Discriminatory education system

Effects of Discriminatory education system
Karachi, Feb 15: In the modern world, the most precious asset of humanity is man himself, and the most effective tool for the judicious development of this precious resource is education. In Pakistan where large segments of population have been deprived of education, it is painful to note that the discriminatory educational system has widely blocked the opportunities for the poor who too dream for better education.

About 80 per cent of country's population is living in rural areas where the parents have no option but to send their wards to government schools for getting education. When they are unable to enrol their children in private English medium schools, the hapless children go to the public sector educational institutions and their ultimate fate rests in farming or is content with mere clerical jobs, particularly in government sector.

Following the limited opportunities of better education, well-off people, move to congested urban areas, to seek better educational environment for their children. It also causes increased burden of population at urban areas.

Fee aside, it is a hard reality that there is a yawning gap between quality of education between private and public sector schools.

About dual educational standards prevalent in Pakistan, Adviser to Prime Minister on Education Sardar Aseff Ahmad Ali said the government is concerned about ongoing situation of discriminatory education and is therefore focusing on changing curricula.

He, however, said that the government would never close down the private institutions. He, noted that there should be at least ten per cent quota reserved for the poor segment of the society in well-known private educational institutions such as Aitcheson, Beaconhouse or Bloomfield high schools.

"I think it would be a better initiative leading towards provision of indiscriminately and equal opportunities in the field of education to the masses of the country," he remarked. Private sector is contributing significantly for the expansion and promotion of education in the country. Unfortunately, real situation in respect of strengths, weaknesses and contribution of private institutions towards development and promotion of education at national level is not envisaged or assessed.

It is imperative to have accurate and reliable data on private schools at national level in order to ascertain real contribution of the private sector.

In a survey, people from different walks of life said that syllabus for every subject must be published before the start of the fresh academic session in newspapers. They also desired that the academic session should be the same for all faculties and colleges.

Professor Dr Zafar Iqbal, a staunch supporter of common core curriculum, said that it is very essential for peace, unity and integration of the country. "People, educational societies and government should all play their role according to their resources and capacities to make education an effective instrument of social justice, national integration and socio-economic development."

He said common curricula enables people to evolve a just, democratic, classless human society, devoted to mutual cooperation, international peace, security and progress of the mankind. The news

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Proceedings held against cases of plagiarism
Hyderabad: A four-member inquiry committee set up by the Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences (LUMHS) has commenced proceedings against seven authors facing plagiarism allegations referred to the university by the Higher Education Commission (HEC).

"All the authors appeared before us. Some statements were recorded. We are verifying some letters that are relevant to the case because we want in-depth investigations," said a committee member.

He said that proceedings would take some time before a conclusion was reached. "We need relevant information," he said.

Another member said that he was under oath not to disclose anything about the deliberations, but added that statements of the authors had been recorded and letters from editors of the journals had been received.

The HEC had written to LUMHS Vice-Chancellor Professor Dr Noshad A. Shaikh in December 2009 to constitute a Plagiarism Standing Committee under its policy to evaluate the case.

The doctors against whom the inquiry has been initiated are Dr Aisha Memon, Dr Shahida Parveen, Dr K. Sangrasi, Dr Arshad M. Malik, Dr Aziz Leghari and K. Altaf Hussain Talpur of the department of Surgery and Medical Research. Dr Aziz Leghari is a professor, Dr Talpur an associate professor and Dr Aisha Memon, Dr Shahida, Dr Arshad and Dr Sangrasi assistant professors.

Dr Aisha has left the LUMHS and is now serving in a Middle East country. Dr Shahida is in Dow University of Health Sciences. Professor Qureshi has retired and is still with LUMHS. Dr Leghari was recently promoted. Dawn

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KU employees protest
Karachi: United Group of Karachi University Employees has protested against the delay in holding new elections to elect new CBA (Collective Bargaining Agent) for the employees despite the fact that the incumbent CBA, Insaaf Pasand Group has expired for the last one year and seven months.

Nurul Amin, Chairman of the United Group informed that the last elections of Karachi University Employees Welfare Association (KUEWA) were held on June 17, 2006 and the tenure of the CBA expired on June 16, 2008. A general body meeting held on July 8, 2008 had passed a resolution calling for the dissolution of the committees that had the representatives of KUEWA until the new elections are held.

Consequently there was no meeting of the House Allotment Committee but suddenly a meeting was held on February 2, 2010 and a member of Insaaf Pasand Group was invited as the representative of KUEWA. It was the non-implementation of resolution by the employees and their humiliation caused by it.

In a letter addressed to the Vice-Chancellor of the KU, Amin has demanded that the VC should order the concerned persons not to favour any group and recognise none before new elections are held. The news

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Seminar on Islamic Banking
Karachi: Islamic principles provide us every opportunity to live a peaceful social life, Islamic Banking is one of those blessings that are brought to us by the new era of technology and banking.

Islamic banking gives us facilities similar to the conventional banking but it never leaves the sphere of Islamic law and principles. The problem is that we lack the psyche that probes inquiry into such matters.

These notions were expressed by Vice Chancellor Karachi University (KU) Prof Dr Pirzada Qasim Raza Siddiqui, while presiding over a seminar organised by University of Karachi in collaboration with United Chartered Bank, USA at a local hotel titled Islamic Banking: A Global Necessity on 13th February 2010. The VC encouraged linkages between Islamic Banks worldwide and the Universities of Pakistan.

Asif Aslam (CEO) United Chartered Bank USA declared that in the last decade, Islamic finance has enjoyed robust growth rates of 15-20 percent per year.

"There are now approximately 500 Islamic financial institutions in over 51 countries. The largest market in this field comprises of more than 1.39 billion Muslims worldwide.

Other speakers highlighted the benefits of Islamic Banking which includes an additional check and balance because of which they were able to survive the recent global recession," he said.

It was also told that Islamic banking was trying to convert challenges into business opportunities with Islamic (Ethical) finance.

Prof Dr Abdul Rashid, Prof Masroor Ali Qureshi, Dr Muhammad Ilyas, Maulana Dr Khalil Ahmed Azmi, Syed Tanveer Hussain, Prof Muhammad Saleem Memion, Dean Faculty of Arts, KU, and others spoke on the occasion.

Whereas, Prof Dr Abuzar Wajidi, Dean Management Sciences, KU, and a number of teachers and students from madarsaas and from various Universities of Pakistan attended the seminar. The nation

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Karachi Madrassah visit
Karachi: Ambassador of the Netherlands to Pakistan, Foost Reintjes, visited Jamia Islamia Madrassah, Clifton, the other day where he said that Madrassahs were doing a good job for increasing the literacy rate of Pakistan.

The ambassador said that he was impressed by what he observed during his visit. Mr Reint Jes said that what really touched his heart was an eight-year-old orphan studying in the Madrassah.

The boy hailed from Swat and had lost his entire family in the fight between the military and the Taliban. The Madrassah management had taken the youngster under its care and was looking after him. The news

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Info about closed schools
Khairpur: Khairpur DCO Mohammad Abbas Baloch set up two centres on Sunday to help people provide information about non-functional schools in the district.

The centres have been set up at the offices of the district officer (academic and training) and the deputy district officer (general administration.)

The step was taken after those looking into the matter of closed schools could not provide details about non-functional schools at a meeting of the district education steering committee on Saturday. Representatives of NGOs offered to provide trained teachers for the non-functional schools.

The DCO has asked the people to provide information about such schools in the district so that they could be reopened. Dawn

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