Ziauddin University Media Studies BS degree

ZU announces setting up Media Studies Department
Karachi, July 22: Ziauddin University (ZU) has decided to establish a Department of Media Studies under its newly established Faculty of Social Sciences. The first meeting of the Board of Studies of the Department discussed in detail the proposed courses of study for the 4-year BS programme to be offered at the Department. The members suggested some amendments in the curriculum, which were approved.

The Board met on Tuesday at the Clifton Campus of the University under the chairmanship of the Vice Chancellor Prof. Dr.Arif Ali Zaidi. The members of the Board decided that the department would have state-of-the-art media labs, including FM Radio and television channel, to ensure a strong training base for students of electronic media, as well as those studying print media, advertising and public relations.

Those who attended the meeting include Prof. Shahida Kazi, Dr. Moonis Ahmar, Syed Jawaid Iqbal, Qasim Jalali, Prof. Ebadullah Rashdi, Humair Ishtiaq, Anwar Saeed Siddiqi, Registrar Mr. Mohammad Yousuf, Dean Faculty of Social Sciences Prof Nisar Zuberi and other faculty members. The meeting also included prominent media executives, professionals and academicians.

The curriculum of the Media Studies Department has specially been designed keeping in mind the fast changing media environment and demands of a sophisticated media industry. The Department also plans to have intensive research programmes for MS and PhD under research supervisors approved by the Higher Education Commission (HEC). Admission for the first year of BS Media Studies programme will be announced soon.

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'86pc children in govt schools face corporal punishment'
Karachi: Eighty-six per cent of children in government schools have to face the brunt of corporal punishment, Syed Safdar Raza, Planned Pakistan Advocacy Coordinator told a workshop on Monday.

Speaking at the provincial consultation workshop on the Sindh Child Protection Bill-2009, Raza said that UNICEF conducted a study and confirmed that 86 per cent children in government schools face corporal punishment. According to him, as many as five million children in Pakistan are engaged in hazardous labour and each day, at least six children are sexually abused in the country.

The workshop was jointly organized by the Sindh Welfare Department, Thardeep Rural Development Programme (TRDP), Save the Children and Plan Pakistan.

Sindh Social Welfare Secretary Ghulam Rasool Ahpan said that even though the Sindh Child Protection Bill-2009 had been vetted by the law ministry, the government is of the view that opinion should be sought from all stakeholders and that was the purpose for holding the workshop.

He said that he had gone through the bill enacted by the Punjab government but what was important was the implementation of the law in letter and spirit at the grassroots level. "Your valuable comments will be incorporated in the bill," he said.

Ahpan further said that the government's role should be limited to facilitating and monitoring the implementation of the law, and the private sector has to come forward while civil society also needs to play its role in saving children.

He said that there has been a shift in government policies because now the agenda was public-private partnership. The Sindh government was also initiating a project on street children. "A government 'babu' will not run the project," Ahpan said, adding that there should be an "indirect check" on the government in the form of public-private partnership.

Sindh Social Welfare Additional Secretary Dr Iqbal Saeed Khan said that as many as 300 bills were already gathering dust in the corridors of power and the Sindh Child Protection Bill-2009 should not have the same fate.

Zulfiqar Shah of the Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research (PILER) said that the implementation of the Sindh Child Protection Bill-2009 should not be jeopardized due to lack of funds.

Rochi Ram, an activist from the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), said that the government enacted the abolishment of bonded labour laws due to international pressure but the menace exists in the length and breadth of the country. Similarly, he said, the Mental Health Ordinance is yet to see the light of day.

Shahbano Aliani, a gender specialist at TRDP, said that children not only face physical violence but also bear the brunt of economic violence. She said that 36 per cent of the children who work in the agricultural sector were never accounted for and poverty was directly linked to child labour.

The approved child protection (national and provincial) bills would help protect 75 million children of Pakistan from abuse, exploitation, violence and neglect.

The incidence of corporal punishment in schools as mentioned above is as high as 86 per cent, while more than 80 per cent cases of child abuse cases go unreported and children as young as seven could be held criminally responsible under the Pakistan Penal Code.

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213 Education dept employees sacked
Khairpur: The acting executive district officer (EDO), Education, Khairpur, has cancelled the appointment orders of 213 employees.

The acting EDO, by pursuing the orders of the Chief Minister House via letter No 85/2009, had cancelled the appointment orders of 213 junior clerks, lab assistants, watchmen, and peons with effect from June 6, 2009, and a letter in this regard was circulated on July 21.

The staff had been appointed by the EDO Education, Khairpur, four months ago. The acting EDO in his order said all the appointments were made illegally without calling interviews or completion of formalities and these were excess appointments.

The victims protested and said they were performing their duties regularly for the past four months. They added that they were appointed on vacant posts and that the Education department had announced vacancies in newspapers. They said this was an injustice with them and the order was based on mala fide intentions, because the order of the acting EDO showed the date as July 6, 2009, which was not issued on that date, but on July 21, 2009. They demanded withdrawal of the order.

Meanwhile, sources in the Education Department said the Chief Minister House had provided a list of 73 candidates to the EDO Education after the publication of the vacant posts in newspapers for filling the posts. The sources said the EDO entertained the list and appointed more people that annoyed the Chief Minister House, which asked him the reason behind more appointments and forced him to cancel other orders not found in the Chief Minister House's list.

The sources said the EDO declined to cancel the orders of the other candidates and told the Chief Minister House that being the EDO, he had authority to issue the orders. The sources said that on his refusal, he was suspended and an inquiry was ordered by framing charges of corruption against him. He was accused of appointing people out of the way against graft. The News

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