The politics of exams | UK education counselling

Rawalpindi examinations, unique cheating case
Rawalpindi, May 01: Even though cheating in examinations is nothing new for us, what happened in Rawalpindi on Wednesday is a unique case, for it has elements of fraud with political overtones. There are unanswered questions, especially regarding the confusion over the identity of the would-be beneficiary for whom Bilal Javed was the surrogate candidate. The police did indeed arrest Bilal Javed and registered an FIR against him, but the FIR makes no mention of the person on whose behalf he was taking the exam. Bilal Javed was taking the examination for a candidate whose roll number was officially in the name of Haji Pervez Khan, a PML-N MNA. It is not clear why a sitting MNA would want to have a college degree when the relevant Musharraf-era law stands discarded. MNA Pervez Khan says "the entire drama and conspiracy" were intended to defame him.

That Bilal Javed was not alone in this 'conspiracy' is clear from the fact that the moment the special inspection team entered the Gordon College examination hall, and he got up, as if to flee, some young men, believed to be political activists, entered the hall to help him. The police believe that Bilal Javed, Pervez Khan's nephew, could not have entered the hall without support from the exam hall officials. While the superintendent of the examination centre was suspended, the story took a new turn when the chief of the special inspection team said he had shifted his family to a safer place because he was receiving threats to his life. A day earlier, the chairman of the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education, who had formed the special inspection team to check cheating in examination halls, was removed from his post, because he had refused to countenance fraud under pressure, reportedly from a PML-N parliamentarian. While the entire episode is a sad comment on the erosion of moral values in our society it is time Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif acted decisively to ensure that political pressure does not interfere with due process and the investigators get adequate protection, more so because Haji Pervez Khan and the other MNA belong to the PML-N. Dawn

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Govt College University organises UK education counselling
Lahore: Government College University (GCU) Career Guidance and Placement Centre, in collaboration with the British Council, organised a 'UK Education Counselling Day' at the university campus on Thursday. A four-member delegation led by British Council Education Manager Hassan Khan visited the university and provided information about educational opportunities in the UK. The delegation highlighted key aspects of admission procedures, scholarships and visa requirements for undergraduate and postgraduate studies in the UK. GCU students and faculty members participated in the activities with great enthusiasm. Daily Times

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Scholars read 14 papers at PU engineering symposium
Lahore: Punjab University Faculty of Engineering & Technology organized one-day symposium on "Engineering Sciences" on Thursday which was attended by over one hundred and sixty researchers, engineers and scholars from various universities of the country. The topics of the research papers read in the symposium included: biodiesel, heat transfer, pulping of wheat straw, corrosion protection, nanoparticles, FB burning coal, rubber latics and biomaterials in Pakistan.

A total 14 papers were read in the symposium. Vice-Chancellor Dr Mujahid Kamran was the chief guest of the inaugural session. Speaking on the occasion, Dr Kamran urged the young faculty to get themselves enrolled for PhD as soon as possible. He said such symposiums were very important for the young faculty and students, because these encourage them to write papers and to do research. He said PU was facing problem of lack of PhD teachers and he told the participants that PU has sent 38 faculty members for doing PhD from foreign countries on HEC scholarship while 39 teachers have been sent abroad for PhD on PU's own funding. Dean Faculty of Engineering & Technology Prof Dr Javed Ahmad told the participants that the symposium was jointly organized by Institute of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Institute of Quality & Technology Management (IQTM) and Department of Metallurgy and Materials Engineering.

Dr Javed said that one of the main objectives of such symposium is to provide opportunities to our students to speak logically and also to develop their writing & communication skills. He said fundamental and radical changes are required in our engineering education for improvement in manufacturing for competitiveness. Pakistan industry must concentrate in specialized products like textile, surgical instruments, sports goods, electronic and mechatronic devices, chemicals, cement, sugar, new engineering materials, polymers etc. The development and economic production of all these industrial products required strong interdisciplinary network of engineering sciences and research organizations. Director Institute of Chemical Engineering & Technology Dr Zahoor-ul-Hassan Rizvi, Department of Metallurgy & Materials Engineering Chairman Dr Rafiq Ahmad, Dr Arif Butt, Dr Mahmood Saleem and Dr Muhammad Kamran were also present on the occasion.

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Punjab University awarded PhD degree
Lahore: Punjab University has awarded PhD degree to Elzaki S/o Ahmed Elzaki Ahmed Badwi, a student from Sudan, in the subject of Islamic Studies after completion of his thesis entitled 'Almasoor fe Tafseer Alrazi Drasat wa Tahqeeq'. He completed his thesis under the supervision of Punjab University Department of Islamic Studies Chairman Prof Dr Shabbir Ahmad Mansoori. F.P. Report

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Universal education system demanded
Islamabad: The political leaders and educationists have called for a universal education system in the country and giving a respectable status to the teachers in the coming education policy for the year 2009.

"We can become one nation by having a universal education system in the country," the speakers said at a seminar on 'Education Policy 2009' organised by 'The Thinkers' here on Thursday. The seminar was addressed by PML-Q General Secretary Mushahid Hussain Sayyed, PML-N Central Information Secretary Ahsan Iqbal, central Naib Amir of Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Professor Muhammad Ibrahim and educationists including Professor Zaka, Professor Niaz Irfan and Syed Bilal.

Mushahid said the new education policy would be 11th of the country. He said the students should also be educated in human rights and ethics, which play a key role in character building of nations.

Mushahid Hussain said the rulers have been responsible for backwardness in the education sector. "The rulers do not want the country to make advancement in the education sector," he added.

Former education minister and PML-N leader Ahsan Iqbal said the previous education policy was lacking many things and it requires many amendments to make it according to national aspirations. "We need a plan of action for this purpose," he said.

He said, "We cannot become one nation by ending discrimination of English and Urdu medium and having universal education system in the country," he maintained. The News

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New education policy to leave disastrous effects on culture
Lahore: New education policy made by the government of Pakistan would leave a negative impact in future on society in the shape of down fall of moral values and decrease in literacy rate due to high fees, said Nazim Islami Jamiat Talaba (IJT) Punjab University Qaisar Sharief. He said that in new education policy a lion share of education funds have been allocated for NGOs for running education sector. In our society the negative role of these NGOs is not hidden. These have always played their role against national interest. Now the NGOs running on American funds are introducing western culture in youth which is against Islam and in future it will left disastrous effects on Islamic and Pakistani culture. Qaisar Sharief said that it has been clearly written in education policy that there will be different education systems and syllabus for developed and non-developed areas. This will divide the society in two classes and will create the feelings of anger in these two classes against each other. He demanded that education policy must be made on ideology of Islam and Pakistan. This is the only way that we can overcome the class system and create an environment of peace, prosperity and love among the whole nation. Ppi

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US physicist delivers lecture at FJWU
Rawalpindi: United States Educational Foundation in Pakistan organised a lecture regarding the rise of computation in the study of science, at Fatima Jinnah Women University (FJWU) Rawalpindi here on Thursday.

Timothy S. Sullivan, a Fulbright Scholar and Professor of Physics, Kenyon College, Gambier, USA was the guest speaker on the occasion.

He is a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka and his area of research is Computational Physics.

The lecture was aimed at familiarising the students with this field of study and it was organised for the students of Masters of Computer Sciences and Bachelors of Software Engineering Departments.While speaking on the occasion, Timothy S. Sullivan said that Computational Physics is a new method to study Science beside theory and experiment. "It is the application of computer simulation to solve the problems in various scientific disciplines. In fact Computational Sciences is to create a computer simulation of a physical system and then performing virtual experiments on that system," he told.He said that theory is a mathematical description of a model whereas experiments are always interrupted by in relation to a model.

He was of the view that, in many situations theory and experiments became impractical and in such cases the Computational Science helped.

He said that the scientific computing approach is to gain understanding through the analysis of mathematical models implemented on computers. The speaker also briefed the students regarding the prerequisites required for taking admission in this field.

He advised the students to explore the opportunities to study and research in this field as computation is used in all professions today. He further said that this trend is producing innovative ways to learn and do research in the field of Science.

The lecture was very informative and was followed by a question-answer session. In the end university souvenir was also presented to the honourable guest by Dr. Sikander Hayat Khayal, Chairperson Department of Computer Sciences, as a token of appreciation. The Nation

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Action-packed commando show at Beaconhouse gala
Rawalpindi: An outstanding display of commando tactics and sport competitions were the hallmark of an annual gala of Beaconhouse School System that was held here on Thursday.

A group of more than 50 students, including girls and boys, stunned the audience with a remarkable mock commando action that also included long jumps from 40ft high walls. Performed under the themes of 'Combat Terrorism' and 'Extending Help in Emergencies', the show of commando tactics spoke volumes of the courage and high morale of the students.

The instructor of the commando show has been a winner at the South Asian games in the category of karate and has received Pride of Performance Award for his achievements.

Some 150 students participated in six different events as well including flat race, wheelbarrow race, eating competition, hurdle race, skipping and relay race. Cheerleaders carrying colourful flags and wearing attractive kits were all around to encourage the participating students.

In the flat race (boys), Wajahat grabbed the first position, Zain bin Ahsan came second and Abdul Moiz got the third position. While in the girls' version of this event, Zarafsha, Marium Khalil and Noor Ahmad got the first, second and third positions respectively.

In the wheelbarrow race, Osama Ali and Zakriya got first position while Sultan and Yousaf came second, and Ali and Waneez got the third position. In the eating competition, Ranam, Menail and Iqra got first, second and third positions respectively, while in the hurdle race (boys), Shah Nawaz was first while Husnain and Hammad were second and third respectively.

In the skipping race (girls), Maham was first, Zainab second and Hafsa grabbed the third position, while in the relay race, the group of Harris, Merab, Murtaza and Fahim grabbed first position; Sajeel, Komal, Asma and Dilawar came second; and Bilal, Nimra, Nija and Arslan got the third position.

The cultural show before the end of the annual gala provided a lot of entertainment to the gathering, also comprising parents of the students. Dozens of students wearing traditional dresses performed on the songs, displaying the local culture and traditions of all federating units.

Later, chief guest Lt Gen (r) Yousaf gave away prizes to the competition winners. Speaking on the occasion he said that sports activities help improve the students' mental and physical abilities. "The extraordinary display of skills and courage by the students, especially during the commando show, proved that our children lack nothing in terms of capabilities.

Beaconhouse School System Principal Tehmina Lodhi said the annual gala was organised with an aim to provide the students with an opportunity to show their ability in the field of sports. The News

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