Sindh universities HEC affairs

HEC accused of discrimination against Sindh
Karachi, Feb 18: The Federation of Pakistan Universities Academic Staff Association (FAPUASA) claimed on Wednesday that the Higher Education Commission (HEC) has been interfering in the affairs and discriminating against public sector universities of Sindh.

President, FAPUASA Sindh chapter, Prof. Badar Soomro, while addressing a press conference at the University of Karachi (KU), accused the HEC of ignoring Sindh's universities while rewarding the universities of the other provinces with undue favours. He said that if the HEC did not change its approach, then they would have a sit-in in Islamabad or would consider resigning.

Soomro disagreed with the tradition of governors of the provinces being the chancellors of public sector universities. "Academics and men of letters, without any political leanings, should be the given the charges of chancellors in order to free the universities of unnecessary interference from the government. There is too much political interference, nepotism and favouratism," he said.

President Karachi University Teachers Society (KUTS) Dr Abid Hasnain claimed that the federal institutions were supposed to cement the federating units, but HEC was doing just the opposite. The discrimination against the universities of Sindh was not a good gesture on the part of the HEC, he said.

He informed the media that in the year 2009, Punjab received 1000 scholarships and NWFP 600 while only 60 scholarships were given to the students of Sindh.

"Karachi with a population of 20 million people is largely ignored and KU, with more than 24,000 students, is given meager resources. It is indifference," Dr Hasnain added.

He told the journalists that there were 800,000 students in the public sector universities of Pakistan, but the HEC was more concerned with the private universities that had a meager number of students comparatively.

Secretary KUTS Dr Fayyaz Vaid said that the bureaucrats who run the affairs of the HEC are non-academicians and have no knowledge of higher education.

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Violence-free KU
Karachi: An important dimension of youth work is to promote peace in society. There is a need to channelize the youth's vision by strengthening solidarity among them which can only be done when the youth is provided a conducive environment.

These views were expressed by Vice Chancellor University of Karachi (KU), Prof. Dr Pirzada Qasim Raza Siddiqui while addressing the participants of the Walk titled "Violence Free Campus" which was organized by the Student's Advisor, Prof. Dr Tanveer Khalid on February 17th 2010. The news

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SU postpones BA, BCom, B.SC exams
Hyderabad: The controller of examinations of the University of Sindh announced on Wednesday that B.A., B.Sc and B.Com part-II (college side) examinations scheduled for Feb 19 and 27 had been postponed and would now be held on March 4 and 5.

Meanwhile, the principal of Paramedical Institute Jamshoro announced on Wednesday that the examination of trainees hired under the Benazir Bhutto Shaheed Youth Development Programme (BBSYDP) would be held at the institute on Feb 23-24 from 3pm to 4pm.

Examinations for courses of laboratory technician, dental surgery assistant and blood transfusion technician would be held on Feb 23 and those for operation theatre technician, X-ray technician, ECG technician and anaesthesia technician would be held on Feb 24.

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New cells for schools, colleges planned
Karachi: The post of the director-general (colleges), Sindh, will be abolished and the staff of the directorate will be merged into a cell being created in the education department in an attempt to expedite its working.

Senior Sindh Minister Pir Mazhar-ul-Haq, who holds the portfolio of education, said this on Wednesday.

Talking to a group of newsmen, he said that in a summary moved to the chief minister he had recommended abolishing the post and creation of two separate cells - one each for schools and colleges - within the department.

He said that with the creation of the proposed cells, to be headed by special secretaries, the regional directors and the executive district officers would have direct liaison with the special secretaries and, as such, the time consumed in clearing files at the directorate-general's office would be saved and the issues concerning both the schools and colleges would be solved expeditiously.

The minister also said that the management cadre for the schools and colleges was being separated from teaching cadre on the directives of the chief minister and the move would bring about improvement in the managements of public sector educational institutions in the province.

The incumbent provincial director-general (colleges), Prof Rafiq Ahmed Siddiqui, is due to retire next month.

Speaking about Lyari University whose charter has already been signed by the governor, he said that it would start functioning soon with the appointment of its vice chancellor, who will also be the varsity's project director.

At present, names of a number of senior educationists such as Dr Abdul Wahab, former vice chancellor of Karachi University and ex-director of Institute of Business Administration; Prof Mazhar-ul-Haq, former vice chancellor of Sindh University, and Prof Akhtar Baloch, the chairman of KU's business administration department, were being considered for the Lyari University's vice chancellor.

Referring to the college teachers' agitation over a delay in the promotion of grade-19 college teachers to grade 20, he said that the matter had been delayed because of the teachers concerned as their annual confidential reports were received by the department quite late.

He, however, said that he had already requested the chief minister to convene the meeting of the provincial selection board (PSB) so that the grade 19 college teachers who are attaining their superannuation age could be promoted to their next higher grade before their retirement.

He said that the education department had recently promoted hundreds of college teachers from grade 17 to 18, from 18 to 19 and now the CM would soon convene the meeting for the promotion of grade 19 teachers in next grade. Dawn

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Cheating in exam
Karachi: The Board of Secondary Education Karachi (BSEK) has undertaken effective measures for preventing cheating in examinations.

The selection of examination centers will be done after proper check, while vigilance teams would keep on raiding different centers during examinations.

Chairman BSEK, Syed Anzaar Hussain Zaidi on Wednesday said this while talking to the media at a lunch given in honor of the journalists at the Board office.

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Women role in literature
Karachi: The Sindh Minister for Youth Affairs, Syed Faisal Ali Subzwari, has highlighted the role of women towards literature, primarily poetry. He was speaking as the chief guest at the Inter-Faculty Poetry Competition on Wednesday. The contest was held at the Government College for Women, Frere Road.

The minister said that there is a decline in interest of women towards poetry. He said that women have a significant role towards literature and attention should be paid towards this aspect. Syeda Shahla Saleem of the Government D.J. Science College was declared first in the competition.

She was awarded a cash prize of Rs15,000. Ms. Fazila of Defence Authority College remained second and won a cash prize of Rs10,000. The third position went to Ms. Aaihsa Saleem of Government D.J. Science College and was awarded Rs5,000.

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Inter-school science exhibition
Karachi: As the big hall bustled with the young and lively creators, the scientific models the students made for the science exhibition bespoke of the potential of well trained minds in the country.

Thirteen schools of Karachi participated in the Inter School Science Exhibition 2009-2010 held in the premises of St. Patrick's High School on Tuesday. The 40 stalls at the exhibition displayed projects in Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Mathematics, General Science and Environmental Management.

It was a heartening to see students speak enthusiastically of the creations they had made for the exhibition. Demonstrating a hovercraft created by his school team, Haris Ahmed of the Foundation Public School said that it had been created within three hours using household materials like shower curtain chipboard and leaf blowers as motors that were recycled.

There were also other interesting projects like the thermite change, electric pumps, house alarms to protect form burglars, a Technicolour light show which showed a multi color shadow of all individuals, hydrogen cells to be used in a car for increasing mileage of car and reducing pollution etc, all conceived and made by the students.

"Such events at a school level give us new ideas and help to increase confidence" said Sumaiya Arshad, a student of O'Level from the Karachi Grammar School.

Aloyscious D' Cunha the Principal of the St. Patrick's Cambridge Section and the host of the exhibition said that such events not only increased the exposure of students but also enable them to compete in a learning environment.

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KESC awareness programme
Karachi: The Karachi Electric Supply Company (KESC)has said that it has launched a School Energy Conservation Awareness Programme, under which over 25,000 school students from class I to V would be educated on electricity saving methods through talks and presentations.

According to a KESC press release issued on Wednesday, so far a total of 28 schools have signed up the partnership with the KESC under this ìE-forceî initiative.

Under the initiative, the KESC will arrange to instruct school children in the interpretation of electricity bills and conservation of electricity through energy-efficient use of domestic appliances.

The students will be involved in exercises to monitor and reduce electricity bills in their homes by adopting energy conservation methods.

The objective of E force of students is to create a chain reaction of spreading the benefits of reduction in power wastage and energy efficiency among the citizens of Karachi, through children as the ambassadors and agents of change, says the KESC press release. The news

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