Students transport problems in twin cities

Students lack transport facility
Islamabad, July 03: Students community of the twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi are facing acute travelling problem owing to dearth of proper transport facility for them as there are hundreds of educational institutions with insufficient transport system.

Though some institutions have their own arrangement for the pick and drop of their students, it is still insufficient.

A large number of students coming from suburbs of both cities reach their respective schools and colleges through private transport and sometimes they have to travel on rooftops of the busses.

Mohammad Ali, a student said the school and college buses plied only on specific routes and he had to use local transport to reach his college.

Students complained that majority of local transporters do not stop their buses on those stops where students are waiting.

Shabana Haider, a girl student of local college, said particularly the girl students had to wait for long to find a proper seat due to which they often reached their colleges late.

Salman Ali, another student said that bus conductors and drivers misbehave with them as they treated them as unwanted burden on them.

Federal Directorate sources said that most of the schools and colleges had no transport system, adding that only 100 buses were operating for the federal directorate colleges which were insufficient for the thousands of students. App

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'UoP contract lecturers regularisation under process'
Peshawar: University of Peshawar Registrar Dr Syed Fazli Hadi said Friday that regularisation of the contract lecturers at the UoP was under process.

Responding to a news item, the official insisted that selection in the university was made through a proper procedure whereby the budgeted posts were advertised and after proper screening tests/demonstrations cases of the qualified lecturers were placed before the selection board and syndicate for approval. The same practice is in vogue throughout the public sector universalities of the country, he added.

The registrar said that almost 80 regular posts of lecturers at various departments, colleges and centres of the university had been advertised in the leading newspapers on June 25, 2010 that would be processed accordingly.

He said posts of assistant professors were also advertised and after their selection quite a good number of posts of lecturers would be created. The contract lecturers and other applicants may apply for these positions, he added.

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Students seek admission to local medical colleges
Mingora: More than 50 medical students belonging to Malakand region, whose studies remained incomplete due to recent ethnic riots in Kyrgyzstan as they were evacuated by the government of Pakistan to save their lives, have asked the authorities to provide them admission in the country's medical colleges to secure their future.

Addressing a press conference Friday, the affected students including Riaz Akhtar, Asad Hameed, and Shakirullah said they wanted to remind Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani of his promise about their admission to the local medical institutions.

The students said upon their return from Kyrgyzstan the prime minister had made the promise so they wanted to remind him about it. They said when they contacted the Higher Education Commission the officials there told them that they had not received any directives in this connection. The students said their future was at stake and asked the president and prime minister to help them in protecting their future by allowing them admission to local medical institutions. The news

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Revival of Tevta: Ministry moves summary cabinet rejected last year
Peshawar: The government's move to make functional the Technical Education and Vocational Training Authority (Tevta) will adversely affect the state of technical education instead of bringing any improvement, sources say.

The government had established Tevta in 2002 but refusal by the chief minister and then the chief secretary to head it had left the government with no option but to continue with the existing arrangements.

According to an ordinance under which Tevta was established, technical education was to be managed by the authority instead of the Directorate of Technical Education and Manpower Training.

Tevta would have financial and administrative powers and would be able to hire and fire employees.

The ordinance didn't become a law due to opposition by the then MMA government, which argued that it would destroy technical education.

Now, the provincial Ministry of Mineral Development has again moved a summary to the chief minister to make Tevta functional with the mineral development minister as its head.

The summary had last year been rejected by the cabinet on the ground that it would adversely affect technical education, according to the sources.

Under the proposal, the government will give seed money of Rs15 million and the rest of the amount will be generated from Tevta's own resources, which means that the fee will be increased and the burden will ultimately be borne by students.

The department, the sources said, would require Rs70 million annually that would come from the pockets of more than 60,000 students studying in 90 commerce colleges, polytechnic institutes and 40 vocational training colleges.

They said the move by the ministry to make Tevta functional was aimed at grabbing all powers, including appointment and promotion of employees, as the minister for mineral development being the chairman would decide all administrative and financial matters without approval of the government.

A study conducted by the Asian Development Bank in 2006-07 revealed that the system in Punjab had several flaws and posed threat to the state of technical education.

A committee constituted by the government to study the Punjab Tevta had also reported that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa did not have large industrial base like that province and it was unlikely that the new system would benefit the former when it had failed in Punjab.

Public sector departments such as Wapda, railways, agriculture etc would not support Tevta, an autonomous body, according to the committee report.

"The number of technical and vocational institutes is smaller here than Punjab for which an autonomous setup of bureaucrats will bring more financial woes," said the report sent to the chief minister's office by the Commerce College Teachers' Association, which is opposed to the new system.

The association has sought time from the chief minister to listen to their arguments before approving the proposal.

The new system does not offer employees a service structure and allowances, fringe benefits and pension they are getting now.Even before becoming chairman of Tevta, the minister concerned had started giving promotions, the sources claimed.

Last year, Rs35.5 million collected from second shift students was transferred to the ministry's account in violation of rules, they said.

The ministry, they added, had directed all the institutions to send it 40 per cent of the money collected from the second shift students.

When contacted, Minister for Mineral Development Nawabzada Mehmood Zeb said that Tevta had been established in the three other provinces in line with the ordinance issued by the government in 2001.

"We want to make Tevta functional to regulate technical and vocation education so our youths find jobs. Presently, the employees aren't obeying government directives sue to which the academic output is poor," he said.

The summary would soon be approved and Tevta would be able to purge the system of growing corruption, the minister said, adding the amount collected from the self-finance scheme would be spent on rehabilitation of institutions.

The principals not sending the self-finance money to the designated government account would face cases of corruption, he said. Dawn

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40 teachers leaving for US
Islamabad: Pakistan and United Sates (US) are facing same challenges that can be better fended off if people of both the countries forged relations in various sectors including education.

US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Academic Programmes, Bureau of Education and Cultural Affairs, Alina L Romanowski, expressed these views here at the pre-orientation ceremony of 40 teachers leaving for US to attend four-week education training programme under Pakistani Education Leadership Institute (PELI) Project.

Plymouth State University, USA, initiated the PELI project in 2004, as annual four-week professional training programme.

Its funding is mobilised through an annual grant since fiscal year 2003-04 from US Department of Sate, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. The grant is awarded to Plymouth Sate University and the project is coordinated in Pakistan through services rendered by Idara-e-Taleem-o-Aagahi. Daily times

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Students of KRL Model College excel in SSC exam
Rawalpindi: The students of KRL Model College, Kahuta while maintaining its tradition has shown 100% result in Secondary School Certificate (SSC) Part-II examination for the year 2010, of the Federal Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education, says a press release.

As many as 39 students out of 60 got 'A' and 'A1' grades. Five students of the college have captured their place among the first 60 positions of the FBISE.

The high achievers are, Mahnoor Nawaz Abbasi stoof first in the college with 989 marks and Sidra Bibi got second position with 985 marks while Aqsa Riaz bagged third position with 981 marks. Shazia Qasim (965), Noor e Hira (956), Tayyaba Sadaf (940), Izzah Zaman (926), Javeria Asghar (925), Nawal Zaheer (911), Anum Sajjad (909) and Uzma Kiran got 903 marks. Principal of the college Nighat Firdous Khalid congratulated both teachers and students alike. The news

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