Rawalpindi board employees examinations boycott

RBISE staff to boycott SSC examinations
Rawalpindi, Feb 16: The employees of Rawalpindi Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (RBISE) have decided to boycott the SSC examinations starting from March 13 in protest against the Punjab government's decision to exempt students from paying examination fees.

In this regard, the Board Employees Union would announce its new strategy in a press conference in the coming few days.

The employees argued that the decision would harm them economically. The employees had first decided to go on strike but later they called it off after meeting the Punjab Special Education secretary. Daily times

RBISE employees protest
Rawalpindi: Employees Welfare Association (EWA) Rawalpindi Board of Intermediate & Secondary Education (BISER) has announced next phase of its ongoing protest movement against Punjab government for not fulfilling their longstanding demands warning the boards' employees would lock their offices today (Tuesday).

This announcement was made during a protest session of EWA-BISER held under the chair of its president Raja Sajjad Akber here on Monday. Senior vice-president Muaf Ali, Secretary General Mehar Akbar and many other office-bearers also attended the meeting. While addressing the participants, EWA-BISER President Raja Sajjad said that Punjab government despite employees' six-day long pen drop strike had not yet paid any attention towards their problems which had forced them to take the extreme step.

After this, the board's employees would also take out a protest rally on Benazir Bhutto Road and later stage a sit-in to denounce Punjab government policies, he added. He said that owing to elimination of board fee by provincial government, the education boards had become defaulter while employees were deprived of their salaries for long.

Besides, the issues of permanency of daily wagers, 15 percent raise in medical allowances and transfers of board employees had also been put in cold storage by Punjab government, which irked the poor employees, EWA-BISER president lamented.

He said that the negligence on part of the provincial high-ups has left no option for the board employees than to hold protests, stage sit-in and observe strikes. He also appealed to Chief Justice (CJP) Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry to take notice of 'injustice'. "If provincial government does not fulfil their demands, EWA-BISER along with others boards of Punjab would march on foot from Rawalpindi to Lahore and encircle Chief Minister (CM) Secretariat" he warned.

It is pertinent to mention here that EWA-BISER on the call of Punjab Education Board Employees Federation has been observing pen down strike since 9 February in favour of their demands and against Punjab government's negligence.

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Probe into FDE's illegal recruitments demanded
Islamabad: Teachers of various schools and colleges working under Federal Directorate of Education (FDE) have demanded an inquiry into the appointments made during 2009 against various posts and accused officials of the Education Ministry of taking bribe in appointments and ignoring eligible candidates.

They also demanded suspension of Deputy Director at FDE, Sohail Mughal, who, according to them, was responsible for all the illegalities during recruitment process. The teachers have also raised the issue at the platform of Federal Government Teachers' Association demanding an inquiry and to declare appointments invalid.

They alleged that 220 LCDs or junior clerks have been appointed against 60 posts likewise, 350 extra persons were appointed whereas posts were not vacant. Due to unnecessary appointments by FDE it would not be possible to create posts for many years.

General Secretary of the Association, Ali Sher Rind, informed that taking heavy bribes, people were appointed on various post in schools and colleges working under FDE but posts were not created according to rules and approved by the Establishment Division and Ministry of Finance.

Thus Accountant General Pakistan Revenues (AGPR) refused to release the salaries for such employees raising various objections on the non-completion of records, which caused severe economic problems for the employees.

Thousands of teachers of different subjects including Science, English, Computer, Fashion Designing and non-teaching staff appointed without following the rules on contract basis and without proper creation of posts by the directorate have also not received their salaries. The nation

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Tamasha 2010 shows
Islamabad: Lively and thrilling performances by young students during the theatre and cultural shows at the concluding day of Tamasha 2010, organised by FAST University, enthralled the audience here Monday.

The event, organised by a society 'Jagoo' recently set up by the students of FAST, hosted some 200 students from 30 universities for various competitions including essay writing, bilingual declamation, painting, theatre and cultural performances.

The cultural show titled 'Mehndi' proved to be a great success for the organisers, who found it difficult to accommodate a large crowd from different walks of life in the 500-seat auditorium. The performing students portrayed local cultural norms and traditions with particular reference to wedding ceremonies in which family members, relatives and other people showered their love and affection to the bride and groom.

"The cultural show covered the unique wedding culture, focusing on the fabulous function of 'Mehndi'. The students tried to strictly stick to real emotions and feelings that are always a hallmark of such kinds of events," said Arslan Khalid, coordinator and choreographer of the cultural show.

In theatre competition, the students were divided into 16 teams and each was given 20 minutes for a street performance - 'notanki' and mime (silent). "The event attempted to infuse theatre as a cultural norm in our society. The young students provided a fresh and invigorating look on life through their dazzling performances," said Shaheer Mansoor, coordinator of the theatre competition.

The essay writing competition was divided into two categories of English and Urdu, while the English essay writing was further divided into fictional and normal writing. The topics for fictional writing included 'Photographer & Meaning of Life', 'Journey of a Water Drop', 'Global Warming' and 'Priest', while the participants of normal writing wrote on topics such as 'Dog Day' and 'The Planet Criminolia'.

In Urdu essay writing, Shaista Zeb of NUML got the first position while Muhammad Hassan of UET and Hafiz Mudassar of Gomal University grabbed the second and third positions respectively. In English essay writing, Farrukh Zafar of PARC National University, Waqas Maqsood of Punjab University and Rabel Mustafa of FUMC secured the first, second and third positions respectively. In English fictional essay writing, Salman Latif of PSED stood first, while Syed Shahbaz and Haroon Yasir of Beaconhouse secured the second and third positions respectively. The team of PAF Academy won the best prize in the declamation competition.

In the painting competition, some 18 students were given two-day time to complete their work under the themes of 'Renaissance', 'Psychedelic' and 'Conceptual Art'. Aysha Kamal of NCA grabbed the first position for her painting, while Habib Akram of Punjab University came second. The team of Punjab University was awarded as best in the 'concept' category.

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Bahria University scholarships
Islamabad: Honouring a commitment made only a day ago, the rector of Bahria University, Vice Admiral (r) M. Haroon, here on Monday announced award of jobs and scholarships for three disabled persons.

The rector articulated his intention of offering employment opportunities and scholarships to persons with disabilities (PWDs) in Bahria University while addressing a Disability Equality Training session. The session was arranged in collaboration with the American Institute for Research (AIR) at the university's Leadership Development Centre on Sunday.

As a follow-up to the commitment, a Board at Bahria University has approved the appointment of the physically disabled Abdul Manan in the university's department of statistics. Another wheelchair-bound graduate, Abrar Hussain, has been offered the position of a teaching assistant at the university. Ali Shabbar, who is visually impaired, has been offered to continue his research degree in Supply Chain Management.

The head of the Leadership Development Centre, Junaid Kiyani, has pledged his unconditional support for disabled persons who are competent and interested in pursuing higher education at Bahria University.

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Needy students scholarships
Islamabad: As many as 277 students, who obtained 80 per cent and above marks in their annual examination, received scholarships in an auspicious ceremony at Islamabad College for Boys (ICB), G-6/3.

Director General Federal Directorate of Education (FDE) Dr Shahnaz A Riaz said the scholarships would encourage the students to further their hard work and determination, and suggested that more scholarships should be introduced to help those hardworking students, who could not continue their studies due to financial problems.

Referring to the prime minister's recent visit to a school to check on the poor educational standard, she stressed all the students and teachers to aim their activities towards achieving academic excellence.

Discussing about the Temporary Employed Faculty, she said the government is quite serious in this matter and is trying to solve it somehow. "The wages of the supporting staff, working on the daily-wage system, will also be increased," she promised.

Dr Shahnaz congratulated Principal ICB Prof Muhammad Habib Khattak for his extraordinary efforts for the College in a very short span of time. She admired the overall discipline of ICB in particular and IMCBs in general.

Later on, she inaugurated a drinking water filtration plant and thanked PTA's former general body for bearing the expenses for the purpose. The plant has been recently installed in ICB through an aid by PTA that costs around Rs296,000, whereas it is likely to filter 1,000 litres of water per hour.

Earlier in his speech, the ICB principal proposed an increase in the scholarship amount, terming the current amount insufficient, which the DG assured to consider.

Discussing issues related to academics, the principal emphasised the availability of permanent teaching staff in model colleges. To him, the achievement of academic excellence is directly proportional to the number of permanent faculty members.

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Donation of 500 books
Islamabad: The Asia Foundation, Islamabad under its books for Asia Programme presented a collection of more than 500 books related to Natural Social and Biological Sciences to the Quaid-i-Azam University library on Monday.

The books were presented by Gareth Aicken, country representative of Asia Foundation in Pakistan to Professor Dr. Masoom Yasinzai, vice chancellor of the Quaid-i-Azam University.

Professor Dr. Masoom Yasinzai thanked the foundation for its generous contribution towards the Library of the University and said that special donation of 500 books made by the Foundation shall be put to proper and effective use by the students and faculty members of the university.

Gareth Aicken, country representative of The Asia Foundation, remarked that it considers Quaid-i-Azam University as a institution of higher academic standards engaged in imparting quality education in this region would therefore, extend special help to it in all times to come.

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Wetlands Fiesta 2010
Rawalpindi: Students and teachers of The City School's Junior Branch in Harley Street and Satellite Town's Boys Campus showed outstanding performance in the recently held Wetlands Fiesta 2010.

There were many categories in the competition. Sallar Shoaib of Junior Branch, Harley Street, won first prize in the Art Competition. The Best Art Teacher Participation Award was given to Hassan Ahmed of the same branch.

From the Satellite Town's Boys Campus, Maryam Ali Asad of Junior I-N won first prize in the category of Documentary. In the category of Nature Photography, Zeeshan Ahmed and Zargham Ali of Jr-III-C won first prize and Atif Sajjad of P-I-S won second prize. Nafees Ahmed of Jr-V-C won first prize in the Urdu Poetry Competition.

Zerlish Arshad of Jr-II-S won first prize in Poster Competition. In the 3D Model Display, the Best Art Teacher Participation Award was given to Zain Ayesha. The news

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