Punjab universities admissions issue

Peshawar University ignores affiliates
Peshawar, Feb 01: The graduates of Sheikh Zayed Islamic Centre allege that they have been denied admission in postgraduate departments of University of Peshawar despite meeting the criteria.

They say that there is no specific department in the university where they can seek admission after getting BA (Honours) degree from Sheikh Zayed Islamic Centre. The students after completing the three-year course run from pillar to post to seek admission in postgraduate classes.

The BA (Honours) courses were started at Sheikh Zayed Islamic Centre, commonly known as Islamic Centre, in 1988 with a view to produce best graduates but the students passing the examination are unsure of their admission in next classes.

Initially, the Islamic Centre, constituent of University of Peshawar, inducted 50 students and the number was doubled after starting evening classes in 2007. About 100 students graduated from Islamic Centre with different combination of subjects since then.

A teacher at the centre said that university administration had agreed that graduates of the centre would be allocated four merit-based seats in 40 postgraduate departments. "The directives regarding allocation of seats to BA (Honours) graduates by the administration were verbal owing to which students face problems in getting admission," he said.

"Every year, students stage protest rallies on the campus due to which some of the students are accommodated in different departments."

The students said that most of their colleagues had taken admission in Islamabad and other cities because of refusal by the University of Peshawar.

This year, some of the lucky students were given admission in various departments, who used different channels but the departments of Public Administration, International Relations, Institute of Management Sciences and Social Work were not willing to admit the students, they added.

According to students, they study a combination of subjects which makes them eligible for admission in departments of International Relations, Mathematics, Social Work, Institute of Management Studies and Public Administration, but they have been denied admissions by the authorities concerned.

The Institute of Management Studies was supposed to give admission to the BA (Honours) graduates with combination of double mathematics and computer science and other subjects, such as statistics and economics but it was reluctant to enroll the graduates of Islamic Centre, they said.

A teacher said the academic staff of Islamic Centre was not shown even the outlines of prospectuses prepared for postgraduate departments therefore the BA (Honours) graduates are denied admission.

UoP Registrar Shereen Zada Khattak said that BA (Honours) had different syllabus due to which it didn't fulfil the criteria required for admission in postgraduate classes.

"In some of the courses, Islamic Centre had adopted the UoP syllabus in which they were awarded admission on open merit," he said.

Three Islamic Centre graduates said they were denied admission in departments of Mathematics, Statistics, Public Administration and MBA despite having combination of subjects required for admission in those departments. Dawn

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Agriculture universities to get their courses accredited
Islamabad: Three leading agriculture universities of the country will get their degree programmes accredited from the National Agriculture Education Accreditation Council (NAEAC) to promote quality learning.

In the coming weeks, the agriculture universities including University of Agriculture, Faisalabad; NWFP Agricultural University, Peshawar; and Pir Mehr Ali Shah Arid Agriculture University, Rawalpindi will get accreditation from NAEAC for 12 degree programmes in six disciplines.

Secretary NAEAC Naseer Alam Khan said accreditation is a mandatory process for all relevant academic programmes, offered by public and private sector institutions, and the purpose is to enhance the recognition of the institutions, and prospective students and employers.

All institutions in the country, which provide a recognised agriculture degree, are required to apply to the Council to have such degree programmes accredited, he said. The Council will hold six awareness seminars in six different institutions of agriculture before June 2010 to sensitise the stakeholders about the significance of accreditation and rating of degree awarding programmes.

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Students protest against colleges principals
Rawalpindi: The Rawalpindi Student Action Task Force has decided to launch a protest against the principals of some government colleges, who did not send the admissions of hundreds of students for intermediate examinations within time.

The task force warned the administrations of these government colleges to send the students' admissions, otherwise, they would continue their protest till an indefinite period.

According to the administrations of these colleges, there are more than 3,000 students including boys and girls of various government colleges in Rawalpindi whose admission forms have not been submitted to the Board of Intermediate & Secondary Education, Rawalpindi, for examination due to their less attendance in classes. Majority of the students, whose admission forms have been blocked, study at Government Degree College for Boys, Satellite Town, where more than 1,200 candidates are waiting for the submission of their admission forms.

Students Task Force Rawalpindi President Raja Kamran, who is also among the affectees at the said college, said, "We have decided to unite all students of the Rawalpindi city whose admissions have been stopped by the administration to protest till the forms are submitted with the board."

He said that the task force has chalked out the plan to hold protest march tomorrow (Tuesday) all the way from Government Gordon College to Government Degree College and Ashgar Mall College and then towards Degree College, Satellite Town. "We will protest in front of the office of Degree College, Satellite Town, principal and observe a sit-in there. If the college administration will not accept our demands of sending the admissions, we will block Benazir Bhutto Road at Chandni Chowk."

He said that they would give them a single day's time, adding that the submission date of admission forms has already passed and now the students would have to deposit double fees with the board to appear in the intermediate examinations.

Government Degree College for Boys, Satellite Town, Principal Naeem-ur-Rasool simply refused to comments on this issue.

However, Director Colleges Dr Muhammad Ashraf said, "Admissions of the students, who have less than 75 per cent attendance, cannot be sent unless they have a solid justification."

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Green School Award
Islamabad: Ministry of Environment has announced the schedule for Green School Award 2010 and public and private educational institutions, located in Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT), can take part in the competition.

According to the schedule, the entry forms can be submitted by schools up to February 15 and the evaluation committee would visit all schools participating in the competition from March 5 to 30.

The competition results would be announced on April 10 and the award distribution ceremony would be held on April 15. Cash prizes would be distributed among schools that come at the top three positions while shields and certificates would be issued to top 20 schools.

The main objective of the Green School Award 2010 is to make the schools a source of awareness about environment, create a sense of collective responsibility amongst teachers and students towards the redressal of environmental degradation, and honour those educational institutions with awards that are found committed to the improvement of environment.

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Remaining NIP applicants
Islamabad: Ministry of Youth Affairs will soon call the remaining applicants for the registration of the National Internship Programme (NIP) after verification of degrees.

An official of Ministry of Youth Affairs said all those applications, which have been verified by HEC and Nadra, are sorted out on the basis of preference for placement.

He said these applicants have been included in the first batch of successful applicants, adding that all applications, received either online or by post, have been sent to HEC for the verification of degrees.

He said the government has taken the initiative of providing the opportunity of training the young unemployed graduates along with an attractive monthly stipend of Rs10,000.

"All those applicants, whose names have not yet been included in the first batch of selected interns, are being examined by HEC in consultation with all relevant universities and institutions," he added.

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'The Angels' needs financial
Islamabad: The Angels, a private school, for mentally disabled children faces closure due to lack of resources and its administration has appealed to the philanthropists to help them in their cause to let these ill-fated children become useful members of the society.

The school houses around 25 to 30 children, all mentally handicapped, and some volunteers are assisting the school administration for educating and training these children.

Nadeem K Joseph, started this school in March 2008, in the locality of Shally Valley.

Ambreen Khalid, the assistant coordinator of the school said that the school was an initiative to provide education and skills to the mentally handicapped children through training at different levels and different steps. "There were some forty students in the beginning and few of them left the school, as the administration was unable to provide these children with the required things mainly the pick and drop service. Usually the parents give less attention to these children and they ask us to pick these children from home and then drop them," she added. The Angles School is basically covering the mentally handicapped children of poor localities.

Shehla Jadoon, a volunteer working with the school said that she has been helping these children for over a year. She said that she got some training after attending workshops with an NGO for the training of mentally handicapped children. She said that genetically there were quite a few children who were born mentally retarded and they care called 'Mangolian Children'. Mostly it is due to the mishandling soon after the birth, unhygienic environment and lack of awareness that children become mentally retarded.

While showing a mentally retarded girl Mrs Jadoon said that her mother took a poisonous drink after having a scuffle with her husband. At that time this girl was about to be born and that incident affected her mental growth.

Showing another boy, Sahil, Mrs Jadoon said that his head was not properly taken care of when he was born. "It was due to the fact that he kept lying on one side and his head got pressed from that side therefore he was unable to walk properly and perform different functions of daily routine," she said adding the role of untrained midwives is also an important factor that could hamper the growth and mind of a new born.

Lots of times it is due to the manhandling from these untrained nurses that causes the children become mentally ill. The news

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Women tennis trophy
Islamabad: The National University of Modern Languages (Numl) won the 'All Pakistan Inter-university Women Tennis Championship' here on Sunday.

The four-day championship was played at the PTF Tennis Complex.In the final of the champion, Sara Mansoor lifted the top slot defeating Sarah Ahmed of the University of Karachi by 2-1.

In the first match, Sarah Mansoor lifted an easy decider 6-0, 6-0 while Eman Malik of the University of Karachi defeated Uzma Baig of Numl and levelled the score at one match all. The match was decided in the doubles event.

The pair of Sara Mansoor and Uzma Baig of Numl hammered Sara Ahmed and Eman Malik of KU in straight sets 6-3, 6-3.

The match for the third position was played between Punjab University and Lahore College for Women University which was won by the former by 2-1.

In the first match Sana Khan of PU beat Mamoona Khalik of LCWU by 6-1,6-1 while Bisma Adrees of LCWU beat Fara Batool of PU by 6-2, 6-4. The match was also decided in the doubles which was won by Sana Khan/Fara Batool of PU by 6-1 and 6-1.

The championship was organised by Institute of Space Technology, Islamabad. As many as 42 players from nine universities participated in the championship.

Chief guest Dr Qamarul Islam, the dean Institute of Space Technology, distributed the shields and cash prizes amongst the players at the concluding ceremony. Dawn

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