KU GPA system confusion, MA registration date

Karachi University fails to remove confusion over GPA system
Karachi, Mar 09: Confusion still prevails about the application of the newly-introduced grade point average (GPA) system for the students of the University of Karachi in spite of a notification issued by the KU administration announcing that the 2007 batch will be examined according to the old grading system.

Students of various departments belonging to the 2007 batch currently studying in their fifth semester have been protesting for the last fortnight over the introduction of the GPA system in the middle of their courses. However, the university administration has not yet been able to take a concrete decision whether such students will be required to take their mid-term examinations or whether their mark-sheets of third and fourth semesters will be updated in accordance with the old grading system.

It is interesting to note that certain students of the batch 2007 have not yet been issued their fourth semester's marks-sheets despite being promoted to the fifth semester. Their third semester's marks-sheets have been prepared in accordance with the GPA system.

Attributing the chaos and confusion to the KU semester cell's reluctance to update their third semesters' marks-sheets in accordance with old system, the protesting students apprehend that more than 50 per cent students could be reverted to their previous semester, which they had already cleared unless their marks-sheets of third year were updated and fourth semester's marks-sheets prepared under the old system.

They maintained that since the KU Registrar, Prof Mohammad Rais Alvi, had already announced that the students admitted to the BS first year (2007 batch) would be examined as per the old grading system mentioned in the KU's 2007 prospectus, it was mandatory upon the semester cell to update their third semester's mark-sheets and prepare those of the fourth semester strictly in accordance with the old system.

They held that the condition of appearing in the mid-term examinations did not apply to the students of 2007 batch because the KU registrar had already notified that the students of BS first year 2008 and 2009 would be examined under the GPA system as specified in the admission prospectus for the year 2008 and 2009.

The protesting students have urged Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ibad, who is also chancellor of the public sector universities in the province, to intervene into the matter by directing the KU authorities to resolve the issue as soon as possible. Dawn

MA registration date
Karachi: The University of Karachi's external registration unit on Sunday announced the date for the submission of registration forms for MA, Double-MA and improvement of division.

According to a KU release, the registration forms can be obtained from and submitted at the NBP/UBL counter at the Silver Jubilee Gate from March 9 to 14 with a fee of Rs1,800. Change of subject will also be allowed on the prescribed fee of Rs400.

A separate announcement said that the department of International Relations would hold a workshop from March 17.

Chairman of the department Prof Moonis Ahmar said that the two-day conference on "Early-warning systems: potential for crisis management and regional cooperation" had been organised in collaboration with the Hanns Seidel Foundation. KU Vice-Chancellor Prof Pirzada Qasim Raza Siddiqui will preside over the inaugural session. App

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Educational institutions remain closed on March 9,10 in Karachi
Karachi: Schools and colleges all over Sindh will remain closed on Monday and Tuesday (March 9 and 10, Rabi-ul-Awwal 11 and 12). Spokesman of Sindh government said that to mark the celebrations of the Eid-e-Milad-un-Nabi (PBUH), holidays in schools and colleges have been announced for the 11th and the 12th Rabi-ul-Awwal. However, spokesman of Karachi University said that the university will remain open on Monday (Rabi-ul-Awwal 11). According to Dao University of Health Sciences, the university and its affiliated educational institutions will remain closed on Rabi-ul-Awwal 11 and 12 but the practical exams will be held according to schedule. The Nation

Nurses to celebrate Women's Day without scarf
Karachi: The Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) administration has issued orders banning scarves for student nurses and has raised the mess fee from Rs 500 to Rs 900 per month, while making it necessary for every student nurse to go on a 12-hour long night duty for a month after every three months.

The orders created unrest amongst the student nurses of the School of Nursing as around 300 nurses boycotted the wards and staged a protest outside the JMPC director's office. "We went to negotiate with JMPC Director Dr Musarrat Hussain to resolve the matter," a nurse said. "The director, rather than supporting us, said that he would talk to a famous philanthropist to pay for the nurse's three meals everyday, this was unbearable and we had no choice but to protest." However, Hussain bluntly rejected the allegations and said that he did not make such an offer. Another nurse said that in other provinces, student nurses get a heavy stipend of around Rs 8,000 per month but in JPMC student nurses are paid only Rs 2,700 a month.

The JMPC administration was taking around Rs 500 a month for canteen charges, which were suddenly raised, to Rs 900 a month while it was also made compulsory for every nurse to do night duties for a month after every three months. "But the most irritating thing was the ban on wearing a scarves, as by such orders, the administration has shaken the emotions of Muslim nurses," said another nurse, adding that the professors of Wards 7 and 9 have completely banned scarves in the operation theaters. "It is not due to religion we banned scarves, but because, as you know, everything in the operation theaters need to be sterilised and the scarves nurses wear outside are very dangerous inside the theaters," confirming the news on the ban, Hussain said. He added that the stipend of the student nurses is fixed as when they were admitted to the school, they signed papers accepting the stipend and other rules. "After completing the course they will be made into grade sixteen officers," he said. "We have approached the federal government to raise the amount." Talking about the rise in the canteen fee, he said that the administration has fixed Rs 900 per month that comes to around Rs 30 per day, which includes three meals with tea; he added that the amount is not that high as compared to the prices these days.

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Fee hike at SM Law College reduces admissions from 600 to 150
Karachi: An increase in the fees at the SM Law College has slashed the number of admissions from 600 to 150 students annually, it was learnt. The annual fee of LLB degree has almost been doubled from Rs 12,000 to Rs 21,000 this year while the annual fee of LLM has been raised from Rs 20,000 to Rs 35,000. Due to this unprecedented rise, the number of students in LLB has dropped from 600 admissions to 150 admissions while for the LLM degree from over 300 to a 100 admissions. Similarly, the price of a one-page admission form of the college has been doubled this year from Rs 500 to Rs 1,000 in one go.

Despite assurances of cut in the annual fees by Sindh Law Minister Mohammad Ayaz Soomro, the fees have been increased. Last year, the minister himself admitted how it was becoming difficult for parents to afford the rising college fees therefore it will be good to reduce them immediately. It may be pointed out that the SM Law College has dual registration, one with the University of Karachi (KU) for its normal degree programme and another with the University of London for its external program. According to the students, the college administration neither follows the rules of KU nor the provincial government. "Under the KU rules, the college affiliated with it can raise the fees only up to 10 percent of the total fee in a year," M Atiq, a final year student said.

"However, the SM Law College has doubled the fee which is a clear violation of the university's rules." He demanded the provincial law minister to take notice of the unjust fee raise and asked the college administration to withdraw its decision. A senior lecturer at the college was of the view that the Pakistan People's Party government should take note of the sharp decrease in the admissions in the college. This institute should be considered very important for the PPP government because Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto had delivered lectures here, he added. Daily Times

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