HEC overseas scholarships | Punjab teachers protest
HEC to resume overseas scholarship programme
Lahore, May 11: The Higher Education Commission (HEC) has resumed its overseas
scholarship programme for MS/MPhil leading to PhD which was earlier put on hold
because of cut in funding by the federal government. In November 2008,
the HEC had to put on hold overseas scholarship scheme after grants were
slashed. The decision had disappointed prospective students because most of them
had not only secured admissions to foreign universities but had also obtained
visas. The issue had drawn widespread condemnation for the government as
other students who were already studying at foreign universities under HEC's
overseas scholarship scheme had also faced problems. The government was widely
criticised for spending lavishly on "bulky" cabinet and depriving brilliant
students of opportunities to study at foreign universities. A couple of
days ago the commission started sending emails to students to inform them that
it intended to resume scholarships which were earlier put on hold. An
email sent by an HEC official to one of the students reads: "It gives me great
pleasure to inform you that the HEC has received full funds from the government
of Pakistan and it intends to resume scholarships which were earlier put on hold
due to severe financial crunch." A number of
students expressed happiness over the decision saying the process should be
completed immediately so that students and their families might not suffer
anymore. A student, Attique, said the commission should make sure that
those who had secured admissions might join their institutions from coming
academic session. "We have already gone through a tough competition", he
said adding "the commission should not restart the whole process like signing
security bonds etc". When contacted, HEC executive director Dr Sohail H
Naqvi said the government had released an amount of Rs 16.2 billion adding out
of it Rs 8 billion was meant for overseas scholarship scheme. To a
question, he said there were around 340 students whose scholarships were put on
hold adding most of these had secured admissions to universities of New Zealand,
Italy, Germany and other European countries. Dr Naqvi said students'
cases would be processed individually adding the commission wanted to complete
the process as soon as possible.
Your Comments
"This is encouraging sign for HEC Selected Scholars. But what about the Pending Scholarship Cases of scholars selected on faculty development program of Public Sector Universities whose scholarships were held back because of cut in HEC Funding to those Universities. "
Name: AHMAD RAFIQUE
Email: ark584@yahoo.com
City, Country: Lahore-Pakistan
Post your comments
Punjab teachers to continue protest
Lahore: The Tehreek-e-Asataza Punjab (TAP) has decided to continue its
protest movement unless a notification for approval of a summary of demands is
issued. According to a press statement issued on Sunday, the decision was
taken at a meeting of the executive body of the TAP while resolving to launch
protest rallies in addition to camps at the district headquarters. The
body also announced a protest rally from Islamia College Civil Lines to Punjab
Assembly on May 20. Earlier, the TAP delegation met Punjab Chief
Secretary Javed Mahmood on the issue of summary of demands approved by the HEC
regarding making the contract teachers permanent, one scale promotion and other
demands. The chief secretary assured the teachers that notification
regarding fulfillment of their demands would be issued soon.
Post your comments
UET Lahore convocation postponed
Lahore: The 19th convocation of the University of Engineering &Technology (UET) Lahore,
scheduled to be held on May 23, 2009, has been postponed. The new date of
convocation will be announced later.
Post your comments
Class five student distinction
Faisal Zahid, son of Zahid Pervaiz, of the Government Junior
Model School, Wahdat Colony, stood first in his school by securing 387 marks in
class five examinations. The school headmistress awarded him a trophy.
Post your comments
PU wins debating contest
Lahore: The Punjab University English and Urdu Debating Teams won first
position in the 12th All Pakistan Inter University Debate Contest organized by
the Higher Education Commission. Shamoon Ahmad of PU College of Pharmacy
and Saba Mahmood of Hailey College of Banking and Finance represented the
English Debate Team while Mudassar Iqbal of Institute of Communication Studies
and Atif Ali of College of Information Technology were members of Urdu Debating
Team. The PU teams have been awarded Allama Iqbal Shields both in
English and Urdu. PU Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Mujahid Kamran
congratulated the winning students on their historic victory in the biggest
inter university debate contest in which about 127 universities participated at
regional level and national level. He praised the devotion and efforts
of Advisor Students Prof Dr Muhammad Makshoof Athar and Deputy Adviser Students
Muhammad Zubair Akram to prepare the students for such type of activities.
Post your comments
FC College cancels tour after bus fire
Lahore: A recreational trip of the Forman Christian College University
was cancelled on Sunday when one of the buses, carrying students and teachers,
caught fire near Sukheki on the motorway. However, no one was injured in the
incident, which took place at around 11:40am. The Sociology Department
of the university had arranged a tour of the Rohtas Fort. A number of the university students, requesting anonymity, said the
condition of the three buses, out of the fleet of five, was poor. They said one
of the three old buses caught fire because of some fault in the engine, which
had suddenly started emitting smoke. They said the students on board were got
off the bus before the fire engulfed the vehicle, which was badly damaged by the
fire. The students said the motorway police and rescue teams reached the spot
and put the fire out the fire. The students of the damaged bus were accommodated
in other buses for coming back to the city as the programme was cancelled. They
criticised the university administration for not arranging fit buses for the
tour. "It is strange that the university has been charging huge sums of
money from students but cannot arrange fit buses," they said. A student
said the department had collected Rs300 per student for the tour, adding that it
was sad that no proper arrangements were made. He said neither any safety
measures were adopted nor first-aid kit was available in the
vehicles. Another student said the administration must have made sure
whether the buses were fit to travel such a long distance, adding the incident
had exposed the fact that the buses were not checked at a workshop before the
trip. When contacted, FC College University registrar Hamid Saeed said
the students alighted from the bus when it was stopped after smoke emitting from
the engine was noticed. To a question, Mr Hamid said a total of four
buses were carrying students, teachers and staff, adding that two of these were
new while two were given to the college by the government in 1995. He said the
condition of all the buses was not bad, adding that it was difficult to detect a
fault in the affected vehicle's engine. The News
Post your comments
| 
