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Cuban Scholarship Programme | Education problems in Pindi
1,000 Cuban Scholarship Programme reviewed
Islamabad, May 13, 2008: Fourth meeting of National
Steering Committee (NSC) was held on Monday at Higher Education Commission (HEC)
headquarters to review the implementation of 1,000 Cuban Scholarship
Programme.
HEC Chairman Prof Dr Attaur Rehman chaired the meeting that
was attended by Cuban Ambassador Gustavo Machin Gomez, HEC Executive Director
Prof Dr Sohail H Naqvi, Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) President
Prof Dr Syed Sibitul Hasnain, Dow University of Health Sciences Vice Chancellor
Prof Dr Masood Hameed Khan, PMDC Vice President Dr Zafarul Haq Lodhi and the
deputy director general of Health Ministry.
The NSC was told that 1,000
Cuban Scholarship Programme was launched by the HEC in co-ordination with the
Cuban Embassy and the relevant Pakistani state departments.
It was
briefed on progress of the programme and told that at present 332 students of
batch-I were pursuing medical education in Cuba. Dr Rehman commended the Cuban
government for offering medical scholarships to the Pakistani students and
pleaded the Cuban ambassador to convey compliments of the Pakistani nation to
the Cuban government for offering such a great gift to it.
Gomez said
1,000 Cuban Scholarship Programme for the Pakistani students was a commitment of
the Cuban people towards their Pakistani friends. Though Cuba is a developing
country with a lot of economic sanctions, it is ready to provide all possible
support and facilities to make this programme a success, the ambassador
said.
He also appreciated efforts of the HEC and the Pakistani government
for ensuring implementation of the programme. The Cuban authorities are ready to
welcome second batch of the students, he said.
The NSC owed to implement
the programme in true letter and spirit. It also decided that exact modalities
to improve medical facilities for the Pakistani medical students would be worked
out by the PMDC and the Health Ministry soon, which would be later communicated
to the HEC and the Cuban government. Daily Times
Your Comments
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Name: m.inayatullah
Email: i_k911@yahoo.com
City, Country: peshawar, Pakistan
"how can i appear for the cuban scholer ship progrom."
Name: Ashhab Ali
Email: anokha-ladla19@yahoo.com
City, Country: Digree, Pakistan
"Im a student.I passed FSC so i join scholership of MBBS for me So U plz help me and give me One seats I get 80% in FSC."
Name: Iftikhar
Email: iftikhar_ayoob@yahoo.com
City, Country: Shahdadpur, Pakistan
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Name: Raza Ullah
Email: raza_ullah_bg@yahoo.com
City, Country: Pakistan
No room left for schools, colleges in Pindi cantonment
Rawalpindi: The mushroom growth of official and private housing
schemes in Cantonment has left no room for establishment of any educational
institution.
Towards the east of the cantonment, mammoth housing schemes
are grabbing the land in a phased manner while dozens of official and private
housing schemes in the west of the area have almost diminished scope of further
opening educational facilities.
The situation inside the cantonment
limits is even worse following the unchecked growth of apartments and housing
complexes. There is neither any land available, nor the government is determined
to make investment in the education sector.
With the start of academic
session in schools and colleges every year, parents run from pillar to post
seeking admission for their children.
The federal and provincial
governments have virtually stopped opening new schools and colleges in the
cantonment areas leaving the field open to the private sector to sell education
at a higher cost. Moreover, the quality of education offered by most of the
private institutions is not up to the required standards.
The cantonment
area once used to have limited number of schools and colleges owned by the
federal government. However, those institutions were taken over by the Army
Education Directorate in 1977 on the directives of then military ruler General
Ziaul Haq. Since then, opening of a couple of institutions proved inadequate for
the growing population.
During the Zia rule, the cantonment area not only
lost a polytechnic institute on Peshawar Road but also a vast land adjacent to
the institute which could have been transformed into an educational city. The
previous regime in the Punjab had promised to build a similar institute but
seemingly the project demised with the departure of the regime.
The most
unbelievable fact is that the cantonment area does not have a single
postgraduate college for boys. F.G. Quaid-i- Azam College for Boys was the last
built by the federal government after the F.G. Sir Syed College.
In terms
of population growth, Rawalpindi is placed at number three in the province but
it lags behind when educational facilities are taken into account. From the
current state of affairs, it would not be wrong to say that Rawalpindi remains
in the low priority of the federal as well as provincial governments. The
federal capital fairs far better than Rawalpindi in terms of educational
institutions. The Capital Development Authority has allocated one whole sector
for educational institutions. Enough land was available in the cantonment areas
to build an education city but regrettably establishment of housing schemes has
been given preference, indicating that we need luxurious living standards, not
quality education.
With the growth of population, the number of schools
and colleges has proved totally inadequate. Despite the fact that the cantonment
area in Rawalpindi is the largest in the country, the government continues to
neglect the area. According to an estimate, the population of cantonment areas
would soon touch the one million mark.
Army Education Directorate, after
taking over the schools and colleges from the ministry of education opened army
public schools and colleges, in which civilian population was being meagerly
accommodated. After being hopeless, majority of brilliant students search for
their future in private institutions. This is how human development is taking
place in Pakistan in the 21st century. Dawn
Students endure worst living conditions
Rawalpindi: Worsening living conditions in private hostels has become a
matter of grave concern for students who have to pay higher charges despite
non-availability of basic facilities in these commercial
accommodations.
Large number of colleges and universities in the twin
cities attract students from all parts of the country, but these educational
institutions do not have adequate facilities to accommodate all of them. So
majority of students turn to private hostels where they have no other option but
to pay higher charges and live in worst conditions.
Private hostels set
up not only in every commercial area but also in the residential localities host
thousands of students, mostly belonging to rural areas of the country. Layout
plan of these hostels ensures large number of small rooms that benefit the
owners who can accommodate enormous number of students. Mostly two to four
students are accommodated in each room that often do not have bed facility,
compelling them to use mattresses on the floors.
Monthly charges of these
hostels ranges from Rs3,000 to Rs10,000 per head against mess, laundry and other
facilities provided to students. But it is often seen that students face extreme
difficulties in absence of adequate arrangements in most of these hostels. Lack
of proper cleanliness system and provision of substandard food are basic
problems that cause disturbance for students who face difficulties in fully
concentrating on their studies.
"I visited five to eight hostels and
succeeded in getting seat in only one of them. I am totally unsatisfied with the
facilities being provided here but there is no other option because bachelors
often cannot find out a living space in the residential areas," said Manzoor
Ahmad, a student of local law college living in a private hostel in the
Commercial Market.
Almost all the hostels do not have parking areas and
students have to park their motorbikes and vehicles at petrol pumps or outside
their hostels on roads where they are totally unsafe.
"I park my car at
the CNG filling station adjacent to our hostel during night time and pay Rs300
to its security guard as there is no parking space even for motorbikes in the
hostel," said Naseem Akhtar who lives in a hostel at the Saidpur Road near
Siddique Chowk.
Most of these hostels are being run by contractors who
have to pay handsome money to owners and also earn profit for them. These
contractors allot rooms to the students and also have the authority to expel any
one without prior notice because no written agreement is signed at the time of
admission to these hostels.
Living conditions are also not so different
in private girls' hostels who face comparatively more tough time than boys
because they often do not have quick options to change their living places at a
short notice.
Owners of some of these private hostels are of the view
that keeping in view the increasing price hike it was not possible to provide up
to the mark facilities in the hostels. "Students who pay three to five thousand
rupees per month cannot be provided all the required facilities as it is not
possible for us to maintain a balance between earning and expenditures," they
said. The News
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| Education News | | Updated: 25 May, 2012 |
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