Terror threats to educational institutions
Colleges principals allowed to use all funds for security
Rawalpindi, Oct 31: Rawalpindi Commissioner Zahid Saeed on Friday allowed the principals of
35 government colleges in the garrison city to use all available funds
for security of their institutions. He was addressing a meeting
held to review the security arrangements for all the 35 government
colleges in the city, including 10 for boys and 25 for girls. Director
Colleges Chaudhry Muhammad Ashraf, Principal Government Gordon College
Prof Abdul Qayyum and heads of other colleges attended the meeting. CCTV
cameras: Saeed directed the principals to install Close Circuit
Television (CCTV) cameras in their institutions to avoid any untoward
situation. He said the CCTV cameras should have the ability to record
round the clock movement on their premises. He directed
the principals to close down those girl colleges, which received
threats till satisfactory security arrangements.Security
guards: He asked the administration of colleges to hire security guards
on three months contract. He said District Coordination Officer (DCO)
would issue arms liceneces to the heads of the institutions and the
arms would be used for security purposes. Saeed asked the
principals to beef up security in and around their colleges. He said
the government would help the colleges facing shortage of funds so that
the students could get education in secure environment. The principals
were directed to build walls around the main building of
their respective colleges and put barbwire on it. The
commissioner directed the principles to depute more than two armed
guards at main entrance with metal detectors and some guards on rooftop
of the main building and build a concrete bunker. He said the college
administration should also install searchlights in and around the
colleges. He asked the colleges to establish concrete-barriers
in front of main entrance and install walk-thorough gates. He asked the
college administrations to nominate a faculty member as security
officer who should give security guidelines to students and staff
members. He directed the colleges to issued special student and
staff cards and special security stickers for staff vehicles to avoid
entry of suspicious vehicles or person to their premises. He
said the college security guards should ensure proper locks to the
classrooms and other rooms after college timings and not to allow any
vender set up stall near the college. On the demand of
educational heads, the commissioner assured that their request to open
the recruitment of employees of grade-I to grade-IV would be dispatched
to the provincial government so that the appointment letters could be
issued to those whose selection had been completed.
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Bomb scare at Quaid-e-Azam University
Islamabad: Quaid-e-Azam University (QAU) was closed on Friday following
an unknown caller told the administration that a bomb planted in the
University was about to blow shortly. According to a university
official, they received an unknown call at 11:30am when the classes
were going on. He said the caller told them that a bomb had been
planted in the university. "The QAU administration hurriedly called
police and bomb disposal squad, but the call proved a hoax," the
official said. All the blocks of university were vacated and students
rushed out of their classes, the official added. The official said the
administration had not issued any notification of closing down the
university on Saturday. "Only few classes are conducted on Saturday
that would remain on for the day but closure of closing down the
university is false," he said. Secretariat
police official said the police and bomb disposal squad reached the
scene, searched all the blocks, classrooms and nearby areas but nothing
was recovered. He said the police had intensified security of the area,
as US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's visit to US Embassy later in
the evening was due. Police also diverted traffic to other routes to
avert any toward incident, he said. A student, Usman Farooq of DSS
Department said that they were attending a lecture when the
university administration ordered them to vacate all classrooms without
sharing the reason. "All students rushed in panic out of classrooms and
later they learnt about the hoax call. However, students went to their
houses in the university buses as per routine," Usman said. Daily times
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AIOU harassing students in name of security
Islamabad: Security guards of Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU) are
harassing the students in the name of security measures as they
ruthlessly beat a student at the main gate of the university on a petty
issue the other day. According to details, the security guards
deployed at the main gate of the university thrashed a student at a
time when he tried to enter the university from the exit point of the
university. Eyewitnesses said that about 12 to 15 guards beat the
student pitilessly and two guards hit him with wooden benches on his head. "The
security personnel of the university thrashed him so harshly that he
was forced to flee from the scene leaving his shoes at the spot", an
eyewitness said on the condition of anonymity. Amna, a student of
Master of Education (M.Ed), said that the student was ignorant from
where to enter into the university and as he moved towards the exit
point to enter, a security guard loudly using filthy language prevented
him from entering through the wrong gate. He further said that the
language of the guard infuriated the situation and when the student
forbade him to use such language, a dozen of guards started thrashing
him with wooden benched and iron rods. When this scribe himself
visited the university on Thursday, there was a plethora of complaints
from the students against the security guards and university
administration. Zahid Hussain, a student of administrative sciences,
said that the university administration did not bother about the
problems of the students, as they were busy in politics of the
university. He protested that the security guards thrashed a student
for more than 15 minutes but no officer from the administration reached
the spot to interrogate the matter, which showed a deliberate
negligence on the part of the administration. Aftab, another student, said that the university guards hired by the
administration were not properly well trained and non-professional as
they disgraced the students every day in the name of security measures
and did not know the dignity of a student. This scribe tried his
best to know about the details of the student who became a victim of
the university administration but no one from the administration was
ready to reveal the details about the student. The AIOU is the
biggest and only open university of the country who provides distance
learning to its students all over the country. In addition to that, the
university has own campuses for regular students. The university has
the largest number of students at its enrolment list than any other
university of Pakistan. So, a large number of students from all over
the country visit AIOU on daily basis. Abaidullah Mumtaz, the Public
Relations Officer (PRO) of the university, was contacted several times
for comments, even through short message service (SMS) but he did not
bother to comment about the issue. The nation
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FDE fresh warning
Islamabad: The Federal Directorate of Education (FDE) has issued
a fresh warning to heads of all academic institutions under its
control, directing them to follow the approved security plan in letter
and spirit. Well-placed sources in the FDE said that a letter (Number F.1-1/2009/COORD/FDE) was sent to heads of all
federal government educational institutions by Director (Training &
Coordination) Professor Rafique Tahir which also carried details about
possible description of alleged suicide bomber, including his apparent
look and age. The letter also directed heads to provide details
of the alleged suicide bomber to all security personnel and members of
the vigilance committee constituted in educational institutions for strict vigilance. The
fresh warning was issued after a meeting held recently under the
chairmanship of Federal Interior Minister Rehman Malik in which it was
decided to ensure foolproof security arrangements in all educational
institutions. Sources said the letter also directed heads of
educational institutions to contact on the hotline telephone number of
the control room set up at the Ministry of Interior in case of any
emergency. All educational institutions were closed down after
twin blasts at the International Islamic University (IIU) on October
20. Though all government schools, colleges and universities opened on
Monday but attendance remained thin as the majority of parents
preferred not to send their children to academic institutions due to
security concerns. After opening of schools in Islamabad,
special tags are being given to motorists who visit educational
institutions to pick or drop students. One side of many double roads in
front of schools is usually closed, especially in the morning and
noontime when students enter or leave their schools. FDE
Director Training and Coordination Professor Rafiq Tahir confirmed that
a letter had been sent to heads of all federal government educational
institutions with an aim to provide safe environment to students. "We
have already taken strict security measures and would do anything
necessary to provide conducive and congenial environment to students in
all educational institutions," he said. He said that all
regional education officers (REOs) visit educational institutions in
the morning to review security arrangements. He added that vigilance
teams have already been put in place and they are monitoring security
measures being taken in academic institutions. To a question,
he said that FDE officials are in contact with the Ministry of Interior
and the government is doing whatever it can do for the safety of
students in educational institutions.
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200 teachers to get ECE training
Islamabad: The early childhood education (ECE) programme is being
extended to the children of Rawalpindi, Murree and Gujar Khan, says a
press release. The initiative is would be launched in
Rawalpindi where training would be held on November 3-4, 2009 and
simultaneously in Gujar Khan, Taxila and Murree. Under the programme,
training and orientation of 200 primary school teachers would be
conducted; national curriculum would be shared and guidelines and
learning kits for ECE for 200 target schools would be provided to the
students and the teachers. The training will focus on the roll
out of the ECE national curriculum 2007, a world-class document for
Katchi classes. The document recognizes early years of children
(3-5years) as the most critical stage in their physical, linguistic,
emotional and intellectual development. Teachers will be provided
orientation in child-cantered pedagogies, timetabling, assessment
methods and preparation for an ECE learning environment. The
programme is being facilitated by the Directorate of Staff Development
(DSD) - the apex in-service teacher training body in Punjab and the
departments of education under the leadership of respective EDOs
Education.
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Pathology conference
Islamabad The 33rd annual three-day Pathology Conference will start from November 6 at Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS). Over
500 consultant pathologists from across the country will attend the
conference while 70 foreign delegates will also join the event being
organized under the auspices of Pakistan Association of Pathologists
(PAP). According to organisers of the conference, the event will
encompass new horizons and vistas, for luminary delegates,
pathologists, postgraduate students, and for the first time, laboratory
technologists with lectures, research papers, seminars and workshops. They
said Pathology department and administration of PIMS, is making every
effort to make this conference a successful and enriched venture for
the entire community of pathologists. The news
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Two schools, health unit blown up in Hangu
Kohat: Militants have blown up two schools, a basic health unit and
three houses in Shahukhel area of Hangu district. One of the houses had an
imambargah. The schools and BHU buildings and houses were turned into
rubble by time devices planted by militants late on Thursday night.
There were no casualties because the buildings were
empty. Hangu DPO Gul Wali Khan said that about 80 kilograms of explosives had
been used. According to officials, militants fired at vehicles of
security personnel who had gone to Shahukhel on Friday to assess the damage and
collect evidence. The militants fled the area when troops returned
fire.Shahukhel, which leads to the Orakzai Agency, is a Taliban stronghold and
virtually a no-go area. Police and bomb disposal squad defused a 5kg
bomb which had been placed near Sur Gul Chowk on the Indus Highway in Kohat on
Friday. Meanwhile, police arrested two smugglers and recovered 60
kilograms of hashish from their car. The smugglers were going to Karachi
from Khyber Agency. Dawn
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