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PU Plagiarism: Dept head denied entry: Exams dates
Lahore, Jan 25, 2008:
Plagiarism at PU
The suspension of the head of the psychology department of the Punjab
University, following evidence that he had plagiarized research articles, goes
once again to prove how deeply the malaise of immorality is rooted within our
system of education. In 2006, four senior academicians at the same university's
prestigious Centre for High Energy Physics were accused of lifting material and
publishing it under their own names. Other instances of similar fraud have been
reported from other institutions located across the country.
It goes to
the credit of the Higher Education Commission (HEC) that a genuine effort
appears to be underway to act against plagiarism and penalize those responsible
for it. Several inquiries into such incidents have been ordered over the past
few years and action initiated against those found responsible. But at the same
time, the fact that the problem seems to be so widespread points to a need to
examine why so much dishonesty exists in academic institutions. The widely
reported phenomenon of cheating by students, with huge security contingents
regularly deployed at examination centres from the school -level up as a means
to prevent it, is only one manifestation of this problem. It is questionable
though whether policing measures on their own can be used to tackle the problem,
or whether more needs to be done to develop the sense of ethics that seems to
have evaporated from classrooms over the past few decades. Researchers who have
looked through thesis works by Ph.D students in various disciplines have
reported that the work is often lacking in quality and originality, while in
some cases plagiarism from well known sources seems to have been engaged in. And
of course, when professors themselves engage in such malpractice, they can
hardly be expected to prevent their students from following suit.
To
address the issue, the change may need to come from the primary schools that
form the foundations for the educational pyramid. Whereas the HEC has put in
sizeable sums of money in an attempt to upgrade higher-level education and
research, a true change in the calibre of academic work can come only when
reform originates at the lower level. Children at schools need to be taught
about the merits of originality, rather than rote, and the skills that enable
research to be conducted gradually honed at these stages. They also need to be
told unambiguously that plagiarism and copying other people's ideas and/or
written thoughts is nothing short of intellectual theft and amounts to
dishonesty. Only if this initiative is taken can we hope for a true change in
the culture pervading our educational institutions, where too often both the
quality of work produced and the integrity that should go with academics stand
at a dismally low level. The News
Former PU dept head denied entry in department
The former director of Punjab University's (PU) Applied Psychology Department, Mian Aftab Ahmad,
removed from the office of department head on Tuesday, was stopped by armed
security guards from entering the department on Thursday.
The security
guards said, "The newly appointed department director Dr Yasmeen Farooqi told us
not to allow Mian Aftab into the department." The PU Academic Staff Association
(PUASA) president Dr Mumtaz Salik and secretary Dr Mehr Saeed Akhtar reached the
spot to resolve the matter, but they could not convince Dr Yasmeen regarding Dr
Aftab's entry into the department.
Dr Salik told reporters, the
notification regarding the removal of Dr Aftab had created ambiguity, as the
orders were not clear whether he was removed from teaching or from the office of
head of the department alone.
"This confusion has led to the ban on his
entry into the department," he added. He said PU registrar Prof Dr Naeem Khan
had told him that Dr Aftab was removed from the headship and not from teaching.
On Wednesday, Dr Yasmeen had complained to the PU vice chancellor (VC), saying
that Dr Aftab had allegedly misbehaved with her. Dr Aftab told reporters he had
not misbehaved with Dr Yasmeen. He said he had come to the department to get
hold of his printer.
On Wednesday, PUASA had passed a resolution
condemning the removal of Dr Aftab without the PU Syndicate's approval and the
governor/chancellor's orders.
Dr Aftab said, "I am not a plagiarist. A
senior subject expert has already declared me innocent after scrutinising the
case against me. Later, the case was referred to the University of Health
Sciences (UHS) VC who showed a biased attitude against me during the
inquiry."
He said Dr Yasmeen, who accused him of being a plagiarist,
herself had been involved in plagiarism. He said, "Most of Dr Yasmeen's work is
based on students dissertation research. In January 2005, Dr Yasmeen had
published a research paper in the US, which was a copy of Ms Aalia Shah's thesis
(session 1996-1998) under the title of Pre and Post Evaluation of Depression and
Anxiety in Patients Under Grounding Mastectomy and Hysterectomy."
He
said he had brought this matter before the HEC executive director Dr Sohail H
Naqvi in Feb 2007, but he (Dr Sohail) did not take any action against Dr
Yasmeen.
Dr Yasmeen said that Dr Aftab was threatening her with
dire consequences. She said she had never been involved in plagiarism.
PU VC Prof Dr Mujahid Kamran said Governor Lt Gen (r) Khalid Maqbool had
shown his concern over the issue and he (governor) had formed a committee to
probe the matter.
A few days ago, he said, the committee had submitted a
report to the governor. He said the Education Department had referred Dr Aftab's
case back to the PU Syndicate in pursuance of the orders of the PU Chancellor,
which called for the placement of the case before the PU Syndicate and the
syndicate authorised him to take a decision against Dr Aftab. Daily Times
PU issues exams dates and results
Punjab University has issued the schedule of submission of
admission form for B.B.A (Hons), second year, annual examination-2007. The last
date for submission of admission form with single fee is January, 24 while the
admission forms can be submitted with double fee till January 25 2008. The exam
will commence from January 30, 2008. Punjab University has also issued date
sheet of various examinations. According to a press release, the examinations
include M.B.B.S, part-I, supplementary examination-2007 (for FJMC, Lahore),
Bachelor of Fine Arts Painting & Graphic Design, Part-III, 2nd Annual
Examination 2006 and M.Sc. Applied Geology, 1st Annual Examination 2007. Punjab
University has issued the schedule of submission of admission form for B.B.A
(Hons), second year, annual examination-2007. The last date for submission of
admission form with single fee is January, 24 while the admission forms can be
submitted with double fee till January 25 2008. The exam will commence from
January 30, 2008. Punjab University Examination Department has declared various
examination results. The results include LL.B, Part-II, Annual Examination-2007,
M.Sc. Mathematics, Part-II, Annual Examination 2007, M.A Punjabi, Part-II,
Annual Examination 2007, M.Sc. Physics, Semester System-2005-2007, M.Phil
Arabic, Semester System- 2004-2006 and MBA Banking and Finance (Afternoon),
Semester System- 2005-2007. APP
Your Comments
"Dr Aftab is a learned man and Mujahid Kamran is VC as he has been appointed by the orders of Gen Musharaf. He is also a converted ****. The Mujahid Kamran has no publications in last 15 years and is ********* man regarding the ****** students. He is so pious that he took away the library security of the students he was head of punjab Univ Physics Dept. His Right hand man Dr shaukat Ali has no academic value. He is ****** and has chnaged his birthday by 5 years."
Name: MOAbdullah
Email: moabdullah@hotmail.com
City, Country: USA
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