Errors in textbook | IJT Protest

Errors in textbook stun lawmakers
Peshawar, May 09: The grammatical and factual mistakes in social studies book for students of grade V stunned members of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly when an opposition member pointed out errors in the book, published by the provincial textbook board.

"At times incidents occur, which hugely affect human history and re-write a new one. Like 'September 11, 2011' incident in America is before us. The incident occurs in America but the whole world got affected," says a paragraph of the social study book for the primary level students, recently introduced by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Textbook Board Peshawar.

MPA Mufti Said Janan of Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal, who brought to light the matter through a point of order in the house on Tuesday, wondered as to how the people could expect any good from the government when it was distorting facts and history.

The lawmaker read several paragraphs from the book that carried grammatical and factual mistakes about major incidents occurred in the country and other parts of the world. The board has published hundreds of thousands of social studies books in Pashto which have been distributed among students free of cost.

A paragraph on page 58 of the book says: "General elections will hold in the country in February 2008." The lawmaker pointed out several drastic printings and grammatical errors in the textbook and demanded high level inquiry.

Another paragraph on page 70 says that death of Gen Mohammad Ziaul Haq was major incident which changed Pakistan's political history.

He said that prominent personalities of Islamic history and Sub-continent had been removed from the book.

Senior Minister Bashir Ahmad Bilour, replying to the point of order, said that the board should not make major changes in the textbooks. He said that the minister concerned was absent. He requested Deputy Speaker Advocate Khushdil Khan, who was presiding over the proceedings, to keep the matter pending. Dawn

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Puta concerned over lack of varsities fund
Peshawar: The Peshawar University Teachers Association (Puta) has expressed concern over non-provision of funds by the federal government for the ongoing projects in the public sector universities.

The executive body of the association met on Tuesday with acting president Dr Mukhtar Ali Durrani in the chair. The participants expressed concern over the cut in the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) by the federal government for public sector universities.

The participants opined that non-provision of funds would damage the huge investment already made in higher education institutions. They feared financial crisis in the universities after the cut in grant to the university that may lead to the closure of the institutions of higher education.

The meeting lauded the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government for allocating four percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for education, which the Puta members termed as a way forward towards excellence in primary, middle and higher education in the province.

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PHC restrains ICU VC from implementing senate decisions
Peshawar: A division bench of the Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Tuesday restrained the vice-chancellor of the Islamia College University (ICU) from implementing the university's senate decisions taken on April 27 last.

A two-member bench comprising Justice Attaullah Khan and Justice Waqar Ahmad Seth also issued notices to ICU vice-chancellor and Higher Education Department secretary to submit their comments on next hearing.

Deans of seven faculties of ICU including Dr Zahir Shah and Prof Naseeb Dar had filed a writ petition in the high court, claiming that the university senate meeting held on April 27 was illegal and against the ICU Act 2009.

The petitioner's lawyer Muhammad Ijaz Anwar submitted before the court that the ICU had appointed senate members in 2008 and under the act new senate members would be appointed after three years.

He said the senate members retired on December 2011 and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa governor as chancellor of the university through a notification gave them 30 days extension on April 27 last to form a representative committee for recommendations for appointment of new members.

The petitioners prayed the court to declare the senate meeting decisions as null and void and direct the ICU to appoint senate members as per the ICU Act. The news

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AIOU allocates Rs 80m to upgrade Centre for Instructional Design
Islamabad: The Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU) has allocated Rs 80 million to upgrade its newly constructed department "Centre for Instructional Design (CID) to facilitate its students with 'state-of-the-art' designing system.

This centre will serve as a model to educate the students through electronic and advanced communication system, this was stated by AIOU Vice Chancellor Dr Nazir Ahmed Sangi, while addressing the farewell party hosted by academicians and all the staff members of CID in the honour of Dr Javed Iqbal, Faculty of Education dean, on his retirement.

The vice chancellor also announced that the AIOU would spend Rs 90 million, donated by a foreign country, on training of its academic staff.

Dr Sangi said that value-added and job-oriented education was the main focus of the university. All the relevant departments of the AIOU were being equipped with the latest equipments and computer software so that they could effectively address the problems being faced by the students in enhancing their knowledge and professional skill in various disciplines, he added. He said that 300 Model Study Centres would be established in remote areas of the country, which would be fully equipped with state-of-the-art facilities.

Dr Sangi said that the university was laying special emphasis on the education of those students who were living in the far-flung areas of the country and belong to deprived sections of society. He said the teachers' role had become more productive due to recently introduced e-learning and video-conferencing system, through which they were reaching the doorstep of the students.

The vice chancellor said that the quality and services of the AIOU had been recognised not only domestically, but at the international level as well. AIOU has signed different MoUs with national and international universities for improving the standard of education, he said. Dr Sangi also praised the efforts of Dr Javed Iqbal in establishing the Centre for Instructional Design that was helping the students learn through electronic and e-mail system, in addition to written material.

In his address, Dr Javed Iqbal highlighted aims and objectives of the establishment of CID and achievements made in short span of time. The Academic Staff Association general secretary also spoke on the occasion. Daily times

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IJT vents outages anger on public
Lahore: Protesting against power outages, activists of the Islami Jamiat Tulaba, Punjab University, are adding to the miseries of commuters by blocking the Canal Road.

They did it on Monday night and then on Tuesday evening, completely ignoring the fact that the entire country has been facing this agony for several months. The PU administration and police did not react on both the occasions and allowed the students to subject the general public to torture.

Trapped in the blockade, commuters found themselves helpless in sweltering heat. A number of them ran out of fuel (CNG) in a bid to find an alternate exit. Traffic on all adjacent roads in Jauhar Town, Faisal Town, Garden Town and Wahdat Road remained clogged for several hours.

The IJT activists blocked the Canal Road to protest against long power outages, non-availability of water on varsity New Campus and hostels. Led by PU Nazim Rai Haq Nawaz, the protesters chanted slogans against PU administration, chief minister, prime minister and president.

Rai Nawaz said loadshedding and non-availability of water during examinations was a clear proof of chief minister's inefficiency.

The protesters also demanded removal of PU VC and said that an `inefficient group' had taken over the entire administration.

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UET VC 'learns art of driving'
Lahore: University of Engineering and Technology Vice-Chancellor Lt-Gen (retired) Muhammad Akram has finally got learner's driving licence.

The VC got the licence at an awareness camp organised by university. The VC's wife, faculty members and hundreds of students also got their learner's  licences.

However, the traffic police officials asked the VC and other applicants, who were over 50 years of age, to produce medical certificates. The VC asked the university doctor to examine and issue a medical report.

Speaking at the camp, Chief Traffic Officer Dr Usman Anwar said the police in collaboration with the UET Transport Wing could streamline traffic in the city. He said the traffic police wanted to take benefit from research conducted at the UET and added that both the traffic police and UET were signing a memorandum of understanding. Dawn

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