FUUAST convocation | Poor education standard

FUUAST convocation on April 17
Karachi, March 29: The Convocation of the Federal Urdu University of Arts, Science & Technology (FUUAST) Karachi Campus will be held on April 17 and Chairman Higher Education Commission (HEC) Dr Javaid Laghari will be the chief guest. Those who have qualified for the degree and intend to attend the convocation may register themselves with the convocation office at the Gulshan-e-Iqbal Campus Karachi. The news

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Poor standard of education
Karachi: I am a resident of the Steel Town, Karachi, and at the moment completing my Bachelors in Mass Communication (Journalism). I feel very sad when I see that the system in Pakistan instead of working properly is hurting students. One example: My friend is a student of the Iqra University, Karachi, which was expected to get affiliation quickly but this did not happen. Two senior batches have been waiting for two years for the results of their examinations. The college charges Rs 1.2 million per student. Now it is seeking Rs 25, 000 from each student to enable it to pay the affiliation fee. The standard of education is same as all over Pakistan; only two or three institutions have good standard. Such a state of affairs will badly hurt the country. What will happen to the middle class who can barely support their children for education?. Asadullah (F.P Report)

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'KU playing vital role in providing guidance to students'
Karachi: The Karachi University (KU) is playing an important role in providing guidance and training to its students so that they can efficiently serve the corporate world with their intelligence and innovative ideas", said Vice-Chancellor, KU, Prof. Dr Pirzada Qasim Raza Siddiqui and Minister of Trade and Commerce, Rauf Siddiqui while speaking at the Alumni Corporate Dinner organised by the Department of Public Administration (DPA), KU, on Saturday night.

The dinner is a signature event of this department in which the DPA's Graduate Directory 2009 is inaugurated which contains the profile of all graduating students of the year.

Siddiqui said that the event presented an opportunity to reunite and to celebrate the achievements and contributions to the global business community by passing students and faculty of the department.

He regarded it an exceptional opportunity to socialise, network and meet other professionals. On this occasion, he announced that the government has decided to name a road in the city after the name of the KU VC

Dr Siddiqui encouraged the efforts made by the department and said that the DPA had efficiently carved a reputable niche in the corporate world, within a deficient period, by serving the public and private sector with capable and quality professionals.

Dean Faculty of Administrative Sciences, Prof. Dr Abuzar Wajidi said that the KU tried to provide recognition to its students because their recognition was the recognition of the university. While declaring the aim of his faculty he said that their goal was to become more than an institution to its treasured students by welding them into competitive managers and inculcating the values of integrity and diligence.

"Maximising the human resource capacity of our country should be the core essentials of a responsible public administrator", he added. Prof. Dr Khalid Iraqi introduced the Graduate Directory 2009 which provides the graduate profile containing all the information about the passing students of MPA (2009).

He added that the data is provided under the guidance of the patron and the administrative staff of the department. Dr Akhtar Baloch, Chairman, Department of Public Administration; Ghazal Khwaja Humayun, Dr Syed Shabih-ul-Hasan and others were also present on the occasion.

DEAN FACULTY OF SCIENCE TO OBSERVE DRUG AWARENESS DAY: Dean Faculty of Science, KU, is celebrating Drug Awareness Day by organising a seminar in collaboration with the Drug Free Pakistan Foundation on Monday (today) from 9:00am to 1:00pm at the Chemistry Auditorium. The seminar will be presided over by Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Dr Pirzada Qasim Raza Siddiqui. At this occasion students will show their creativity by presenting posters on the topic of "Say No to Drugs, Say Yes to Life" whereas a movie show titled "Bhataktay Saaye" which depicts the real story of a 10 grader converted Drug Addict Recovery will also be shown. The news

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Medical students move court against excessive fee
Karachi: The Sindh High Court on Friday put the Sindh advocate-general and the education secretary and the Peoples' Medical College (Nawabshah) vice-chancellor on notice in a petition challenging the charging of excessive fee from local students.

A division bench comprising Chief Justice Sarmad Jalal Osmany and Justice Zahid Hamid directed the respondents to file their comments on the next hearing, and put off the matter to a date in office.

Shama Zehra Naqvi and Urooj Memon, students of the college, submitted in the court that they were given admission on their request under the self-financing scheme on the seats reserved for foreign students which mostly remained vacant.

They informed the court that the tuition fee for local students under this scheme was Rs250,000 and for foreign student $7,000. However, the petitioners stated, the college administration charged the fee prescribed for foreign students when they qualified for the MBBS second year in 2010.

They prayed to the court to order the college administration to charge the fee prescribed for local students.

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SU plans Himayat Ali Shair chair
Hyderabad: The University of Sindh will establish the Himayat Ali Shair chair in the Institute of Sindhology in recognition of his services to literature.

This was announced by Vice-Chancellor of the university, Prof Dr Nazir A. Mughal, at a literary evening organised by the Kamaluddin Memorial Society in collaboration with a citizens' club in honour of the poet.

He also announced five scholarships of Rs5,000 each per month for research on literary contributions of Himayat Ali Shair for M.Phil/Ph.D degrees.

Dr Mughal said the poet served various fields of art and literature and it had been acknowledged by society.

He said that a poet being the voice of community pointed out problems and reflected its pains and hopes.

It was the responsibility of higher seats of learning to recognise such perso- nalities while they were alive because it would also serve as a source of inspiration for the youth.

For financial assistance of poor and meritorious students of the university and to promote services, he also announced setting up of a Himayat Ali Shair Foundation.

He urged friends, followers, students of the poet and members of his family to contribute funds to enable the foundation to achieve its goals.

Professor Mughal invited the poet to visit the university.

Himayat Ali Shair said he loved Hyderabad and its people.

He said he always tried to work more and to deliver something new in literature, especially in poetry.

The poet said he was working on Sindhi folk stories to present them in the form of poetry and play.

He said he was compiling all his work which would comprise 12 volumes.

He said his autobiography in poetry was a unique experiment.

He said a writer considered himself a student of literature.

Sindh Minister Zubair Ahmed Khan and prominent writers and journalists paid rich tribute to the poet's literary contribu- tions.

A resolution adopted on the occasion called for naming a road in the city after Himayat Ali Shair.

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Free books pile up in some schools, scarce in others
Larkana: The irresponsible attitude of the official responsible for distributing free text books among students is evident from the fact that these are deficient in some schools while surplus in others.

In one such incidence thousand of textbooks of Class I to X, lying abandoned in school stores, were sent to the Sindh Text Book Board (STBB) on Friday.

Three, 10-wheeler trucks loaded with Books of Class I to V were retrieved from the P.V. Primary School and of Class VI to X from the Government Pilot Secondary School.

Executive District Officer (Education) Larkana Syed Rasool Bakhsh Shah when approached, said that these were extra books piling from 2005 to 2009.

He said that he wrote a letter to Secretary Education to take back the excess books and distribute where needed after realising that it were of no use to them.

Perhaps, the letter prompted the government to haul back the lying stuff.

The Secretary didn't agree that it was the failure of local education officials to deliver the books to needy students. He blamed the STBB of sending extra number of books which the government now was sending to districts facing shortages.

EDO Education proposed of sending the books in sets as padding without count and verification always created problems, he said.

Questions such as to why these books were printed in such a large number and their indents from the district accepted, requires a soul-searching answer.

Again doubts arise as to what prompted the authorities to send back these books to the STBB when no changes were made in syllabi. These could be used for next promoting students.

A representative from the Sindh Education Department Amir Ali Qadri, supervising the shifting process said that extra books were being sent because of the incorrect information given by the local education department which, over the years, resulted in its piling.

The basic fault lies in conveying incomplete information, regarding the number of students enrolled in each subject, to the STBB and Education Reform Support Department, he said.

The excess number of books from Larkana, Sanghar and Thatta would be collected and then send to districts which are facing shortages, he said.

Loaders were seen distributing books among the children who had gathered there. Dawn

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180 shelterless schools to be renovated by August: Pir Mazhar
Karachi: Around 180 shelterless schools would be constructed under Sindh Education Reforms Programme by August 2010 in the province, Senior Minister for Education Pir Mazhar-ul-Haq told the Sindh Assembly the other day.

He said that the Education and Literacy Department has taken various measures to make the closed schools functional and according to Annual Schools Census 2008-09, about 1308 closed schools have been opened/made functional. These schools have been opened by posting freshly recruited teachers there, he added.

Moreover, Education Department was currently making recruitment of around 7,000 teachers on the need-based, school-specific, non-transferable criteria as well as providing feeder teachers to 2500 closed schools and adopting 1000 closed schools under Sindh Education Foundation to make them functional, the minister said in his written reply to a question by Humera Alwani.

Responding to a question by Saleem Khursheed Khokhar, the education minister said that around 239 schools have been denationalized in Sindh since 1984, adding, most of these denationalized educational institutes belong to Agha Khan, Memon and Christian communities.

In his response to a question by Dr. Nadeem Maqbool, he said that over 42 teachers training institutions have been functioning under the directorate of Bureau of Curriculum and Extension Wing (Sindh), Jamshoro. According to him, the purpose of the teachers training institutions is to enhance the quality of teacher education, develop research-based innovate programmes of teacher training, build capacity of educational institutions through human resource development, initiate research in teacher education and other related areas, develop alternative delivery modes of teacher training programme and assist education development in the formulation of teacher education policies/programmes.

Responding to a question by Syed Marvi Rashdi, the minister said that the Sindh government has recently established Sindh Technical Education and Vocational Technical Authority (STEVTA), adding, technical education schools were no more under the administrative control of the education department.

In his response to a question by Ram Singh Sodho Rajput, Pir Mazhar said that about 19 middle schools have been completed in Tharparkar district and these schools would be made functional as soon as the Finance Department releases the SNE and the required staff was provided. The news

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