Lahore schools, colleges tight security

Lahore Private educational institutions tightened security
Lahore, Nov 15: Private educational institutions have tightened their security once again after the recovery of a live grenade from a government college in Gulberg, restricting any outsiders including parents from entering the school's premises during school hours.

Some private schools and colleges have already restricted the entry of cars without special entry passes and national identity cards or carrying more then three students, from entering their premises. Parents have been advised to display their national identity cards whenever they come to pick or drop their children. Many schools have also advised parents to remain vigilant and report any suspicious persons or activities they might see outside the school premises.

The administration of a prominent private school situated in the Cantonment has issued a letter to the parents, which reads: "Whoever comes to pick up your child must show his or her ID Card and the children must be picked up as soon as school timings are over. Children using school transport may continue to do so, if some of you are advised and are therefore inclined to make your own pick and drop arrangement you are most welcome to do so."

A private school's administration official said that, "the administration is highly concerned with the security of its students and is taking all possible measures in this regard."

A father of a student at a local school was of the view that "although the law and order situation of the country is so bad, they cannot afford not to send their children to school. It would mean putting their future at stake." He added that even though it was hard for many of the parents to pick and drop their children during working hours, they were nonetheless satisfied with the security arrangements made by the schools. All educational institutions in the private sector, including kindergarten, montessori and elite schools, will reopen tomorrow (Monday) after their closure due to inadequate security arrangements.

These institutions like Beaconhouse Schools System, American Lycium, The Educators and British Council schools are starting the curricular activities again as the Lahore High Court rejected the petition filed by the owners' association. According to the sources in Education Department, the government has started taking stern action for security lapses in the private schools.

It is worth mentioning that most of the schools having membership of the association are located in streets and residential areas without any proper security arrangements not withstanding the fact that there are thousands of private schools in Lahore alone.

On the other hand, government schools are functioning as usual and not a single institution is closed for security concerns, as security devices have been provided to their administration while boundary walls have also been raised or constructed at all the premises.

It is also noteworthy that private schools catering the beginners (kindergarten and montessori) reopened last Thursday but after the vigorous monitoring by the authorities concerned some of them were closed, as their management was unable to follow the instructions given by the govt.

Meanwhile talking to this scribe, principals of different private schools and colleges said they had told the government that car parking and the filth containers placed by Solid Waste Management Department outside the educational institutions were posing major threat to their students. They said metal detectors and close circuit cameras had been purchased in addition to deploying security persons at their own expenses but the risk still persisted.

They are of the opinion that impediments like garbage containers outside the premises and unauthorised parking of vehicles provide opportunities to the terrorists. In this connection, they requested the provincial govt to take necessary action. They also demanded deployment of policemen at the entry points of schools (especially at girls' institutions) to provide a proper protection to the innocent students. The nation

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Students allowed to take a part in speech contest
Lahore: Students from both public and private universities and medical colleges of the province have been allowed to join the Chief Ministerís Speech and Essay Writing Competitions, 2009.

According to a DGPR handout issued here Saturday, the convener of CM Speech and Essay Writing Competition, DPI (Secondary Education) Mian Abdul Haq, said that all the heads of the universities and medical colleges (Education), DEOs (Colleges) and Divisional Director (Colleges) concerned.

In order to facilitate the students, he said, topic list of speeches and essays and registration forms had been sent to respective districts and divisional offices had been asked to register their nominated students with EDOs of the department. Meanwhile, in the first phase of the competitions, the middle-level English speech contests have been completed. As many as 10,165 students participated in the competitions from all over the province. As many as 1,364 students from Lahore Division, 1792 from Gujranwala, 1543 from Faisalabad, 1121 from Multan, 1161 from Sargodha and 1204 students from DG Khan attended the declamation contest. The news

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Independence, autonomy linked to self-reliance
Lahore: Punjab Chief Minister Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif has said that objectives of Pakistan creation cannot be achieved without eliminating monopoly of a specific class of people on higher and quality education. He said that only intelligent and educated youth can save Pakistan in the existing difficult circumstances, therefore, he appealed to the youth to come forward with full force to discharge their national responsibilities.

He expressed these views during his presidential address to Annual Parents Day ceremony at Military College Jhelum, on Saturday.

The chief minister said that Pakistan has best manpower and vast national resources and we can join the comity of developed nations only by determination which we are lacking. He said that in order to achieve this goal, we will have to rely on our own resources instead of foreign aid, as Pakistan's 62-year history is witness to the fact that we cannot make progress while depending on foreign aid. He said that independence and autonomy of Pakistan is linked to its self-reliance.

Shahbaz questioned could it be possible to get the right to choose living standard while begging continuously? The chief minister said that for the first time in the history, Punjab Government has allocated record funds for the education sector with the main aim to giving access to the talented and hardworking children of the deprived and sourceless segments of the society to higher and quality education.

He said that under Punjab Education Endowment Fund, government has allocated substantial funds for imparting education to talented and industrious students at local level and abroad. He said that if children of the rich people can study in foreign prestigious institutions then depriving the talented children of ordinary people from this right, is not less than a national crime. He said that under Danish School System, exemplary education institutions are being set up in every nook & corner of the province.

While expressing his views about the current situation in the country, Shahbaz said that a limited segment is holding resources of the country while corruption has ruined majority of the institutions. He said both civil and military governments have played their role in this regard but many decades would be required to redress the loss caused by the dictators. He said that now the time has come to change our priorities and utilise all our energies for the betterment and prosperity of unemployed, poor and ailing Pakistanis.

The CM lauded the academic and extracurricular activities of Jhelum Military College and said that this institution has played the unbeatable role in the national defence. He said that the whole nation is proud of the sacrifices of martyrs and Ghazis of alumni of this institution. He also announced a grant of Rs 50 million for new construction and different development schemes. The nation

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200 Assistant Professors recommended for promotion
Lahore: Provincial Selection Board-II (PSB-II) has recommended the promotion of 200 Assistant Professors of Education Department as Associate Professors in BS-19.

In this regard, a meeting of PSB-II was held at Civil Secretariat on Saturday. The meeting was presided over by Additional Chief Secretary Javed Aslam while Secretary Finance, Secretary Education, Secretary Regulations and others attended the meeting.

The meeting reviewed 250 promotion cases and recommended promotion for 200 Assistant Professors from BS-18 to BS-19. In this regard, a summary has been sent to the CM Secretariat for approval.

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Punjab university celebrated Book week
Lahore: A special ceremony was arranged on Saturday, at the Punjab University (PU) Main Library of Iran Information Center in connection with "Book Week" celebrations in Iran.

PU Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Mujhaid Kamran was the chief guest while Iranian Counsel General Saeed Kharazi, Director General Iran Cultural Centre Dr Abbass Famori, PU Oriental College Principal Prof Dr Mazhar Moen, Department of Persian Chairman Moen Nizami, Dr Akram Shah and other teachers also attended the ceremony.

Addressing the gathering, Dr Kamran said: "Only knowledge made human beings superior to animals and other creatures of the world and this knowledge comes from books." Later, the PU vice-chancellor and the counsul general also visited various stalls at the Iran Information Centre. Kharazi said the book exhibition was arranged every year at Iran and the objective of 'book week' was to promote knowledge. Meanwhile Prof Dr Mujahid Kamran inaugurated the exhibition of calligraphic work of noted artist Saeed Ahmad Bodla. According to a press statement, Iranian Counsel General Saeed Kharazi, PU Chief Librarian Ch Muhammad Hanif, teachers and students were also present. They appreciated the work of Bodla. Meanwhile the univeristy awarded a PhD degree in Zoology to a student.

According to a press statement issued on Saturday, Tasnim Farasat, daughter of Syed Asghar Ali Shah, has been awarded a PhD degree after approval of her research thesis "Mlecular Mechanisms of Thyroid Status in Glycemic Anomalies of Local Population."

The study revealed relationship between thyroid hormones and development of type 2 diabetes due to insulin resistance. The study focused on molecular targets of thyroid gland activity in newly diagnosed diabetic subjects.

Studies of thyroid hormone targets particularly at biochemical and molecular level in glycemic anomalies carry extreme importance in understanding developments of cardiovascular diseases and other risks. This study can form a basis for achieving early diagnosis of diabetes in the future.

Tasnim Farasat completed her thesis under the supervision of PU Registrar and Department of Zoology Professor Dr Muhammad Naeem Khan while her co-supervisor was Prof Dr Abdul Majeed Cheema, dean of Faculty of Biotechnology and Informatics, Balochistan University of IT Engineering and Management, Quetta.

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GCU On-Campus Recruitment Day
Lahore: The Government College University (GCU) Career Guidance and Placement Centre on Saturday held "On Campus Recruitment Day" in collaboration with the noted national and international companies and provided job opportunities to scores of the university students.

The students of GCU BS Applied Management, BSc (Honours) Business, Accounting and Finance, BCS (Honours) Computer Science, MCS (Computer Science), BA (Honours) English, MPhil, Economics, MS ESME and MS Banking and Finance besides a large number of old Ravians took part in the full day event.

The companies' representatives gave a detailed presentation to the students about their organisational structure and available positions. They collected resumes and CVs of all the students. However, only 113 suitable candidates were interviewed by the companies in detail out of whom they short-listed 45.

Talking about the event, the GCU placement officer said that the Career Guidance and Placement Centre might be a new idea for the universities of Pakistan but not for the world. He said the activity aimed at providing assistance to the students in their career development and transition from the university life to employment.

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124th Founder's Day at Aitchison College
Lahore: Governer Salman Taseer has said the elements targeting academic institutions have been exposed and they have no link with Islam. Addressing the 124 Founder Day of the Aitcheson College here on Saturday, he said education was the only way to ensure a bright future of the country. He said tough times were part of nation but the followers of Holy Prophet (PBUH) could never lose heart and had trust in Allah. He said terrorism would be defeated and the country would be purged from the menace.

Taseer said the army enjoyed a complete support of people and the ongoing operation in Waziristan was heading towards success. He said the day was not far when the whole region of Waziristan would echo with the slogans of 'Pakistan Zindabad' just like the valley of Swat. He said the spirit shown by the nation as a whole to solve the issue of the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) was a clear precedent of selfless contribution made by people.

The governor hailed the performance of students of the Aitcheson College, saying the results shown by the students in A, O level exams were a matter of pride for the institution. Meanwhile, the governor also hosted a reception in the honour of a delegation of participants of 23rd Orthopedic International Conference at the Governor's House.

The delegation was led by Professor Dr Nusrat Ali. The governor congratulated the delegates for holding a successful conference. Meanwhile, Salman Taseer has said that the country is at war against terrorism and those attacking schools and mosques are the enemies of the country and Islam. He was speaking as the chief guest at a conference, "Organisation and Reengineering of Schools" organised by The City School Network here on Saturday.

The governor said quality education should not be compromised in order to compete with the developed countries. He said Pakistani students had great potential and they needed direction. He urged the educational institutions to inculcate spirit of tolerance among the students. He appreciated the school management for promoting quality education. Other speakers at the conference stressed the need of education, based on values besides redesigning and reengineering of schools to uplift their performances. The conference was attended by a number of senior educationists who gave their opinions regarding education reforms in general and school education in particular.

Different theme-based presentations, including Organizational Citizenship Behaviour and School Performance, Managing Reputation: Risk matter, Value-Based Education: The Need of Today and Authentic Pedagogy and Standards That Boosts Student Performance were delivered on the occasion. Senior educationist Dr Arshad Karim said teachers must realise the need of their students. He urged them to teach students how to do and not what to do.

In his presentation, Dr Shahid A Zia highlighted the need of managing reputation risks, saying that such risks should be managed in the same way as operational or financial risks were assessed and audited. Earlier, in her opening remarks The City School Director Studies Dr Dania Qazi highlighted objectives of the conference.

The City School's Chief Operating Officer Jahangir Feroze and Regional Director Sobia Lodhi also spoke.

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CPSP training course
Lahore: A Training course on communication skills was organised at the College of Physicians and Surgeons Pakistan (CPSP) regional centre which was attended by trainee doctors from different parts of the province. Dr Asim Hussain, Advisor to Prime Minister, was the chief guest at the concluding ceremony. He appreciated the CPSP efforts, saying the institution was providing best specialist doctors to the country. The news

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