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HEC anti-smoking: Budget cut opposed
Islamabad, Jan 30, 2008:
HEC committed to leading anti-smoking initiatives
The Higher Education
Commission (HEC) has assured the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Health
Ministry of its commitment to implementing the Prohibition of Smoking Ordinance,
2002, said HEC Executive Director Dr Sohail H Naqvi on Tuesday.
According
to a press statement, he was addressing the one-day workshop on 'Tobacco Control
Initiative in Pakistan for Teachers, Students and University administration' at
the HEC auditorium.
The learning innovation division of the HEC, in
collaboration with the WHO and the ministry, organised this workshop for the
universities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad, while four more such workshops will be
held in Karachi, Peshawar, Quetta and Lahore.
Permanent cells at
institutions: "The participants will form a task force in their institutions
thereby establishing permanent cells to raise awareness of the dangers of
smoking', said Dr Naqvi.
He urged the Asian countries to follow the
Europe that had acknowledged that smoking was no longer fashionable. He said the
HEC wanted to spearhead the anti-smoking programmes.
Tobacco Control
Initiative Director General Shaheen Masood delivered a presentation on
'Situational Analysis of Tobacco Use with particular reference to Pakistan', Dr
Anjum Khawar, head of the ENT department of Pakistan Institute of Medical
Sciences, on 'Impact of Tobacco on Health' and Dr Nusrat Ara, head of the
Medicine department of Rawalpindi Medical College, on 'Effect of Smoking on
Cardiovascular Diseases'.
WHO representative Shehzad Alam Khan briefed
the participants about the preventive measures taken against smoking at global
level. He emphasised on the publicity of anti-smoking drives.
Addressing
the workshop, HEC Adviser (Quality Assurance) Dr Riaz Hussain Qureshi called
upon the universities to ensure provision of healthy extracurricular activities
for students and make more efforts to sensitise them towards the negative
effects of smoking. Media should play its role to discourage smoking and not
glamorise it, he said. Daily Times
Cut in HEC budget opposed
The Senate standing committee on Tuesday emphasized
the role of higher education in the national development and observed that more
funds should be allocated for improving the standard of education at higher
level which could ultimately pave the way for socio-economic well-being of the
country.
The committee, which met at the Parliament House, was given a
detailed briefing on the mid-term review of development and recurring budget of
the Higher Education Commission. The committee took an appraisal of the
utilisation of funds on various projects and development initiatives along with
removal of various hurdles in the release of funds.
The committee opposed
a proposal to cut the grant of the HEC and observed that it would have direct
impact on the on-going projects and also affect the enrolment and faculty
development at higher level. It would also hamper the HEC efforts to cater to
the needs of varsities throughout the country.
The committee members were
of the view that HEC required more funds on both development and the recurring
side to improve the standards of the higher education and to produce world class
varsities and teachers.
It also noticed that as a result of the positive
steps taken by the HEC, three universities of the country have been listed among
the best universities of the world. Funding various projects would help the
varsities to improve faculties of varsities to international
standard.
Earlier, the Higher Education Commission Chairman Dr Attaur
Rehman informed the committee about the budgetary position of various projects
launched by the HEC to boost education. He disclosed that there was a shortfall
of Rs3 billion on recurring cost, which could have a negative impact on the
performance of varsities besides affecting the ongoing development projects. The
meeting was attended by senators Tahira Latif, Syed Tahir Hussain Mashhadi, Dr
Mohammad Saad and Prof Mohammad Ibrahim Khan. Senior officials of HEC were also
present. Dawn
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| Education News | | Updated: 24 May, 2012 |
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