Class X physics paper leaked out before exam

Some unscrupulous elements were seen distributing the Class X Physics paper
Karachi, April 03: The SSC Part-II (Class X) Science group annual examination's Physics (Theory) paper was reportedly leaked out around 15 to 20 minutes ahead of its starting time at some examination centres, particularly those located in the far-flung areas of the city.

According to sources, some unscrupulous elements were seen distributing the Class X Physics paper among candidates outside some examination centres at about 8.40am, whereas the paper was scheduled to start at 9am.

Claiming that the matter has already been brought to the notice of officials of the examination department of the Board of Secondary Education, Karachi (BSEK), the sources did not rule out the possibilities of the board's group leaders' involvement in the distribution of the paper much before the examination's starting time.However, when an official of the BSEK was asked whether the Physics paper was leaked out ahead of the examination's starting time, he replied in the negative, saying that the question of the board's papers being leaked out did not arise at all owing to "foolproof measures" taken by the board's examination department.

He, however, conceded that the board had received just one complaint regarding the distribution of Thursday's Class X Physics paper from an invigilator of an examination centre set up in Baldia Town.

According to him, the board's examination department was informed by the invigilator at around 8.50am that some people were distributing the Physics paper outside an examination centre of Baldia Town. "The matter has been referred to the board's unfair means committee for investigation", he added.

He said it was possible that a paper might be leaked out five to 10 minutes before the start of the exam from an examination centre because group leaders, who are assigned the task of providing papers at the examination centres of far-flung areas of the city, try their best to ensure the availability of papers at the centres a few minutes before the examination's starting time to avoid delays.

Meanwhile, a spokesman for the BSEK said that in all, 62 cases of unfair means were detected in the Physics paper on Thursday.

About the Class IX examinations being conducted in the afternoon shift i.e. from 2pm to 5pm, the spokesman said that the board's vigilance teams booked 57 candidates on charges of unfair means. Dawn

'Immediate action should be taken to regulate exam system'
Karachi: The standards of education throughout the province of Sindh require immediate attention and urgent steps have to be taken to save our youth from problems in the future and, in this regard, we need to bring about vital changes in our examination system, said PPP MPA Humera Alwani on Thursday.

Speaking at a press conference, she added that it has been observed that during the exams, no stone is left unturned by the students to use unfair means in their respective papers. The bookstore owners that sell material, including guide books, solved papers and photocopies, during examination hours even with the knowledge that they will be used for cheating purposes are never held accountable and question paper contents are now also routinely leaked, Alwani maintained.

She went to say that the practice of changing seating arrangements, accommodating candidates in special halls to facilitate them, use of electronic devices and other material and allowing extra time to selected candidates have also come to notice many times. As no law exists to regulate the examination system and to stop cheating, a law must be extended to include the regulation of all examination centres throughout the province, she added. Daily Times

Power outages hit students harder
Karachi: The metropolitan is facing acute shortage of power supply. This situation has largely affected the lives of citizens, especially that of students appearing in examination.

These days Matric examinations are being held in Karachi and the students are busy in preparing for them and condition of electricity has irked their patience.

An annoyed student from Gulshan-e-Iqbal asked: "We have tried and worked very hard throughout the year. During exams, no matter how much we have prepared, we still need revision. But thanks to the KESC, we cannot do so as loadshedding occurs after every 2 hours for one hour. My simple question to the respected authorities is that who would be responsible for the bad results?

"My daughter has worked with great dedication for her studies. But I fear just because of these power outages, my daughter would suffer.

I just pray to God to help us all and our children. Perhaps a common citizen of this country can only pray for betterment in the organisations related to civil rights. As, I feel government is also helpless in front of KESC," said a mother of a metric student from Malir.

On the other hand, such condition of power supply has also a worse impact on the hospitals. Patients and their attendees have to go through intense emotional and physical pain because of this condition. Operations in the hospitals have been delayed due to these power outages.

"Precisely it is right to blame the KESC for its malpractice. The company has failed at large to provide any relief to the citizens even in winter. From last two decades, nothing has been done in the power generation sector. No investment has been made in this sector by its private buyers," said energy expert and social activist.

"But then again, it is somewhat our own problem as well. We need to change our life style and especially our attitude towards electricity consumption.

If the government and company have failed in their duties, we as citizens of this metropolitan should steadfastly perform our duties. It is ironical that no awareness has been given to the citizens by the power utility regarding power consumption and its safety," he added.

For electricity consumption and our attitude towards it, he explained that the city has the total population of around 170 million.

The average of 10 people in a family lives here. If one family starts saving electricity by using energy saver bulb and turning off lights during daytime, it could save 3,24,8000 watts.

If we reduce our dependence on the electrical appliances, for 1 hour only, such as iron, microwave, refrigerators and water pumps we could save 2,67,5000KW per day. By this exercise we can 0.539748MWs daily and 197.00802MWs per year.

The marriage lawns should be closed at 11pm or all the celebrations should be held in the day time. It is much better to save electricity than to suffer in the dark for long spells. This is the only way to get rid of loadshedding.

"Perhaps, we need to counter the power shortage ourselves. In saving electricity company is also helping by doing unscheduled loadshedding," he further added.

Meanwhile, the city has been facing loadshedding of around 300MWs. The demand of electricity for the day remains 2,200MWs. Multiple spells of loadshedding being observed in all parts of the metropolitan. The Nation

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Only 5% women in city have access to higher edu'
Karachi: Only five percent of females of Karachi, can access higher education and, out of these, only two percent successfully enter the job market, said Iqra University Head of Phil, PhD Program Dr Zaira Wahab, during a session, 'Women Inc', organised by the Aga Khan University's Working Group for Women.

Through her research, Dr Zaira highlighted the lack of opportunities for female graduates in the city. "Pakistan has the second largest number of school dropouts in the world and in Sindh, alone, 50 percent of children have never been to school," said Sindh Education and Literacy Department Chief Program Manager Alia Shahid, adding that in some areas this figure goes up to 72 percent.

She stated that higher education is essential for good employment opportunities, therefore, the options for women of Karachi, who are by and large uneducated, automatically diminish. Shahid added that the struggle is much harder for women from poorer socio-economic backgrounds, especially rural areas, where education is the lowest on the priority list. Daily Times

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Discredited professor's reappointment
Karachi: Senior Professors at the University of Karachi (KU) Faculty of Islamic Studies have drawn battle lines against the reappointment of Prof. Jalaluddin Noori as the Dean of the Faculty, citing the cases of plagiarism and manipulation of his birth date and educational documents that have been proved.

The professors say that the decision, clandestinely taken at the Governor House, has usurped the rights of four senior professors who will retire during the second term of Prof. Noori without giving them the chance of reaching the post of dean. "This is a gross human rights violation and negation of all the rules and regulation and general norms of the university," claimed Dr Hissamuddin Mansoori, Professor and Chairman of the Department of Usool–Al-Deen at the faculty.

"Noori's reappointment as the Dean is an affront to the honour and sanctity of the university and its teachers. We are embarrassed and taken aback by the decision. It has been proved beyond any doubt that Prof. Noori is not a person who should be teaching in a university, leave alone being Dean of Islamic Studies, and that too not once but twice! What has happened to the moral standards of the university," lamented Dr Rehana Firdous, one of the senior professors of the faculty.

The professors who will be affected by the reappointment of Noori include: Dr Akhtar Saeed Siddiqui, the senior-most Professor in the faculty who retires in October, 2009, Prof Ghulam Mehdi who retires in August 2010, Dr Hissamuddin Mansoori who retires in December 2011 and Dr Rehana Firdous who will retire in February 2012.

Dr Akhtar Saeed Siddiqui is the senior-most professor (Grade-22) in Pakistan but according to another senior professor who requested anonymity, he had been cornered. Noori had "powerful friends and supporters" in the corridors of power. "We have many cases, at faculties of Arts and science where the deans had much shorter stints, a couple of months. Dr Nazrul Hasnain, Dr Altaf, Dr Imtiaz, Dr Iqbal Mohsin, Dr Iftikhar Imam Naqvi, Dr Aijaz Rasool, Dr Nikhat Yasmeen, Dr Darkhshan Haleem (acting Dean), and Dr Faheemuddin (all from the Science Faculty) became deans for a few months. They were the senior-most in the faculty and had the chance to become dean," Dr Firdous said.

Sources in the administration said that KU Vice-Chancellor (VC) Prof. Pirzada Qasim had sent the names of three aspirants for the post of dean with adverse remarks for Noori. The VC had made it clear that he did not want Noori to assume any administrative post in the future. The other two names were that of Dr Akhtar Saeed Siddiqui and Prof. Ghulam Mehdi.

A delegation of the Professors of the Faculty comprising Prof Ghulam Mehdi, Dr Hissamuddin Mansoori, Dr Rehana Firdous, Dr Muhammad Shakil Auj, Dr Zahid Ali Zahidi and Dr Arif Khan Saqi met Special Secretary to Governor Major Aftab Lodhi, Principal Secretary Mumtazur Rehman and Fazilat Mehdi to apprise them of the unrest caused by Noori's reappointment. According to the professors, the officials at the governor house first claimed that it was the VC who should have given adverse remarks about Noori if he did not want him to be Dean for the second time. It implied that VC had favoured Noori. The Professors denied this premise and later Major Lodhi conceded that the VC did try to stop the reappointment.

A senior professor confirmed that Tehreek Nizam-e-Mustafa President Haji Hanif Tayyab was the person who had recommended the name of Noori to the Governor for Deanship. "I met Haji Tayyab and implored him not to do it because Noori was a disgrace to the Faculty and KU and had become a laughing stock. Haji Tayyab expressed his inability to do anything because he had already talked to the Governor for Noori's reappointment," the professor lamented.

The professors have met Muzaffar Ali Shajrah, Advisor to the Chief Minister for jails who is also a member of KU Syndicate. They intend to meet all the Syndicate members starting with Senator Abdul Haseeb Khan. "We are not doing it for ourselves; we want to preserve the honour of the sacred profession. We are on the right path. We challenge Prof Noori to deny what we are saying. He would not. Never," they said.

Sindh Varsity to strictly deal with boycott of classes
Hyderabad: The authorities of Sindh University have decided to take strict measures to discourage boycott of classes and hooliganism by certain student wings and hold a meeting with all concerned stakeholders including parents and students for promotion of a healthy educational environment in the campus.

This was decided in a high level meeting which was presided over by the Vice-chancellor of the university Mazharul Haq Siddiqui and attended by Pro Vice- chancellor, deans of the faculties, and heads of the teaching and administrative departments.

The meeting discussed the issues regarding boycott of classes forcibly by different political groups and expressed great concern over the wastage of precious teaching time during boycott and to take possible measures to avoid and control such incidents.

Security system at the teaching departments, hostels and residential colony and entrances were also reviewed. It was also decided to hold meetings with the parents on frequent basis to bring in their notice about academic progress of their children.

Admission schedule for diploma in education
Hyderabad: The University of Sindh has announced schedule of admissions for Diploma in Education (evening) under the Faculty of Education, Hyderabad. The candidates having Intermediate qualification will be eligible to apply for the admissions. The last date for the submission of admission forms has been fixed as April, 19 while last date for payment of admission fee has been fixed as April, 30, 2009. The Dean Faculty of Education Dr. Parveen Munshi has announced that the diploma in education will be supportive for working teachers. The News

Incomplete results worry students
Okara: Hundreds of students of class five and eight with their parents held a rally on Thursday outside the Okara Press Club in protest against 'flawed' results.

The results declared by the Punjab Examination Commission hold a number of incomplete information to be declared later on. An education official said the parents should submit applications for results.

PROTEST: Dozens of the sacked officials of the Vocational Training Council Punjab (VTCP) protested against the department.

The VTCP has terminated the services of 800 employees from 150 institutes in the province.

They said the department had terminated the services of officials without any justification. The employees had been working for more than six years and had regular status. They demanded that the government reinstate them. Dawn

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