Computer IT laboratories for Punjab students

IT labs to educate over 2 million Punjab students
Lahore, Sep 11: More than two million students in Punjab will soon receive computer education with the help of NComputing's ultra low-cost virtual desktops.

The Punjab chief minister has driven the programme, which is setting up computer laboratories in more than 4,000 government- secondary and higher secondary schools.

NComputing enables a single computer to be virtualised so that many users can tap the unused capacity and share it as if each person had their own computer.

In Punjab, each school will be furnished with a 15-seat computer lab, which will be run on three desktop PCs and 12 NComputing virtual desktops that will be connected to the PCs.

In addition to reducing purchase costs, electricity usage for these labs will be 90 per cent lower than a traditional all-PC computer lab.

Additional Programme Director Joudat Ayaz of the IT Labs project said that it was a sustainable and environment-friendly project with very low recurring costs. "In the overall context of the project, we are saving over Rs 1.8 billion, which is almost 36 per cent of the total project cost."

As far as the electricity savings are concerned, the Punjab government would save another over Rs 10 million per month as the NComputing devices use only one watt of electricity as compared to 110 watts or more for a typical PC, he added.

VP of NConnexion, NComputing's distributor and authorized service centre for Pakistan & Afghanistan Saiyid Hasan Rashaad stated that with the NComputing technology, a new era in computer literacy has started in Punjab, which would enable the provincial planners to impart meaningful computer training at low cost.

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PITB employees remain unpaid for the past three months
Lahore: The employees of the Punjab Information Technology Board (PITB) working under the Urban Improvable Property Tax (UIPT) program, have not been paid their salaries for the past three months due to system irregularities, it has been learnt.

The employees working under the UIPT are mostly Data Entry Operators (DEOs), Data Base Administrators (DBAs) and other supporting staff who have been paid since June and have been feeding their families on borrowed money.

The plight of the UIPT employees is nothing new as the employees for the same project suffered a similar predicament back in 2008 when their salaries were held back for almost 7 months from the middle of 2008 till the start of 2009.

The people working under the project are mostly lowly paid, having salaries between eight to fifteen thousand a month.

Itis pertinent to mention that (PITB) utilized only a fraction, about 24 percent, of its total allotted budget last year subject to which the budget for the year 2009ó2010 was cut down by Rs 200 million.

Thus the availability of funds was never an issue, instead, factors contributing to these issues are purely linked to system irregularities and inefficient administration.

"Every passing day is becoming more difficult for us to survive as our relatives have even refused to lend us money", said one of the employees.

"It is not that the department does not have money, it is because we are too insignificant for them to consider our problems which are devastating our domestic lives.

As far as my understanding of the system goes, I believe it is made to facilitate the employees of the project, not create crisis in their lives", said one of the victims.

Utilization and dispensation of funds has been a dilemma faced by (PITB) for a while now as the department faces severe criticism from the student faction of the society as well.

The Board had announced the scholarships (Phase-II) in April 2007 for BS, MS and MPhil/PhD students, but the same has not been awarded to the student yet. It is also important to mention here that the chief justice of Lahore High Court has also taken suo motu of the delay.

The PITB General Manager Finance, Rana Mohammad Arshad, while explaining the reason for the delay in the provision of salaries, said the problem had arisen because funds for the UIPT project had been mistakenly allotted under the title of 'Other Projects' instead of listing it as a separate entity.

This mistake needed adjustments and debugging. Thus the funds had to be re-allotted through the government's finance system which caused the delay in the provision of the salaries.

The GM Finance said it would be ascertained that the employees get their due salaries before the Eid-ul-Fitr.

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PPSC 75 candidates appointments
Lahore: The Punjab Public Service Commission (PPSC) has recommended 75 candidates for appointment to the posts of Lecturer Islamiat (Male) BS-17 in the Punjab Education Department. Detailed result is available on Commission's website www.ppsc.gop.pk.

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BISE Lahore part-I result distinction
Lahore: LAPS student Ayesha Zafar scored 438 marks in BISE annual class ninth exams.

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GCU Lecture on angiogenesis process
Lahore: The Government College University's Department of Physics organised a lecture by Dr Sohail Ejaz from Department of Clinical Neurosciences, Cambridge University, UK, at varsity's Sir Fazal-e-Hussain Reading Room on Thursday.

Dr Sohail Ejaz discussed the process of angiogenesis, anatomy of blood vessels and tumour angiogenesis. He said the angiogenesis played an important role in physiological condition. He comprehensively presented the difference between a normal blood vessel and a tumour carrying blood vessel. He further described the events lead to tumours in angiogenesis and how angiogenesis was associated with cancer.

He also elaborated the Electro Chemotherapy, Nano technology, different types of Nano-materials, their potential use in cancer treatment and various other angiogenesis related areas.

Besides senior faculty members, a large number of students also attended the lecture.

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