Hajvery University students protest

Students protest against Hajvery University, block The Mall
Lahore, June 08: A large number of students of the Hajvery University on Monday blocked The Mall for over two hours in front of the Governor's House and protested against the varsity administration.

Students held posters and banners that contained slogans against the varsity administration and demanded that their futures be secured. The protesting students refused to cooperate with police officials and blocked The Mall from 11am until 1pm and demanded that Punjab Governor Salmaan Taseer take notice of the issue.

One of the students, seeking anonymity, said the varsity administration had given them admissions in engineering four years ago, but after the four years were completed, the students were being awarded degrees of BS honours.

"We paid large amounts in dues to study engineering, but the administration is not giving us engineering degrees," he said, adding that the students had learned that the Pakistan Engineering Council did not accept their degrees, as they did not fulfill the requirements of the PEC.

Another protester said that students would not sit in their classes until the government acted against the varsity administration, adding that without the engineering degree, students would be hard pressed to find jobs.

"The labs and faculty at the varsity are not up to requirements, which is why the PEC was not approving their degrees, which is not fair to the students," he said. The administration of the Hajvery University was not available for comment despite repeated attempts to contact them. Separately, insiders said that the administration was avoiding contact with the media due to the protests, adding that Hajvery University Chairman Sheikh Atif Mahtaq had opted to travel abroad as soon as the students started their protest against the varsity. Daily times

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GCU signature campaign against tobacco
Lahore: The Government College University (GCU) Student Services Centre Monday organised a 'Signature Campaign against Tobacco' to involve students in the fight against diseases, death and economic loss caused by the smoking.

Above 500 students signed the anti-tobacco banners with pledges to play active role in convincing people not to smoke at least in universities, colleges, hospitals, restaurants, offices, parks and other public places. GCU Placement Officer Muhammad Waqar Ahmad said that female students had more actively participated in the campaign, organised in collaboration with the Green Future that is working with World Health Organisation against tobacco consumption.

However, Green Future Chief Executive Officer Nudrat S Alvi said the signature camping was aimed at bringing together like-minded people against the tobacco consumption. "The banners inscribed with messages and signatures highlight that a large number of people are against tobacco consumption," she added.

Talking to media, GCU female students expressed profound pleasure on imposition of excise duty on cigarettes. However, they said that the government is needed to take more steps to discourage the smoking. Hina Saeed, a BSc (Hons) student said even after the imposition of new tax a cigarette was the cheapest commodity available at stores. She said the govt should also put a check on the sale of cigarettes to teenagers and minors.

Sidra Habib, an MPhil student, said the smoking culture is being developed in the teenagers. Shahid Ahmed of BA (Hons) said such signature campaigns realised people of their responsibility towards environment and health of other citizens and they should be initiated in all universities. and other intuitions of the country. The nation

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PU announced MA Education results
Lahore: The Punjab University Examinations Department has announced the result of MA Education (Elementary & Secondary), Part-II, Annual Examination 2009. Pass percentage in the exam was 94.41. Detailed results are available on PU website www.pu.edu.pk.

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UHS announced BDS results
Lahore: The University of Health Sciences (UHS) has announced the result of the Final Professional BDS supplementary examination. According to a press release here on Monday, a total of 85 candidates from five affiliated dental colleges appeared in the exam and 63 passed while 22 failed. Pass percentage remained 74.118. The news

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University teachers protest today
Lahore: The Federation of All Pakistan Universities Academic Staff Association (FAPUASA) will protest against the massive cut in higher education budget on Wednesday (tomorrow).

FAPUASA President Prof Dr Mahr Saeed Akhtar said teachers would boycott classes and observe a black day from 12 noon onwards. They would wear black armbands and carry black banners demanding that the grant for higher education should be restored to sustain the research culture in universities.

Prof Akhtar said the federation executive body would meet the National Assembly speaker and get the higher education funding issue raised in the NA through MNAs.

He said the massive cut in grants as well as 27 per cent inflation rate had left higher education allocation to nothing, which would ruin the academic environment and research culture in universities. He said the cut in budget would also affect the scholars doing their PhDs abroad and travel grants for those faculty members who were participating in higher education conferences in their respective disciplines. Dawn

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'Training, research in toxicology, pharmacology is inevitable'
Lahore: Training of students and promoting research culture in the field of pharmacology and toxicology is inevitable, since it is essential to exploring indigenous resources of drugs, as well as producing highly skilled human resource to check the rising incidence of diseases, a training course concluded on Monday.

The weeklong hands-on training course on "Modern Techniques in Angiogenesis and Toxicology" was conducted by the University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences' pharmacology and toxicology department's Angiogenesis and Toxicology Research Laboratory (ATRL) in collaboration with the Department of Clinical Neuroscience, University of Cambridge.

Eminent scholar Dr Sohail Ejaz said the modern techniques in angiogenesis and toxicology were extremely helpful in cancer research, adding that the term angiogenesis denoted the process of formation of new blood vessels from pre-existing small capillaries in tissues and organs. Ejaz said the objective of the ATRL was to screen the effects of different environmental toxicants on angiogenesis as well as study the effects of different indigenous plants to find suitable candidates for cancer treatment.

UVAS Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Muhammad Nawaz lauded research scholars for playing their due role in the field of veterinary education and presented certificates to the successful scholars at the concluding ceremony. Daily times

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Literacy resource centre opens
Lahore: Unesco country director Dr Warren Mellor inaugurated the Punjab Literacy Resource Centre (PLRC) on Monday at the Punjab Literacy and Non-Formal Basic Education Department opening up opportunities for researchers to find literacy-related information.

Dr Mellor said as Punjab's literacy rate was around 70 per cent, efforts should be launched to reach the remaining 30 per cent of the population.

He said he was always interested to promote literacy and education in Punjab and setting up of the PLRC was one step towards this direction.

Unesco coordinator Arshad Saeed said Punjab was the house of a largest number of illiterates in the country. He said those illiterates needed to be reached at the earliest so that the multiplying effects of illiterates could be stopped. He also suggested that the teachers serving at non-formal basic education centres also be imparted teachers' training at the Directorate of Staff Development.

Punjab Literacy and Non-Formal Basic Education Department secretary Dr Allah Bakhsh Malik said non-formal education was the only solution for the remaining 30 per cent of the out-of-school children in the province. He said these children remained illiterate because the formal school system failed and they were left out.

Stating that there was a big problem of teachers' absenteeism in government schools, he said, this was not the case in non-formal education because local communities monitored teachers' performance. He also said that the non-formal education was almost 10 times cheaper than the formal schooling system.

Dr Malik said rural areas and urban slums needed to be focused with full financial and human resources to impart literacy. He said that adult literacy in these areas also needed to be dovetailed with life skills so that they could earn their livelihood in a respectable manner.

He said as all educational activities had been transferred to provinces after the passage of the 18th Amendment, more and more funds should be allocated so that girls in rural areas as well as in south Punjab could be imparted basic education. He said there was also a need to impart basic education to children doing bonded labour with their parents at brick kilns. He said his department had engaged non-government organisations to check illiteracy at all levels.

Dr Malik urged the Unesco country director to support the literacy department in planning and implementing good practices to achieve the desired literacy rate. Dawn

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