CSS examination 2009 | Package for Punjab teachers

5,000 to appear in CSS examination
Islamabad, May 07: Around 9,056 candidates got themselves registered to appear in the Central Superior Service (CSS) examination arranged by Federal Public Service Commission (FPSC) this year.

FPSC Secretary Bashir Ahmad Chohan told this agency on Wednesday that a total number of applicants registered last year was 4,600.

According to the schedule, the CSS exams started in the last week of April and will end on May 12. A great number of students have participated in the competitive exams enthusiastically this year with an urge for a bright career, Bashir Chohan said.

A great number of students have participated in the competitive exams enthusiastically this year with an urge for a bright career, Bashir Chohan said.

So far 63 per cent or more than 5,000 candidates appeared in the first two papers of English essay and English precis held on April 25 which the secretary termed as a good percentage than last year.

About security arrangements, the Secretary informed that exams have started peacefully in the 59 examination centres and 19 cities across the country.

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Govt to announce package for teachers
Rawalpindi: The Punjab government is seriously considering announcing an incentive package for the serving teachers in the upcoming provincial budget to be announced in June, said Chief Minister Task Force (Elementary Education) District Coordinator Chaudhry Muhammad Aslam.

Talking to us, here Wednesday, he said the main objective behind setting up the Chief Minister Task Force by Mian Shahbaz Sharif was to improve and promote the standard of education all over Punjab.

He said the chief minister besides wanting to improve the standard of education in the province wants to uplift the standard of government schools teachers therefore their emoluments would be increased and they would be given good package in July, this year.

"The government teachers would also be provided the perks and privileges enjoyed by the teachers working in federal government institutes particularly, medical and housing facilities," he added.

Replying to a query whether the Punjab government would announce a new education policy like the federal government, Chaudhry Aslam said that the Punjab government and the Executive Directorate Education have forwarded proposals to the federal government in this regard. "We have proposed to the government to provide sizeable funds to the education sector in the forthcoming budget in June, enabling us to give good incentives to the educators," he added.

He said that the broken furniture and dilapidated buildings of government schools would be renovated. Whereas the shortage of teaching staff would be met in the next two months and according to this plan, the Punjab government has directed the education department to recruit as many as 2,400 teachers in Rawalpindi District schools. "The applications for the teachers posts were invited in October, 2008, but the programme was delayed due to one reason or another. Now after resuming his office, Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has directed the EDO and the city district government to complete this process in two months," he said and added the old applicants would be entertained to fill up the vacant posts. "No fresh applications would be invited for this purpose," he maintained.

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Theft incidents on the rise at UoP
Peshawar: Thefts and other criminal activities are rapidly increasing on the campus of University of Peshawar (UoP) as another house of an employee of UoP was looted the other day.

The heavy contingent of police and incredibly large number of indigenous security staff on the campus has completely failed to check the criminal activities.

The university administration has also persistently turned a deaf ear to the issue despite the repeated complaints and appeals from the representative bodies of teachers and other employees.

In the fresh incident, the thieves broke into a house, in Nursery Coloney, in the broad daylight and decamped with six tolas of gold and some cash. The thieves ransacked the entire house and broke down several electronic goods and other precious household items.

The dwellers of the UoP campus have expressed serious concern over the worsening situation and demanded of police high-ups and the varsity administration to look into the matter, pay compensation to all the employees who have suffered similar incidents and prevent such happenings in future.

The dwellers of the UoP campus said in another incident in the same area an official of the Works Department of the university was deprived of all the household items and cash worth millions of rupees.

The dwellers complained that a particular gang was involved in such criminal activities. Allegedly enjoying the patronage of the campus police, the gang comprised of some spoilt kids of the varsity employees, they alleged. The police are hesitant in taking proper action against them, they alleged.

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UET approves funding for faculty research projects
Peshawar: The NWFP University of Engineering and Technology's Board of Advanced Studies and Research (BOASAR) has approved the funding of two new faculty research projects worth Rs2.4 million in its 24th meeting held here, the other day.

Prof Dr Khan Gul Jadoon, Director, BOASAR, officially gave the nod and also briefed the meeting on the current status of the on-going faculty research projects. Engineer SM Ali, associate professor, Civil Engineering Department and PhD research scholar on 'The performance and cost optimization of single circular hollow bridge columns under seismic demand' presented the first project.

Ali said, according to the Seismic Hazard Map, 2007, 95 per cent of Pakistan was based on the seismic zone 2A (0.08g-0.16g) or even greater than this seismic range. Although the government of Pakistan had made the National Building Code in 2006, there was no such indigenous seismic code for bridges, he said.

"One of the major objectives of the study would be to make basis for devising the indigenous seismic code for bridges for Pakistan," he said. Until now, Ali said, Pakistan was using the US Bridges code of 1967 in which the "seismic portion" had already been obsolete.

Therefore, it was of paramount importance to formulate the indigenous bridge design code for future construction. The project would also focus on the retrofitting of old bridges in the Northern Areas, affected by 2005 earthquake and cost & performance analysis of future designed bridges.

Another approved project, 'Comparative performance of the locally made bone implants and the foreign made implants' was presented by Dr Rizwan Gul, professor of mechanical engineering.

Engineer SM Ali said the bone implantation was a significant medical field, which involved the expertise of engineering profession. Its application had become more common in daily life due to traumas and traffic accidents, he said, adding that in many cases, foreign-made bone implants were recommended during surgeries, which involved huge costs and could not be afforded by patients.

"By examining the mechanical properties, fatigue behavior surface quality and design features of both foreign-made and locally-made implants samples, this study would recommend to the producers about the properties of bone implants so that they could be informed before making of such implants," he remarked.

This study might also bring awareness amongst the general public before making decisions to select either foreign or local made bone implants to save huge costs.

NWFP UET Vice Chancellor Imtiaz H Gilani assured full cooperation from administration and urged the researchers to widen the scope so that general public could benefit from such projects. Board members and academicians attended the meeting. The News

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MoU signed with Norway to promote education
Peshawar: Provincial Minister for Education Sardar Hussain Babak has lauded the efforts of Norwegian government in promoting education in NWFP and hoped that other donor countries and agencies will also extend their full cooperation to the government in this regard.

He was presiding over a meeting regarding the promotion of education at Peshawar on Tuesday.

Norwegian Ambassador H.E. Robert Kbile, Counsellor Sissel Volan, NWFP Education Secretary Mohammad Arifeen, Elementary Education Foundation Managing Director Zahir Shah, Education Sector Reforms Unit Director Raja Saad and other officials concerned were also present on this occasion.

He added that not only capacity building but rehabilitation of infrastructure was also need of the hour.

Robert Kbile appreciated the performance of basic education improvement project, expressed satisfaction over the pace of work on Buner Model School for Girls in Totalay and assured the provincial government of his full cooperation in education sector.

It is worth mentioning that Buner Model School for Girls in Totalay was an educational scheme under basic education improvement project funded by Norwegian government. The scheme would be completed on June 30, 2009 with a cost of Rs60 million.

Under Basic Education Improvement Project the provincial government has completed capacity building training for schools and seminaries teachers as well as construction of offices and provision of equipment.

On this occasion, the provincial government and Norwegian government inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) aimed at harmonising support and cooperation of development partners with the department in the development of education in NWFP.

According to the MoU the donor countries would also cooperate in coordinated and integrated technical assistance and capacity building trainings. The Norwegian government committed to cooperate with provincial government in field of quality, governance and access to education. App

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Exam scandal: Pindi board official removed, reinstated
Rawalpindi: The Punjab education department on Wednesday rescinded within hours its decision to remove Azam Khalid, controller examination of the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (BISE) Rawalpindi, in the wake of last week's arrest of a nephew of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Haji Pervaiz Khan for taking an exam for his uncle.

The move came as PML-N Quaid Nawaz Sharif announced that Mr Khan was resigning in the wake of the examination scandal.

The BISE official was earlier directed to report to Lahore directorate. He had been replaced with Amjad Iqbal Barah, an executive district officer (IT).

Sources confided that Mr Khalid was removed for showing negligence while conducting the examinations.

The sources had also been saying that the former BISE chairman, Dr Iftikhar Baig, was transferred from his office one day prior to the unearthing of the case involving Haji Pervaiz. The chairman was removed after he refused to accommodate the MNA. Dawn

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5th NUML 'Job Fair' brings in more stakeholders than ever before
Islamabad: As many as 300 applications were received at the fifth job fair, organised by the National University of Modern Languages (NUML) here Wednesday.

The job fair was a project of the final year students of Bachelors of Business Administration (BBA) in which Masters students of Business Administration (MBA) also participated.

A large number of students thronged to the stalls of various organisations at the fair along with their CVs and other necessary documents in order to apply for various jobs. Dozens of students were given on-the-spot jobs while many were provided with internships in various companies.

The students appreciated the institution for organising such a useful event that would help in their career building. "They give us internship even before the formal completion of our courses, which not only helps us in starting our careers but also boost our confidence," said Muhammad Ali, a student of BBA. He said besides providing jobs and internships, such events also help them in exploring the various trends prevailing in the market.

Another student, Ayesha Khan, said such fairs provide them with an opportunity to apply simultaneously for various jobs. "It saves a lot of energy and time by bringing together so many firms and companies under one roof," she said.

Coordinator of the job fair Sarah Baddar said the response of the students and firms is far better this time than previous years. "Despite recession, so many jobs and internships have been provided to the students this time," she said and added that the job fair has become a regular feature of the university, with more companies and students participating in it every year.

Dozens of companies participated in the fair, which included the names of PTCL, Marriott Hotel, Hyundai, Twin City Motors, Alliance Francoise d'Islamabad, SKANS School of Accountancy, Touchstone Communications, Ovex Technologies, NAFA Funds, Pak Telecom Foundation, Habib Bank Limited, LXG Multi-Dimensional Organisation, Pak Datacom Limited, Bright Spyre, Lafarge Cements Pakistan, Axiom's Associates International, Act sol (SMC-Pvt) Ltd, Ascent and Asian Construction Company, and MTBC.

The sponsors of the fair included the names of Hyundai Twin City Motors, Shamu G, Mexican Embassy, Gunj Glass, Tags, Bahria Town, Mings and Pak Gulf Construction Company.

French scholars visit NUML campus for collaboration
Islamabad: A two-member team of French scholars from a business administration institute visited National University of Modern Languages (NUML) here Wednesday to examine the feasibility of mutual cooperation between the two institutes, says a press release.

The French team included Prof Bernard Fiolean, Vice President IEA Institute of Business Administration, and Prof Patrice Lecomte, Director IAE-Lille.

Immediately after their arrival, they went around the university campus and saw the educational facilities available for the students, including the IT Server Room, library, AVA and satellite rooms, Confucius Institute and studios of the FM Radio.

Later, during discussions with Rector NUML Prof Dr Aziz Ahmad Khan and senior officials of the university, avenues for establishing academic and scientific cooperation and exchange of students and teachers between NUML and their institution in France were explored. The News

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