8 per cent education budget for higher studies
8% of education budget spent on higher studies: Atta
Islamabad, July 01: The government spends only eight per cent of total education
budget, equalling 1.4 per cent of GDP, on higher studies, due to which the
country has lagged behind in socio-economic development. In his lecture
on 'Education of Science and Technology for Socio-Economic Development,'
organised by Planning Commission for the eminent scientists and scholars, former
federal minister and Chairman of Higher Education Commission (HEC) Dr
Atta-ur-Rehman said the country could not afford any further cuts in budgetary
allocations for science and technology. He suggested the government to
incentives the private sector to invest in technology sector following the
foreign models. He said it was unfortunate that the collective GDP of all
OIC states was lesser than that of Japan, just because "we lag behind in science
education as we could not set priorities". "First of all, we will have to
recognise that youth is the real asset of our country. Pakistan is rich of 85
million youths of below 19. So if we do not exploit talent, the country may
suffer a lot," said Atta-ur-Rehman. He said it was unfortunate that
Pakistan was spending only 1.4 per cent of GDP on education out of which eight
percent was allocated for higher education. He advised the government not to
follow Sri Lankan syndrome where lower education was given priority. "The
students should be developed as job givers, not job seekers because youths
should be encouraged to establish small companies. MIT has created 4,000
companies with annual sale of $232 million," he said. Dr Atta-ur-Rehman
said Pakistan has been ranked 104th in Global Competitiveness and 83rd in
availability of engineers and scientists, 80th in spending on research and
development against 46 at India. Exemplifying Malaysian Model spending 25
per cent of GDP on higher education, he said from 2002 to 2007, the country had
witnessed 6,000 per cent increase in science education and salaries of
university teachers were increased to $5,000 but unfortunately the allocation
was being reduced for the sector. Referring to a silent revolution in
higher education, he said even an Indian advisor had suggested his Prime
Minister to follow Pakistan's model and added that if exploited well, the
country could soon join China to challenge India in technology
sector. Giving a roadmap, he suggested short and long term plans for 13
major sectors, including agriculture, textile, materials and others, stressing
for incentivising the private sector to invest in research and
development. In India, private sector spends 75 percent in research and
development, 67 per cent in China but unfortunately in Pakistan it spends at
only 5 per cent, putting rest of the burden to be borne by the government, he
added. The former HEC chairman said there was a need to identify areas
for investment and described education, science and technology, innovations and
honest technologically competent leadership as pre-requisite for Socio-economic
development of the country.
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Students suffer due to shortage of teachers
Rawalpindi: Students of government schools are suffering badly due to
shortage of male and female teachers of different subjects in their educational
institutions in Rawalpindi district as well as other parts of the
division. According to well-informed sources there is shortage of over
1,100 teachers in Rawalpindi district government schools, numbering more than
2,300 including primary, middle and higher academic institutions. The
Directorate of Education Rawalpindi had filled over 2,400 posts of
instructors/teachers under phase-I, in February this year on the directions of
the Punjab chief minister, however, 600 posts still remained vacant in
educational institutions in Rawalpindi district. These were to be filled under
phase-II. In the meantime, the shortage of teachers further increased by
another 500 teachers, male and female in government schools. Besides shortage of
total 1,100 teachers, 200 new posts have been announced in schools in Rawalpindi
district. Because of the shortage of teachers the students are suffering
badly. They have no other option but to hire the services of private teachers
for tuition to get proper guidance on a particular subject. Parents of the
students have demanded of the Punjab Chief Minister, Mian Shahbaz Sharif, the
city district government as well as the Executive Director Education to take
immediate notice of the matter and take measures for overcoming the shortage of
teachers. The Deputy Director Administration and General, Khalid Javed
Rehan, in absence of the EDO said that the problem of shortage of
teachers in government primary, middle and higher academic institutions would be
resolved by the end of summer vacations. The summary related to proposal
of filling the vacant posts of instructors have been forwarded to the Punjab
chief minister for his consideration and approval. The process of approval is
likely to be completed within next 15 days. Immediately, after approval by the
Punjab chief minister, the Education Directorate would start the process of
recruiting the teachers. Additional 200 new posts would also be filled during
this period. However, the entire process would be completed in the first week of
September this year, he assured.
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CDA Model School students excel in SSC examinations
Islamabad: Capital Development Authority Model School while living up to
its traditions has maintained 100 per cent result in Secondary School
Certificate (SSC) Part-II examination for the year 2010. In all 42
students appeared in Science and Humanities groups for SSC-II Annual
Examination, out of which 24 girls obtained A-1 and 10 A and 8 B
grades. Ryehah Batool Shah (Roll No. 182739) secured second position in
Humanities Group of the FBISE by securing 926 marks. Raisa Suleman is second in
the same group in school. Hafsah Ahmed secured first position in her
class by obtaining 998 marks (95%) in the Science Group. These are highest ever
marks by a student in the CDA School history. Rafia Akbar got second position in
the Science Group in the school with 981 marks. Capital Development
Authority Chairman Imtiaz Inayat Illahi and Member Administration Shaukat
Mohmand have congratulated the students and school management and teaching staff
for producing the excellent result. CDA Model School Principal Shahwar
Ajmal has termed the outstanding result to hard work and dedication of teaching
staff and students own efforts. She also pledged to upkeep high standards of the
institution.
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APS excels in BISE examination
Islamabad: The Abbottabad Public School (APS) achieved enviable results in the
recently announced annual examination of the Board of Intermediate and Secondary
Education (BISE) with 75 out of 105 students who appeared in the examination
achieving 'A1' grade. The Abbottonians, as the APS students are
generally known, achieved 100 per cent result in the BISE Abbottabad
examination. Aniq Rahim topped in the APS by securing 940 marks out of a total
of 1050. "A brilliant student, that Aniq Rahim is, stood first among the
male students in the Board but was placed sixth overall as the first five
positions were notched by the female students, who certainly have outdone the
boys in the exams," the Principal of the APS, Mr Mehboob Alam told from Abbottabad. "In addition to Aniq Rahim another
student of APS secured 930 marks to take third position among the boys and 13th
position in the overall results. Similarly, Malik Furqan Mehmood and Basharat
Hussain shared fifth position among the boys and 19th overall by securing 922
marks each. The two were closely followed by Mohammad Mohsin who stood 6th among
the boys and 19th overall," the Principal of the APS, Mehboob Alam said.
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40 educators selected for training in US
Islamabad: Forty teachers selected across the country will leave for the United
States (US) on Friday to attend a professional training programme for the
secondary level educators at the Plymouth State University. The
pre-departure orientation ceremony will be held on Thursday here at the Hill
View Hotel likely to be attended by Federal Minister for Education Sardar Ahmed
Assef Ali and Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Academic Programmes,
Bureau of Education and Cultural Affairs. The Plymouth State University,
USA, initiated the Pakistani Education Leadership Institute (PELI) project in
2004, as annual four-week professional training program and to date, 120
educators have benefited from this opportunity. The number of educators
has been doubled up to 40 this year and these participants would start their
training from July 5. The funding of PELI is mobilised through an annual grant
since the fiscal year 2003-04 from the US Department of State, Bureau of
Educational and Cultural Affairs. The grant is awarded to the Plymouth State
University and the project is coordinated in Pakistan through services rendered
by Idara-e-Taleem-o-Aagahi. The Pakistani educators for PELI are selected
through a rigorous merit based process for their leadership capabilities. They
represent secondary level public and private sector schools as well as teacher
education institutions. The news
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