Dawood Engineering College clash in student groups
Student groups clash at DCET
Karachi, May 27: Two student groups clashed at the Dawood College of
Engineering and Technology (DCET) on Wednesday. The clash broke out
between Jamaat-e-Islami's student wing Islami Jamiat-e-Talaba and the
Punjabi Students Association while students were busy enjoying the
moment as their exam paper was cancelled. Some students also resorted
to aerial firing resulting in a traffic jam. Jamshed Quarter Police
Station SHO Tariq Mehmood said the clash was not a serious incident
while two students suffered minor injuries. Daily times
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Education minister slams teachers' associations
Karachi: The role of teachers' associations in the province
came under strong criticism in the Sindh Assembly on Wednesday as
Senior Minister Pir Mazharul Haq accused them of "destroying children's
education". "Half of the teachers do not turn up but draw
salaries while others do not take classes on the pretext of strikes,"
said the senior minister, who holds the portfolio of the education
department, in response of a point of order raised by Leader of the
Opposition Jam Madad Ali. On a point of order, Jam Madad Ali
raised the issue of the lower grade employees recruited in the
education department in 2007 on a contractual basis who he said were
being retrenched and requested the government that they should not be
rendered unemployed. He also drew the attention of the house
towards a long-standing demand of teachers that in other three
provinces teachers were being paid a teaching allowance and the same
should also be given in Sindh. Speaking on the floor of the
house, the senior minister not only came down hard on teachers' welfare
associations, but also held the city and district governments
responsible for destroying the education system in Sindh, as the
education department had been devolved to the local governments under
retired General Musharraf's devolution of power plan system. He said the office-bearers of the teachers' welfare associations were
misguiding the teachers as acting like trade unions and besides
destroying education of children, these associations were betraying the
Sindh cause. He said that in the past recruitment was made on
political grounds and in violation of rules and despite the fact that
the contractual employees did not deserve regularisation of their
service the government would consider their cases sympathetically. He said a committee had been formed to give a teaching allowance and time scale to the teachers. The
committee headed by him and including secretaries of the finance and
education departments and representatives of the teachers' bodies had
recommended adoption of the formula of Balochistan. The
summary of the committee was still under consideration but the
teachers' associations misguided the teachers that the chief minister
had rejected the summary, he said. The senior minister
recalled that the Pakistan People's Party government had not only
accepted the demands of the teachers, but also withdrew cases that were
registered against them in the era of the previous government. "But
children were being punished for our being pro-teachers. In Ghotki
children were brought on road which was not the work of teachers." He said that although the salaries of private schools teachers were far
low compared to those in government service, they gave full time to
schoolchildren. However, government teachers did not discharge their
responsibilities, he charged. He said that the devolution of
the education department to the city and district governments had
destroyed education. "We have asked the city and district governments
to provide a list of teachers and action should be initiated against
those who have been absent." After the minister's statement,
Jam Madad Ali asked why the summary of teachers' allowance sent in 2009
was not yet approved. Should it be taken as rejected, he questioned. He
also said that those promoted in schools as head masters and
administrative officers were of junior scale, which was one of the
reasons for mismanagement in schools. The education minister
replied that the promotion was the business of the city and district
governments and until the system was chan-ged, the city and district
governments would be responsible. However, the government had given them a policy for not promoting juniors over those officials having a senior scale, he added.
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Lecturers go on hunger strike
Karachi: Members of the Sindh Professors' Lecturers'
Association (SPLA) went on a hunger strike on Wednesday against the
government's failure to meet their demands regarding the national pay
scale, salaries and time scales. SPLA President Athar Hussain
Mirza told PPI that the government was excluding teachers from the
national pay scale and imposing a separate educational pay scale based
on subjects and place of appointment. He said that professors
and lecturers were protesting across the country against these measures
from the platform of All Pakistan Professors and Lecturers Association
(APPLA). In this regard hunger strikes, press conferences and
demonstrations are being held in all the four provincial capitals and
Azad Kashmir. Mr Mirza said that the representatives of the
APPLA had met the federal education minister and secretary on May 12
and informed them about the teachers' reservations and that the APPLA
would oppose any such measures. He said that 95 per cent
students join government colleges after matric and only five per cent
go to the private sector. Some elements in the government wanted to
privatise the education sector for their petty interests and they were
hatching conspiracies against education and teachers, he alleged. He said that the Higher Education Commission should focus on the
genuine problems of education instead of non-issues. He noted that the
salaries of the employees of universities are six times higher than
their counterparts in colleges. He said that APPLA will announce its future strategy on June 21 in Islamabad. In reply to a question about increasing foreign influence in the
education department, he said that institutions like the World Bank
wanted to deprive the lower class of the country of education.
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Cabinet approves varsity status for Sindh Madressah
Islamabad: The federal cabinet on Wednesday agreed in principle
to the grant of charter of university status to Sindh Madressahtul
Islam, Karachi. It, however, linked the final approval to a
scrutiny by the Implementation Commission on the 18th Amendment and
subsequent resubmission. Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani presided over the meeting. It is the first action to have been referred to the nine-member parliamentary commission, headed by Senator Mian Raza Rabbani.
Mr Rabbani said that since education was a provincial subject, the
commission would now look into the matter whether the issue pertained
to institutions of higher learning, a subject of federal legislative
list part II, or part of the province. The cabinet condemned
blasphemous caricatures on a 'specific website' and asked the ministry
of information technology to ensure that such blasphemous material was
not allowed to appear on the internet. The cabinet, which had
deferred the final approval of Haj policy in its previous meeting till
settlement of air fare issue between the ministry of religious affairs
and PIA, did not discuss the matter on Wednesday. The
minister for religious affairs said that re-submission of Haj
policy in the cabinet was no more mandatory as it had been approved in
principle and only minor issues needed to be settled. The
cabinet praised return to its fold of the Federal Minister for Defence
Production, Sardar Abdul Qayyum Jatoi, who had resigned after the
defeat of a PPP candidate in a recent by-election. The
cabinet approved, in principle, the Draft Pakistan Savings Bill, 2010,
and constituted a cabinet committee for further deliberation and
improvement of some of its clauses. It also approved
up-gradation of the National Institute of Science and Technical
Education (NISTE), Islamabad, into a degree institution. Dawn
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Proteomics lectures at KU
Karachi: The National Center for
Proteomics at the University of Karachi (KU) is organizing a series of
lectures by Dr Azeem Hasan, Director Mass Spectroscopy Facility,
Louisiana University, USA. In this regard, first lecture of the series
will be held on Monday, May 31st, 2010 at 10:30 am. on Identification
and Characterization of Proteins in Biological Complexes. The news
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54 girls' schools closed in Nara since long
Khairpur: The closure of 54 schools since last few years has halted the education process of girls in Nara taluka. Some 53 primary and one middle school, all located in the desert area, are closed since some time.
Ex-nazim, Tajal Sharif Union Council, Sufi Qalab Ali has proposed
appointing boys with matriculation certificate as teachers in these
schools which would revive the learning culture, besides helping
school-going children into gaining at least basic education. EDO Education, Khairpur, Amanullah Bhayo said schools faced this
situation because of the shortage of female teachers and the National
Commission for Human Development was now working towards appointing
female teachers in closed schools. He hoped the schools would be
reopened soon. Administrator, Khairpur, Mohammad Abbas Baloch
said that a system was being evolved wherein schools of Nara would be
reopened area-wise. He said that few schools have begun classes as the
OMV Gas Company has provided some teacher. He said the NCHD
and Sindh Education Foundation, besides others were ready to provide
teachers for closed schools or meeting their shortage in both boys and
girls schools. Dawn
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