FBISE control likely to revert to CADD

FBISE may come under CADD
Islamabad, Feb 09: The Federal Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (FBISE), which was given under the administrative control of the Ministry of Professional and Technical Training, is likely to revert to the Capital Administration and Development Division (CADD), it has been learnt.

A senior federal official said Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani had directed the federal government to make Islamabad a 'knowledge and education city' and a role model for the rest of the country. But the prime minister's vision was all lost after the 18th amendment since some of the much-needed educational institutions were shifted to the administrative control of other ministries.

After the 18th constitutional amendment, FBISE was to stay under CADD but it was transferred to the ministry of PTT without any major reasons.

The departments which were to stay under CADD included FBISE, National Education Assessment System (NEAS), Academy of Educational and Planning Management (AEPM), National Book Foundation (NBF) and National Education Foundation (NEF).

"All these institutions were supposed to strengthen the federal education system but they were shifted to other ministries," said the official.

He added that FBISE along with NEAS, Academy of Educational Planning, and NEF were also under the ministry of PTT while NBF was under CADD.

Another official close to the development said these departments were shifted to the ministry of PTT despite the fact that the implementation commission had put them under the CADD.

"The matter recently came under discussion at a high-powered meeting chaired by Khurshid Shah and attended by other legislators," said the official.

He said the committee was informed that the prime minister's objective to make Islamabad a role model educational city could not be achieved because of the recent division of educational departments of the capital city.

Meanwhile, when contacted, a spokesman for CADD said: "The matter was under discussion of a high-powered committee of legislators."

Asked whether a summary was prepared for the prime minister to bring back these departments under CADD, he said: "There is consideration mainly on the direction of the high-powered committee."

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Thrashing of GCU guards by SP condemned
Lahore: Members of the Executive Committee of the ASA GCU strongly condemned the beating of GCU security guards on 30th of January 2012 at 6: 40pm by SP (VIP Security) Waqas Hassan who wanted to enter the GCU premises. Dr Hassan Amir Shah, President ASA GCU and Dr M Akram, General Secretary ASA GCU, said that Waqas Hassan was in plainclothes and an old student of GCU and had wanted to meet a female student and did not wish to produce identification. He was also told that it was forbidden for outsiders to enter the GCU premises after 6:00pm. Waqas Hassan then called some policemen who proceeded to beat up Security Guards Javed and Rais. The guards were taken to Mayo Hospital. Due to police pressure, Mayo Hospital has refused to issue the medical report and Thaana Anarkali has refused to register FIR. The news

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PEC exam schedule leaves students in a fix
Attock: Thousands of middle standard examination candidates are facing troubling situation as they have to appear in two or three papers on the same day without having a break.

The tough schedule was prepared by Punjab Examination Commission (PEC) only to save duty charges of invigilation staff, it has been learnt.

A number of parents complained that PEC had scheduled two papers on same day without short interval causing great problems for the candidates.

According to the date sheet, Math paper was held on Feb 6, Islamiat written and oral on Feb 7, Science on Feb 8 in the morning and Urdu A and B in the evening. Such as, two papers of Social Studies and Arabic will be held on Feb 9 and English A and B on Feb 10. Similarly, papers of Drawing (written) will be held in the morning session on Feb 11 and Drawing (practical) will be conducted in the evening. In this way, 12 papers have been scheduled to be held in six consecutive days.

During the visit to an examination centre, an invigilator on condition of anonymity disclosed that PEC had done it to save the duty charges of the invigilators.

On contact, Executive District Officer (EDO) Education Dr Umar Farooq, who is also PEC's representative in Attock district, admitted that the tough schedule had created problems for the candidates.

He said well before the examination, district education office advised the PEC authorities to prepare student-friendly date sheet but they paid no heed to the suggestion. On query, Mr Farooq admitted that the PEC prepared such a date sheet just to reduce charges of invigilation staff.

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Students throng Dawn's education expo
Lahore: A large number of students as well as their parents on Wednesday visited the ninth annual DAWN Education Expo 2012 at Pearl Continental Hotel and got information about higher education opportunities abroad.

The students were seen enthusiastic and motivated about seeking information for higher studies as well as scholarships and visa issues from renowned varsities from across the globe under one roof.

Admission officers, career counsellors and faculty members from the participating institutes interacted with students directly on a one-on-one basis. The representatives said it was a great opportunity that hundreds of students visited their stalls, sought information as well as got themselves registered. They said the institutions abroad were enrolling students these days.

Stalls were set up by almost 150 leading universities notably from Canada, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Malaysia, North Cyprus, Turkey, UK, Australia, USA and the UAE in three different halls of the hotel.

Aayusha Zaheer, an ACCA finalist, told Dawn that it was a great experience to visit here as she gathered vital information about higher education abroad. Stating that earlier she was told that there were no higher education opportunities abroad after completing ACCA, Ms Zaheer said the information collected from different universities' representatives revealed that there were ample opportunities to do masters from abroad. She said the foreign universities offering quality courses did not give scholarships.

A UET's civil engineering student, Usama Ashraf, said he along with his friends got detailed information about higher education opportunities but they all were very expensive. He said the exhibition had helped to get detailed information about courses being offered by foreign universities. "Earlier, I had tried to seek information from various universities on net but most of them either did not reply or asked to visit their websites," he said.

Muhammad Asif Javed Chishti, a law graduate, said he had come to seek information about LLM courses offered by various universities. He said the varsities' representatives gave detailed information and offered guidance. Such exhibitions continued to be held so that youth here in Pakistan could know about higher education opportunities abroad.

Stating that cost of courses was high, Mr Chishti said, he found that now UK varsities had opened their sub-campuses in Dubai and Malaysia, where cost was almost half.

AUSPAK International admission officer Mona Bashir said most of the visitors were interested in scholarships. She said only 20 per cent students wanted to seek information about studies abroad while 80 per cent visitors wanted to know whether they could settle abroad after studies.

She said she also interacted with parents, who said they had Rs0.5 million, but wanted that their son should go abroad for studies.

North Cyprus university representative Muhammad Naveed said students were asking more questions about cost and acceptability of courses offered in the university.

The exhibition will continue on Thursday (today) from 11am to 7pm. Dawn

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Teachers threaten protest for acceptance of demands
Peshawar: Presenting a seven-point charter of demands for welfare of the teachers' community, the Muttahida Mahaz-e-Asatiza on Wednesday threatened to launch a protest campaign to press the authorities to accept their demands.

Speaking at a press conference, its chairman Abdul Ghaffar Gardezi and Provincial Chief Abdul Manaf Khan said the charter of demands included improvement of the service structure, teaching allowance, time-scale and ad-hoc relief.

They said they would be left with no other option but to organise a hunger strike camp and stage sit-in at the China Chowk in Islamabad if their demands were not fulfilled.They added that the education sector should be given into the provincial government control instead of devolving it to the district level. "The teachers' perks should be brought on a par with their contemporaries working under the federal government while the ad-hoc relief should be merged in the basic pay system," said Abdul Ghaffar Gardezi.

He lamented that the time-scale policy for the teachers was not being implemented notwithstanding the fact that the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief minister had already approved its summary. The news

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Students urged to follow teachings of Holy Prophet (PBUH)
Islamabad: World Association for Al-Azhar Graduates (WAAG Islamabad-chapter) Secretary General Raazia Naveed urged upon the younger generation to follow teachings of the Holy Prophet Hazrat Muhammad (PBUH) to achieve success in the world and hereafter.

Addressing the students of Air University at a function held in connection with Eid Milad-un-Nabi (PBUH), she said teachings of the Prophet (PBUH) provide complete guideline for Muslims in all spheres of life. "We have to follow the Prophet (PBUH), if we want to live with dignity among the comity of nations," she said.

The WAAG Secretary General termed the youth as "national asset" and said they have an important role to play for the progress and prosperity of the country. So, the youth must equip themselves with Islamic teachings besides getting modern education, if they have to lead the world, she said, adding "Islam is the religion which came to lead the world".

Highlighting various aspects of the life of the Holy Prophet (PBUH), Raazia Naveed said, "A Muslim's faith remains incomplete unless he or she shows extreme love and reverence for Allah Almighty's Last Messenger". app

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Bait-ul-Maal offers scholarships for orphan students of NUML
Islamabad: Bait-ul-Maal would provide sponsorships to all orphan students of National University of Modern Languages (NUML), to make them active and educated members of society.

This was stated by the Bait-ul-Maal Chairman Zumurad Khan while talking to the NUML Rector Maj Gen (r) Masood Hasan at NUML, on Wednesday.

Khan visited NUML and met the Rector to discuss different future plans of Bait-ul-Maal. The chairman, during the meeting, said that geographically Pakistan was situated in a zone where different natural calamities like floods and earthquakes continue to hit rendering thousands of children parentless.

He said the dilemma of orphanhood has really made the affected children a detached part of society. Therefore, different projects and programmes have been introduced by the government for such deprived and needy children to bring them back into mainstream of life, he added. He informed the NUML rector and DG that Bait-ul-Maal had started a project, "Sweet Homes", for orphan children under which they are provided free shelter, food and education. He said that Bait-ul-Maal had already announced 100 scholarships for deserving students of NUML and it was also announced that all the orphan students would be offered scholarship on taking admission in NUML. Maj Gen (r) Masood Hasan told the visiting guest that his services for the orphans and needy students were worth praising and he offered all possible assistance and help for the cause. He further said that NUML administration and students would love to join hands with Bait-ul-Maal to carry forward the sacred mission of Sweet Homes.

Prior to this, Director General Brig Azam Jamal and Director Administration Brig (R) Tariq Qureshi received the Bait-ul-Maal chairman on his arrival at NUML. Daily times

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