USEFP scholarships for Pakistani students

60 Pakistanis set to leave for study at US community colleges
Islamabad, May 15: A group of 60 Pakistanis is all set to depart to USA to study at community colleges on fully funded one-year scholarship awarded by the United States Educational Foundation in Pakistan (USEFP), which has been promoting people to people contact since 1950.

"I could never imagine of such dream-opportunity given the financial condition of my family. It is like getting hold of a treasure out of the blue," said Sadia Sikander, who has seven dependents to feed.

"I have gone through very hard times after the demise of my father when all of us were children. I was doing three jobs to make the ends meat. Getting USEFP's grant was not an easy task, as it required number of sessions one has to go through. I still remember, coming back from my job and preparing for the test. My head started spinning and eyes burning due to sleepless nights, still I pushed myself to take up the challenge to prove myself worth having the opportunity. It is amazing that every thing fell into place at last," jubilant Sikander said confidently.

All the 60 grantees of scholarship were thrilled to bits during a dinner hosted by USEFP before a pre-departure orientation on Friday.

They will be placed in various community colleges that operate under a policy of "Open Admission", which means anyone with a high school diploma may attend, regardless of prior academic status or college entrance exam scores.

However, students are required to appear in an assessment tests before enrolling. The Community College Initiative Programme (CCI) enables professionals to learn the best practices in their field globally.

Rita Akhtar, Executive Director, USEFP, while talking to media said it was a unique programme with distinctive criteria for professionals having a minimum of two years experience in their respective fields.

Around 4,000 Pakistanis and 800 Americans have participated in USEFP administered exchange programmes so far.

Responding to a question, Rita said American parents were hesitant to send their children to Pakistan due to security reasons. "American scholars, however would be visiting Pakistan by the end of this year to enhance people-to-people contact," she added.

Amir Akhtar form Rahim Yar Khan, a remote district of the Punjab province, said he was going for business studies and was optimistic about the future. Daily times

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Five Pakistani students showcasing projects in US
Islamabad: The world's next generation of innovators, including five students from Pakistan, is in San Jose, California, USA, to compete in the world's largest pre-college science competition - the Intel International Science & Engineering Fair 2010, a programme of Society for Science & the Public.

The event started on May 11 would conclude today (May 15) with the names of the winners announced. As many as 1,611 high school students from 59 countries, regions and territories have gathered there to share ideas, showcase cutting-edge research and inventions, and compete for international recognition and more than US$4 million in prizes.

Five students from Islamabad, Karachi and Khairpur are taking part in this prestigious fair, who were the winners of the Intel National Science Olympiad, held earlier this year in Islamabad, representing Pakistan in this year's Intel ISEF.

Zain Shami of Headstart School, Islamabad is the 2010 finalists in the contest's 'chemistry' category is showcasing his project titled 'Preparation of Black Ink from Fruit Arils of Pomegranate'. His other Pakistani colleagues include Sheeraz Munir of Pak-Turk International School & Colleges, Khairpur, with his use of 'Lolium and Paspalum' species for decreasing air pollution.

The Karachi teams' project, which explores cost effective industrial pollution prevention, is being represented at the fair where Amir Shazad, Mohammad Sohail and Asjad Shaheen of DA Degree College are presenting their project 'Dyeing of Wool & Polyamide Substrates with Extracts of Natural Sources'.

The 2010 finalists' independent research projects include such topics as climate change, clean energy, autism, cancer, education reform, aerospace and robotics. Moreover, 24 per cent of the 2010 participants have a patent or are considering applying for one for their research.

Country Manager Intel Pakistan Corporation Ashar H Zaidi said for the first time, this year's top winner would receive the Gordon E Moore Award, a US$75,000 prize from Intel Foundation in honour of the Intel co-founder, retired chairman and CEO, while two second-place winners will receive the Intel Foundation Young Scientist Awards of US$50,000 each.

Moore is perhaps best known for 'Moore's Law', which for more than 45 years has guided the semiconductor industry to deliver ever-more powerful chips while decreasing the cost of electronics.

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Schoolteachers warn of protest
Rawalpinidi: The schoolteachers on Friday warned they would stage a sit-in outside Parliament House on May 19 if the government failed to address their grievances as promised by different federal ministers.

The representatives of the teachers union in a press release said they along with other government workers would start their protest rally from Abpara to Parliament House where they would stage a sit-in for fulfillment of their one point demand of hundred per cent increase in their salaries.

Representative of Muthida Mahaz Asatza Pakistan Abdul Munaf Khan said Federal Minister for Livestock Humayan Aziz Kurd assured them on April 28 that their grievances would be addressed soon.

He said the government had been given 15 days after that they would be left with no option but to go for strike.

He said the government should adopt Dr Mehboobul Haq formula for increasing the salaries.

The teachers' leader said they had decided to gather outside the Parliament House and if their demands were not met the leaders of All Pakistan Workers Association representatives would observe hunger strike.

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Private schools: Govt asked to check fat fees
Islamabad: The Cabinet Division has asked the government to monitor fee structures of the private educational institutions operating in the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT), an issue which was left to the market forces to decide.

The National Assembly was informed on Friday that the recommendation of the Cabinet Division had been placed before its Standing Committee on Education to empower the government to monitor fees being charged by the private education institutions in order to keep them within reasonable limits by fixing a ceiling.

In a written response to a question put by Tahira Auranzeb, Minister of State for Education Ghulam Farid Kathia said that a bill had already been moved to make changes in the Private Education Institutions Regulatory Authority (PEIRA).

The authority was set up through a presidential ordinance in September 2006 as a self-financing body under the administrative control of the Ministry of Education.

The minister said private educational institutions in Islamabad were imparting education up to the Higher Secondary School Certificate (HSSC) or equivalent level. These are required to get registered with the regulatory authority.

There are some 652 registered private schools and colleges, with a strength of 140,000 students functioning within the ICT limits.

About the control over fee of private educational institutions, it was mentioned that the then federal cabinet while approving the establishment of the regulatory authority directed not to interfere in the determination of fee structure of Islamabads private education institutions. Therefore, initially, it was left to the market forces to decide the fees.

However, the institutions were asked to make sincere efforts to keep their fee structures within realistic limits and commensurate with the quality of education and services being provided by them. Later on, complains were received about exorbitant fees.

The Cabinet Division has advised amendments in the existing law of the regulatory authority to enable monitoring of the fees.

The NA Standing Committee on Education had already discussed the issue in its meetings held on February 8 and 18 this year. Its next meeting is being scheduled for sometime this month or the next one.

About second part of the question, Mr Kathia said as of now, there was no proposal to establish a national regulatory authority during current financial year to control fee structure of the private educational institutions.

It is worth mentioning here that in 2006 when the PEIRA was set up, representatives of the educational institutions managed to limit its mandate only to overseeing the registrations.

But this time, sources in the Cabinet Division said, the regulatory authority would be given enough powers to control the fees. Dawn

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Fake degrees
Islamabad: A new controversy concerning the educational qualifications of MNAs could soon be opened up. National Assembly's Standing Committee on Education Chairman Abid Sher Ali has said that in light of the rule requiring all MNAs to hold a degree their documents should be scrutinised. His observation that this task should be undertaken by parliament itself and not the courts makes good sense. If the assembly would itself take on this task, this would be greatly preferable – all the more so in light of the overall environment as tensions among institutions expand. It is worth, however, being aware of the consequences. An inquiry into the matter threatens to open up a virtual Pandora's box. A former Election Commission secretary has recently gone on record as saying that around 148 MNAs could be in possession of fake degrees. While this says nothing for the integrity of our legislators, the fact also is that proof that so large a number hold falsified documents and thereby face disqualification under existing regulations could lead to chaos.

As a side note, other controversies in the matter need also to be mentioned. Most critical among these is the issue of degrees from seminaries – with the rule that permits them leading to still further malpractice. The matter has still to be decided on by courts. And of course, we now have the prime minister stepping straight into the fray by campaigning for Jamshed Dasti, an MNA who had stepped down after admitting his degree was not genuine. The matter is one that needs to be discussed and reviewed. The National Assembly is of course the best forum to do so. The rule on degree introduced under Musharraf was said to be intended to improve the quality of representation. There is much doubt if this has actually happened. The question of whether formal education alone leads to wisdom and integrity is an open one. We need parliament to look at the matter and all its aspects in light of the new controversy and the requirements of democracy. It may indeed be wise to do away with the regulation altogether, opening up the lower house to all citizens and doing away with a law that quite evidently is almost impossible to enforce in the first place.

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CASA discusses teachers' problems
Islamabad: Central Academic Staff Association (CASA) Islamabad Model Colleges in a meeting held at IMCB, G-10/4, discussed problems faced by the teachers, says a press release.

All the presidents/representatives of the Model Colleges Staff Associations attended the meeting. The meeting was convened by President (ASA) IMCB, G-10/4, Ijaz Athar. Vice President of Central Academic Staff Association (Model Colleges) Dr Javed Kosar presided over the meeting.

After long deliberation the meeting identified three burning issues, including hiring, which is even turned down to the fresh appointees, upgradation that was announced by the previous government on 5th October 2006. It was observed that university teachers were upgraded but college teacher were deprived of it. Third issue identified was regularisation of TEF (Temporarily Engaged Faculty).

It was pointed out that if these issues were not resolved, the efficiency and quality of teaching might suffer to a very serious extent. In the meeting two committees were constituted one to meet the directors, DG and secretary education to bring the grievances in their notice and second to mobilise the staff for the joint venture. The next meeting of CASA will be held at ICB on May 19. The committees will submit their reports and next strategy will be defined. The news

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