Karachi educational institutions deserted
Educational institutions wear deserted look
Karachi, Aug 05: Almost all officially open schools, colleges and universities
wore a deserted look on Wednesday amid some of the worst incidents of violence
that continued to paralyze life in the city for a third consecutive day and
forced students and employees of government and private sector concerns, as well
as other sections of society, to remain indoors. Knowing that students
and staff of educational institutions will not be able to travel to their
respective school, college or university for obvious reasons, the Sindh
government put the lives of all stakeholders at risk by ordering administrations
of all these institutions in the city not to dare close their gates on Wednesday
and Thursday. The reasons included unavailability of transport means and
fuel, fear and panic caused by the widespread violence and uncertain weather
conditions with Met office forecasting rains any time in the first two weeks of
this month. The authorities concerned, when asked if they could consider
the ground reality, maintained that they did not find any of the grounds
convincing. They seemed to have tested their own writ and that of the
relevant departments that appeared confident that the law-enforcement agencies
are fully capable of maintaining law and order and ensure availability of all
essentials to keep the city life normal. However, parents of
schoolchildren, in an apparent expression of no-confidence in the ability of the
government and law-enforcement agencies, preferred not to send their wards to
schools on Wednesday. Youthful students and most employees of all age groups
also did not risk their lives and chose to stay at their homes. A few
government schools and colleges complied with Sindh chief secretary's order to
keep them open but neither more than five per cent students could make it nor
the vehicles meant for transporting students could do their normal business.
Attendance of the staff was also thin. According to reports, those
institutions which were opened in the morning were closed by 10 or 11am.
Attendance at the Karachi University and NED University of Engineering
and Technology was also 5 to 6 per cent and no point buses could be operated.
The authorities, however, insisted that educational institutions across
the province must remain open on Thursday. Sindh Education Secretary
Alam Din Bullo said on Wednesday night that "all educational institutions
of the city as well as other parts of the province will remain open on
Thursday." A large number of people making calls to Dawn to ask whether
the educational institutions are open or closed on Thursday, also questioned
that should they put lives of their children at risk. Some of them asked how
they could send their children to their schools when school vans were not
operating. Operators of school vans and college buses said that
they could not run their fleets for want of fuel as petrol pumps across the city
remained closed since Monday evening. "Moreover, there was security risk
as a large number of vehicles were torched just in the last two days," they
said, adding that drivers of the vehicles also feared for their lives.
Parents of many students using their own cars or bikes were asked whey
they did not send their wards to their educational institutions on Wednesday.
They spoke of similar risks.
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Private schools
Karachi: Chairman of the All Pakistan Private Schools Management Association Syed Khalid
Shah announced on Wednesday evening that private schools in Karachi would not be
opened on Thursday on account of the prevailing law and order situation in the
city. Dawn
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Private schools to remain closed
Karachi: The private schools' association announced on Wednesday that all the schools in
the metropolis will remain closed on Thursday (today). This decision was taken
keeping in view the worsening law and order situation in the city.
However, when contacted, the governor house spokesman denied issuing of
any such notification in this regard. Despite the government's
announcement to reopen public and private schools and colleges on Wednesday,
thin attendances was reported in the education department and educational
institutions in the city. Regardless of the statement released late
Tuesday night to open schools and colleges, parents and guardians preferred not
to send their children to the school. The late night cases of violence, which
reportedly claimed around 19 more lives, was one of the major reasons behind
their decisions. On the other hand, the employees of education
departments including provincial, local government and others could not manage
to join their offices on Wednesday. The staff were hit by the acute fuel
shortage. The tense law and order situation in some parts of the city was
another factor of their absence. The news
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Karachi University postponed LLM, MBBS papers
Karachi: The University of Karachi on Wednesday announced that the LLM
annual and MBBS third professional (supplementary) examinations-2010 scheduled
for August 5 have been postponed and rescheduled. According to the new
schedule, the LLM paper-III (previous) human rights, paper-IV (final) shipping
law and paper-IV (previous) cooperative study of Islamic and western
jurisprudence will now be held on Aug 10, 11 and 12, respectively. The
MBBS supplementary paper, ophthalmology (eye) new course and old course, will be
held on Aug 12. app
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SALU, SU to generate funds after budget cuts
Khairpur: The Shah Abdul Latif University (SALU) has decided to generate
its own resources for meeting the shortfall after cut in its budget, pay 50 per
cent of the amount of enhanced salaries and 15 per cent of the increased medical
bills of its employees. The decisions were taken in a meeting of all
departmental heads with the university's Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Nilofer Shaikh,
here on Wednesday. The meeting noted that there would be a shortfall of
Rs244 million after a slash in budget 2010-11 and SALU itself would deal with
the situation. A committee headed by Salu's Pro-Vice-Chancellor was
formed to review fund generation while it appealed to President and Prime
Minister to re-allocate funds for the university so that the ongoing
development, research and academic work could be continued and new schemes,
which were in abeyance, could be approved. The meeting was attended by
presidents of SALU Teachers' Society and University Employees Welfare
Association and faculty of Commerce and Business Administration. Our
Hyderabad bureau adds: The University of Sindh has decided to implement new
timings from 9am to 5pm with immediate effect in all teaching and administrative
departments and work out a plan for generating resources for meeting the
challenges of reduction in its budget. This was decided at a meeting of
the Vice-Chancellor Executive Council on Wednesday. Vice Chancellor,
Prof Dr Nazir A. Mughal briefed the meeting about the verification of degrees of
parliamentarians, received from the Higher Education Commission. He said
the university received 129 degrees which were verified as per criteria set by
the HEC and were returned within the due date. It also discussed
protests organised by two groups of employees of the university. The
Vice Chancellor has reportedly directed the groups to follow rules and
regulations and avoid protest, and administration to resolve genuine problems of
employees without any pressure. Dawn
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