raja Anwar, who is also chairman of the Chief Minister's Taskforce on Elementary Education, said such schools would be managed by the PEF in such a way that would guarantee delivery of quality education to the indigent students of the area.

"PEF is already working in 29 different districts at the moment but we are planning to expand our work in all the 36 districts of the province," he said. He said the Foundation was working for the provision of quality education through private-public partnership to open the doors of knowledge to the poor students by providing them with monthly stipend of Rs 350 for elementary and Rs 400 each for secondary level students.

Raja Anwar, while announcing the constitution of Punjab Examination Commission (PEC) as an elementary board from the next year, said that necessary legal process was under way and added that the results of elementary exams was going to be announced on March 31.

"The result will be available on internet besides dispatching it through the post," he added.

While talking about recently held elementary exams, he said that 1,360,745 students appeared in 5th class and 952,899 students appeared in 8th class exams, conducted by the PEC in Punjab. He said that no registration fee was charged from the students or the schools for these exams.

He said the paper marking rate had been increased from Rs 150 to Rs 400 for teachers and Rs 300 to Rs 500 for resident inspectors.

He said registration of all private schools in Punjab would commence from April 15, 2010, adding that instructions in this connection had been issued to EDOs (Education). "An independent regulatory authority for private schools is also in the offing," he added.

Post your comments

BISE HSC exams forms
Hyderabad: According to Assistant Controller of Examinations, Board of Intermediate & Secondary Education Hyderabad, the last dates for submitting examination forms from candidates who have passed Oriental Language Examinations 2009 and want to appear in Higher Secondary Certificate Part-II (Class XII) Annual Examinations 2010 is March 13 and with late fee of Rs600 to March 29 and with a late fee of Rs1500 to April 17.

Post your comments

Need of student unions
Karachi: Eminent lawyer and human rights activist, Asma Jahangir has strongly advocated the revival of student unions in universities if the government wants the country to progress and produce an able leadership.

Jahangir stressed the need of student unions while speaking as a guest speaker at a seminar on "Global Standards and the Current State of Human Rights in Pakistan" at the Arts auditorium, University of Karachi (KU), organised by Karachi University Teachers Society (KUTS) on Thursday.

"We need student unions that are vibrant, mature and have intellectual hue that could lead the students in the universities and provide strong leadership in the country for good governance as the most educated segment of society would be ideal leaders," she suggested.

She spoke about the need to have political and social rights in the country that would bring peace and prosperity to the country and the people. She thought that the French decision to ban scarves in the schools and offices was the violation of human rights but the German decision against a veiled teacher was the right one as the students needed to see the expression of the their teacher and veil between them and her teacher was an obstacle. It was against their (children's) human rights.

She pointed out that Pakistan, including other countries of South Asia, had dismal human rights record, especially the religious rights while Latin American countries had excellent record in religious tolerance. She talked about the rights of women in Pakistan and was later peppered by the questions about the rights of Afia Siddiqui who was languishing in US prison under sub human conditions. Her replies produced more questions from the students that resulted in the show of disapproval from Jahangir.

Moving on, she approved the idea that the rules of human rights should be taught in the schools and the academia should propagate it. She acknowledged the fact that our part of the world usually had sham democracy and reminded that Adolf Hitler had been elected with popular majority votes.

Vice Chancellor KU Prof Pirzada Qasim welcomed Asma Jahangir and spoke on some length on the tricky world of human rights that eluded some while rewarded others. He favoured more human rights lectures in the university and hoped that the same would be arranged.

President KUTS Dr Abid Hasnain reminded the audience that usually people were talking about their rights and others' responsibilities though it should have been the other way round. The news

Post your comments

Queen Mary College mushaira
Lahore: Queen Mary College won the Urdu poetry competition held at the Hamayat-e-Islam Khawateen College (HIKC) on Thursday.

Around 12 colleges participated in the competition, which was judged by renowned poet Amjad Islam Amjad, Khalid Sharif and Dr Sughra Sadaf.

HIKC Principal Dr Azra Imtiaz was the chief guest and appreciated the talent shown by the students.

Post your comments

Kids Kampus sports day
Lahore: The Zafar Ali Road branch of Kids Kampus held its Annual Sports Day on Thursday at the National Stadium in DHA.

Enthusiastic parents, participants and the school administration attended the event.

The event kicked off with a spectacular display of aerobics by kindergarteners. Children from all grades participated actively in a colourful display of costume races and participated in various track and field events.

Parents and guests cheered heartily throughout the occasion and participated in a few races themselves. Daily times

Post your comments