Punjab University results | UET convocation

Punjab University announces various results
Lahore, June 08: THE Punjab University on Saturday declared the results of various examinations.

According to a press statement, these exams are M Phil Persian, Semester System, Session 2004-2006, Bachelor of Commerce (Hons), Semester System, Session 2004-2008 and Bachelor of Commerce (IT), Semester System, Session 2004-2008.

Detailed results are available at the PU website www.pu.edu.pk.

Pharm-D date sheet
The Punjab University (PU) has issued the date sheet of Doctor of Pharmacy (Pharm-D), Second Professional, Second Annual Examination, 2008.

According to a press statement, the exam will commence from July 2 and conclude on July 17. Detailed date sheet is available at the PU website www.pu.edu.pk

PU camp
The Punjab University (PU) doctors provided medical treatment to 300 patients at its camp established for internally displaced persons (IDPs) at Shah Mansoor, Swabi on Saturday.

According to a press statement, PU doctors treated 24 patients suffering from scabies (skins problem), 36 body aches, 35 women having gyne-related problems and 205 other patients. The PU Relief Camp has provided medical treatment to 3,409 patients from 27 May 2009 to date, the statement concluded.

Two PhDs awarded
The Punjab University has awarded PhD degrees to two students in Islamic studies and physics. According to a press statement, Mohy ud Din Abu Bakar, son of Ghulam Mohy ud Din, has been awarded a PhD degree in Islamic studies after approval of his research thesis, "Alami Iqtasadi Sorat-e-Hall Aur Gardash-e-Doulat Kay Islami Usul." His supervisor was PU Islamic Studies Department Chairman Prof Dr Shabbir Ahmad Mansoori.

Gul Sher, son of Ahmad Khan has been awarded a PhD degree in physics after approval of his thesis, "Heavy Ions Interaction Studies Using Solid State Nuclear Track Detectors."

He completed his thesis under the supervision of PU Physics Department Prof Dr Manzoor Hussain while his co-supervisor was Pakistan Institute of Nuclear Science and Technology (PINSTECH) Principal Scientist Physics Division Dr Muhammad Ikram Shahzad.

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UET convocation on June 13
Lahore: The 19th convocation of the UET, Lahore, is scheduled to be held on June 13 at the varsity auditorium. Students of BSc Engineering, Session 2003 (F), B- Arch and BSc Building and Arch of Session 2003 and students of MSc, MPhil and PhD who completed their degrees before December 31, 2008 will participate. The News

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Students in the streets
Such subjectivity is always going to be there as long as the present system of examination continues. Things will change only if computerised multiple choice questions are substituted for the present essay and oral exams that are person-dependent

This week, I really wanted to address many intellectually grand and conceptually advanced things and was all set to do so. I so desperately wanted to paint a broad canvas demonstrating the brilliant reach of my imagination and understanding of the world we live in.

But then while driving to work one day this week, I ran into medical students, numbering perhaps in the hundreds, marching through the King Edward Medical University campus and eventually onto the streets of Lahore in the scorching June sun. And my heart went out to them.

I was not quite sure what their demands were, but I found out from my co-workers and from press reports. The primary concern of these students was the unfairness of the examination system where some students failed their exams by just one mark and as a consequence were thrown out of KE and lost any chance of becoming doctors. The immediate problem must be addressed, but a long-term solution is also needed.

In the United States, many students that start medical school leave after the first year or so because they just cannot keep up with the rigours of the coursework or the intellectual demands of the curriculum. Some find out that they are just not cut out to become physicians. As such it is perfectly acceptable for them to drop out of medical school.

This is in spite of the fact that medical students in the US decide during high school or even earlier that they want to become doctors and from then on spend years volunteering in hospitals, clinics and medical research labs and take on medicine-specific courses in the pre-med years of college.

By the time they hit medical school, most of them are mentally and emotionally prepared for the hard work required to become doctors and yet some of them still fall by the wayside. They are usually twenty-two years or older and comparatively quite mature when they start.

Pakistani medical students on the other hand come to medical school when they are about eighteen years of age and with little exposure to medicine or extensive pre-medical college courses. The curriculum is too demanding for them when they start but most of them adjust and go on to graduate.

The point is that a certain amount of attrition is to be expected between the students that enter the first year in medical college and those that go on to graduate. But that is not what, I think, the students were demonstrating against. The problem that exists in KE is that promotion from one year to the next almost entirely depends upon the 'professor' teaching a particular subject. He or she literally at a whim can pass or detain a student.

This is nothing new. Even when I sat my final MBBS examination almost forty years ago, one of my classmates, a brilliant student and now an accomplished physician in the US, failed his medical oral examination because he evidently knew 'more' medicine than his examiner! And another classmate flunked a specialty exam because she in a college play had made fun of the professor of that specialty.

Such subjectivity is always going to be there as long as the present system of examination continues. Things will change only if computerised multiple choice questions are substituted for the present essay and oral exams that are person-dependent.

In basic sciences, the knowledge base can be easily assessed by anonymously posed questions presented and checked by a computer. For clinical and lab work, the assessment of a 'supervisor' will still be required before a semester containing such content is successfully completed. That is as it should be.

For me the most disturbing charge levelled by the protesting students concerning the injustice of the examination system was that the son of a former principal of KE got eleven medals, the presumption being that they were not all deserved and therefore clearly demonstrated the intrinsic injustice of the system. I must admit that I do not know whether that particular student was special enough to obtain such academic distinction.

But I must go back to the history of KE. It is only during the last two decades or so that the children of KE professors and principals started getting medals by the bushel. It is quite possible that unlike the time I was a medical student, children of the faculty of KE during these last many years have become infinitely superior to other students.

I came to KE in 1965. During my five years in KE and another in Mayo Hospital as a house officer, there were at least four of my contemporaries that were the children of KE principals during that time and a few others that were the children of professors in KE. Yet I do not remember if any one of them ever got a medal in any exam.

More importantly, if any one of them ever tried to use their father's position to gain any advantage in the college environment, the father would probably have beaten the proverbial out of them.

I remember when as a final year student in KE, I applied for the position of 'magazine secretary' for the KEMCOLIAN, the college magazine, a position for which I thought I was eminently qualified. I walked into the interview where my father's best friend, then the principal of KE, sat presiding over the selection committee. He took one look at me and said, "Mansoor, get out of here and go study!"

That is what has changed in Pakistan and not just in medicine. Today if I was a final year student in KE with similar 'connections', I would probably be the magazine secretary, and would graduate with, if not a bushel-full, then perhaps a pocketful of medals. Undeserved, of course!

Syed Mansoor Hussain. He has practised and taught medicine in the US. He can be reached at smhmbbs70@yahoo.com (Daily Times)

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Almost 3,000 'absent' teachers penalised
Lahore: On the reports of the Chief Minister's Monitoring Team on education, the district education authorities have taken stern action against absentee teachers.

According to the details, the district education officers have stopped annual increments of 446 absentee teachers and deducted the salaries of 2,905 teachers. The field monitoring officers (FMOs) filed 18,461 reports on absenteeism, out of which 15,565 reports were processed. In the light of those reports, penalties including salary cuts, stoppage of increments and censure were imposed on defaulters.

Earlier on May 30, the district education authorities on the reports of FMOs had dismissed 790 absentee teachers while 106 teachers were given compulsory retirement. The teachers whose increments have been stopped include 10 from Lahore, 11 in Bahawalpur, 119 in Gujrat, 60 in Narowal, 24 in Kasur, and 17 in Sheikhupura among others. Those whose pays have been deducted include 77 in Attock, 177 in Rahim Yar Khan, eight in Lahore, and 149 in Rajanpur among others. Daily Times

Govt to fix three-year tenure for BISE officials
Lahore: The Government of Punjab has decided in principal to fix a three-year tenure for the posts of chairmen, secretaries and controllers of examinations of all the boards of intermediate and secondary education (BISEs) of the province.

The decision was made in a high-level meeting held at Punjab Civil Secretariat few days back, sources revealed on Sunday. The meeting was chaired by Rana Muhammad Afzal Khan (MPA) and attended by 12 other high-ranking officials concerned.

The main objective of the meeting was to take decisions for eliminating the 'Booty Mafia' from the province as desired by Chief Minister Mian Shahbaz Sharif. The appointment/posting of officers in the boards on deputation was also discussed in detail.

During the meeting, a senior official suggested to constitute a 'Search Committee' for appointing chairmen, controllers and secretaries of the BISEs. The posts falling vacant after sending those occupants back who are serving on deputation in different BISEs should be properly advertised and filled on merit, he added.

It was also proposed that all the boards must also develop software for visual recognition in order to check impersonation at the examination centres.

It was pointed out by the chairman BISE Gujranwala that the boards had already adopted a transparent system in this regard and it was very difficult rather impossible for any candidate to impersonate without the connivance of centre superintendent.

The participants also lamented the fact that although FIRs are lodged against the impersonators, but unfortunately they are released immediately on bail owing to lack of proper prosecution. If they are properly prosecuted in order to unearth the perpetrator, it will go a long way in eliminating the Booty Mafia.

An official suggested that every candidate appearing in the matric and intermediate should have National Identity Card (NIC) with him/her during the examinations.

The additional chief secretary pointed out that being a federal agency NADRA would not agree to deliver such services in view of the quantum of work the organisation was already dealing with. However, the meeting decided to draw a line by banning registration of private candidates one month before the commencement of exams. The secretary School Education was of the view that the exams may be conducted in the evening sessions in order to overcome the problems regarding the shortage of supervisory staff and buildings for examinations centres.

The meeting also agreed to rationalise the remuneration/emoluments of the supervisory staff keeping in view the inflation to persuade them to accept examination duties. The Nation

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