Rawalpindi schools security flaws
Improve schools security or face closure
Rawalpindi, Jan 17: As many as 282 out of 419 public and private
sector educational institutions that fall under category A-1, A and B in the
Rawalpindi district have been warned to remove the security flaws within five
days or face closure. District Coordination Officer (DCO) Imdadullah
Bosal announced this decision after a high-level meeting held here on Saturday
to review the security arrangements of the educational institution in wake of
the ongoing terror threats. The DCO also announced formation of 196
Mohallah committees in Rawalpindi to assist educational institutions in
improving security lapses in the respective schools. He also approved a plan to
depute Rescue 1122 officials to train the security staff of educational
institutions. All officials including those from the ISI, IB, Special
Branch, police as well as representatives of public and private sector
educational institutions attended the meeting. The security agencies had shared
the complete list of educational institutions in Rawalpindi district with
security flaws to the city district government a couple of days ago. Taking
action on the report, the city government has called a meeting for taking
remedial measures. District Coordination Officer (DCO) Focal Person Sher
Mohammad said that security agencies have finalised the list of
educational institutions in Rawalpindi district and forwarded it to us for
taking necessary action. The city government has set a 5-day deadline for all
private and public educational institutions to fulfil the requirements of
security otherwise concerned authority would take strict action against them, he
said. He said that the city government has divided educational
institutions in category A-1, A and B in the whole district, but unfortunately
several educational institutions could not fulfil the requirements of security.
According to the data, there are 19 private and public educational institutions
that fall in A-1 category in Rawalpindi out of which only 12 institutions have
completed security requirements. In category A only 59 out of 187 educational
institutions have fulfilled the requirements of security while in category B 64
out of 213 educational institutions fulfilled the requirements of security.
Some of the institutions are without barriers and 8ft boundary walls,
CCTV cameras, armed security guards and walkthrough gates. The city district
government had already closed down 19 educational institutions after they failed
to fulfil the security requirements. Rawalpindi Private Schools
Management President Captain (r) Ameer-ud-Din Shaikh said that they
had applied for arms licenses, but could not get the same from the city district
government. "How our security guards could handle the situation without
weapons," he added. He said that city government is approving licenses
for limited range 12-bore pistols. They need licenses of Prohibited Bore (PB)
pistols. Some government institutions got from Rs20 to Rs50 and all
private educational institutions collected Rs50 to Rs200 from the students to
improve security lapses. The government institutions took security charges only
a time, but the private schools continuously charging security charges from
students. The parents said that security arrangements are very poor
in educational institutions, but they are charging security fee every month.
Rawalpindi Private Schools Management spokesman Tehmina Malik admitted
the fact that several private schools are taking security charges from Rs50 to
Rs200 every month. The news
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Clash at Kohat college, 21 students booked
Kohat: Twenty three activists of two different student organisations
were booked for taking part in a clash at Government Postgraduate College,
Kohat, while 21 of them were declared proclaimed offenders on Saturday for not
surrendering to police. The college administration lodged criminal cases
against them and expelled them from the college with immediate effect.
Two students, Waqas and Abdullah, charged in the FIR surrendered
voluntarily to police. They were sent to district prison on judicial remand by a
local court. The college administration and police had set one week
deadline to the students to surrender otherwise strict action would be taken
against them. The Saddar police registered cases against the students
for taking part in a clash on the college premises, attacking police and army
and burning two motorcycles of police Riders Squad on Thursday. The
activists of Imamia Students Federation and Farooqi Students Federation scuffled
over pasting of posters at the college. They also opened fire and pelted stones
at police wherein a DSP and a constable were injured. Police booked
Iqbal Hussain, Zamir Ali, Kamil Hussain, Imtiaz Ali, Amirullah, Syed Shah
Mohammad, Shaukat Ali, Syed Abbas, Imtiaz Ali, Inshad Ali, Syed Raza Hussain,
Waqas Khan, Roohul Amin, Amjad Afridi, Abdul Waheed, Javed Iqbal, Shah Zeb, Daud
Iqbal, Hilal Ahmed, Shah Fahad, Kaleemullah, Syed Saboor and Abdullah.
Police claimed to have arrested 52 suspects including
five proclaimed offenders and seized huge quantity of arms from their possession
during a midnight operation in the district. DPO Dilawar Khan Bangash
said that they launched an operation against suspected militants and criminals
in various parts of the district on Friday night. The operation was
carried out in City, Cantonment, Ublan, Mian Gharhi, Ahmedi Banda, Ghamkol,
Ghulam Banda, Talkan, Muslimabad, Kot and Tor Dhand bordering Darra Adamkhel and
Orakzai Agency. The proclaimed offenders arrested during operation were
identified as Fareed Khan, Mohammad Khan, Mohammad Arif, Noor Mohammad and Umer
Khan. All the arrested persons were handed over to the investigation branch for
interrogation. The arms recovered from the possession of the accused
included six Kalashnikovs, four repeaters, two Sten guns, eight rifles, 19
pistols, three shotguns, 1,200 cartridges and 13 kilograms of hashish.
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PMDC written examination
Islamabad: Over 550 graduates of foreign medical schools would appear in
the written examination on Sunday for registration with the Pakistan Medical and
Dental Council (PMDC) under the new system. The registration examination
had been recently handed over to the University of Health Sciences, Lahore. Its
vice chancellor Prof Mubashar Hussain heads the National Examination Board for
testing the overseas medical graduates. He described the examination to
be carried out by the university as "hi-fidelity, high security, very reliable
and transparent". It should be recalled that the PMDC decided to change
the examination system for foreign graduates and handed over its conducting to
the UHS because of complaints of inferior testing standard and use of unfair
means under the previous system. Under the new examination format,
graduates would have two tests – a multiple choice and a short answer
examination. The qualifying students would subsequently appear for
structured clinical tests to be held on January 31. Dawn
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AIOU TEFL workshop
Islamabad: The Department of English Language and Applied Linguistics is holding a workshop of 'Teaching English as a
Foreign Language' for the students of course 5663. The workshop will be held
from January 18 to 30, at the main AIOU campus here. Ajmal Gulzar and Ubaidullah
Khan will coordinate the workshop, said a news release issued Saturday. The
students enrolled in the course of MA TEFL programme were awarded admission on
the basis of four credit Diploma TEFL or equivalent qualification in Spring 2009
Semester. However, those students who were given admission on the basis of five
credit Diploma TEFL do not need to attend this workshop. Eminent academics such
as Dr. Samina Qadir, Farzana Ursani, Shagufta Siraj, Dr. Nighat Sultana, Dr.
Hina Ashraf and Dr. Sarwat Rasool among others will deliver sessions on
different ELT related topics. The news
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Free education opportunities
Peshawar: On the directives of the governor NWFP, Directorate of
Education Fata has finalised the arrangements for providing free and quality
education opportunities to 100 talented and needy boys and girls hailing from
the tribal areas. The project envisages establishment of Centers of
Excellence at some of the leading academic institutions based in NWFP for
improving literacy, promoting access, outreach and quality of education for the
poor and deserving students of both genders in Fata. According to a
press release issued by the Fata Secretariat's media cell here on Saturday, out
of these100 scholarships, 67 have been reserved for boys while the remaining 23
would be granted to girls. Only those candidates, who have passed their
6th grade, would be considered for admission after successfully qualifying the
selection process comprising a competitive entry test which will be conducted by
Education Testing and Evaluation Authority (ETEA) in five subjects from the
course of grade 6 in English, Maths, Science, Urdu and Islamiat.
Application forms and further details pertaining to admissions and
eligibility can be obtained from the offices of director education Fata, Warsak
Road Peshawar as well as the concerned agency education officers. Every
successful student would be given the opportunity to study at one of the
following eminent academic institutions for boys; Abbottabad Public School
Abbottabad, Fazal-i-Haq College Mardan, Islamia Collegiate School Peshawar,
Akram Khan Durrani Public School Bannu, Peshawar Public School Peshawar,
University Public School Peshawar, Wensam College Dera Ismail Khan and HITEC
Taxila. Dawn
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