Private schools high fees, charges
Private schools demanding a pound of flesh
Rawalpindi, Feb 14: Rawalpindi has a big number of schools run by private bodies and trusts
that collect high admission and tuition fees, and development charges
under various heads. It is shocking to find that these funds are
charged at the fancy of these private managements. Their
focus seems not to provide education but to run an educational factory,
where they can reap rich harvest and they compel students to pay vast
sums of money totally unconnected for the purpose for which they go to
school. Due to the heavy demand for seats in private schools, it has
almost become a sellers market where these private managements fleece
parents by insisting on earmarked funds as a pre-condition for
admission. The game begins at the very beginning of the term
when parents requiring admission for their children have to buy
application forms ranging from Rs50 to Rs500. In order to get admission
they have to pay funds, tuition fees, book fees, uniform fees and other
amounts just to begin their term. Even those students who continue to
study in the same school every year are expected to pay building, lab,
sports, library, computer, security, stationery, and health funds. Parents
also have to buy notebooks and textbooks and they have to shell out
huge sums depending on the school and the type of funds being demanded.
At times, the sums demanded are so high that many families have to
admit their children to schools far away from homes. While school
authorities deny the charges, stating they do not collect more than
Rs1,000, relatives and parents of children say huge sums are demanded
from them. Some of them who spoke to this scribe said that the
concerned authorities should interact with students and parents to get
their feedback. A mother of a student said she was taken aback
when school authorities demanded Rs5,000 to get her sister's son
admitted to Class VII. Dejected, she got her nephew admitted in a
government school. Muhammad Ehsan, working in a private firm,
said he was unable to admit his younger brother in Class VII as he was
asked to deposit Rs6,000. A father of a student recalled that his son
studied at a school a few years ago. But when he took two of his
brothers to get them admitted in the school, he was asked to make a
payment of Rs8,000 for each of the boys. When he said he could not
afford to pay more than Rs5,000, admission was refused. He said that
following a request from a local councilor, he was able to admit the
two boys in a government school elsewhere. Majeed Akmal, a Class
X student, said that he was deeply pained as his family had to
contribute an unreasonable amount of funds to the construction of a
school block. Several parents recounted the tales about how they were
fleeced in the name of development funds. They recalled that one
of the famous schools established decades ago with the objective of
providing quality education to children from backward pockets of the
city now gets flak for demanding development funds. "Why are
they punishing us like this? We pay the school fees on time. All over
the academic year circulars are issued by the principals of the schools
to meet operating cost of various projects," concerned parents lamented.
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SPLA token hunger strike observed
Karachi: Members of the Sindh Professors and Lecturers'
Association (SPLA) on Saturday observed a token hunger strike at the
D.J. Sindh Govt Science College in protest against what they described
as a biased attitude of the government towards college teachers.
A number of teachers belonging to different colleges of the province
came to the DJ college and took part in the token hunger strike on the
call of SPLA. The president of SPLA, Prof Mirza Ather
Hussain, said that promotions of college teachers had been delayed
by the government despite several assurances from the government.
"Many hindrances and there in promotions of college teachers and the
education department seems to be least interested in resolving their
problems; therefore, we demand that the government end this biased
attitude towards college teachers," he said. He also called
for immediate issuance of a notification for the promotion of college
teachers from Basic Pay Scale (BPS) 19 to BPS-20 and from BPS-17 to
BPS-18. He said that no timescale was being followed for the
promotion of college teachers in the province as 1,048 college teachers
were waiting for their promotion to next grades. Dawn
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Promotion of knowledge
Lahore: Punjab University Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Mujahid Kamran has said that the
country can attain academic and socio-economic supremacy at the global
level only through the promotion of modern knowledge. He was
speaking at the launch of a orientation program for the newly admitted
MBA evening class students at the Hailey College of Banking and
Finance, said a press release here on Saturday. Dr Kamran said
we could not achieve development in any sphere of national
reconstruction without producing professionally sound experts in the
scientific and financial disciplines. He said the promotion of literacy
had never been recognised as a national requirement by any government
in the past. Presently, the country was spending only about two percent
of the GDP on education which was meagre, he said, adding that owing to
educational backward and illiteracy, an overwhelming majority of the
population was unable to actively participate in the developmental
process and that's why we were at the mercy of the advanced countries. The
PU VC narrated an incident of his noble laureate teacher Prof Dr Abus
Salam, saying that when his teacher visited Germany soon after the
World War II, he was amazed to learn that a former German prisoner of
war, who had learnt Punjabi language during his imprisonment from
another prisoners from the sub-continent, was looking for him
everywhere to know the meaning of a few Punjabi words and was working
on a German-Punjabi Dictionary. He said if our students pursued their
goals with the same commitment and single-mindedness, they could also
cause miracles like the German and Japanese students. Speaking
on the occasion, renowned industrialist Shahzad Alam, Chairman
Investment Institute Lahore Muhammad Ishaq Khan and Ex-MD PICIC AG Mir
paid tribute to the college principal who was striving for enhancing
the number of qualified graduates for the national and foreign
multinationals. Earlier, presenting his welcome address, the
Principal Khawaja Amjad Saeed told the audience that in addition to a
modern seminar room, six new furnished classrooms would also be added
to the college building while MPhil programme for postgraduate students
would also be started shortly. Souvenirs and shields were presented to
the vice-chancellor and guests of honour.
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Internship Programme Workshop
Lahore: University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences Vice-Chancellor Dr Muhammad Nawaz has
said that the university students are the ambassadors of their alma
mater and they must strive to excel in their fields to strengthen
livestock, poultry, dairy and agriculture sectors. According to
a press release on Saturday, the vice-chancellor, he was addressing DVM
final semester students at the concluding ceremony of five-day
Orientation Workshop on Internship Programme (2010) arranged by
university's faculty. Dr Nawaz said the DVM students should equip
themselves with practical knowledge and training during their
internship in various organisations, adding that the UVAS students must
emerge as strong professionals. Addressing on the occasion,
former vice-chancellor of the Sindh Agriculture University, Tando Jam,
Bashir A Sheikh, lauded the UVAS, acknowledging that the university was
also facilitating the private sector. He urged the students to work
hard in their fields. During the workshop, lectures on personality
development and technicalities were delivered on a daily basis by
various officials of different companies and firms and teachers. Earlier,
Prof Dr Nasim Ahmad, dean of the Faculty of Veterinary Sciences (FVS),
gave a briefing about the procedure of the internship of DVM final
semester students. He said the objective of the internship programme
was to provide the training to students in the area of veterinary
medicine, animal husbandry and allied fields. Prof Ahmad also
announced that a visiting monitoring team would be constituted to check
the presence of internees in 44 organisations where they would be sent
for four-month internship. Those who delivered lectures at the workshop
included Prof Dr Nasim Ahmad, Dr Mustafa Kamal, Altaf Mehmood Chaudhry,
Faisal Fareed, Haroon Lodhi, Dr Irfan Zahid, Shahzad S. Iqbal, Dr
Zubair, Dr Salah ud Din, Junaid Jamil, Dr Mohsin Ali Bhatti, Dr M
Latif, Dr Japie Conradie, Sayed Hassaan Bin Haider and Dr Muhammad
Rashid.
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FAST varsity Competitions
Islamabad: Students of different universities Saturday enthusiastically participated in
initial rounds of various competitions on the opening day of 3-day
Tamasha 2010, an annual event being organised by the FAST University. Over
150 students put in their best efforts to shine in initial stages of
competitions including essay writing, bilingual declamation, painting,
theatre and cultural performance. The winners of these competitions
would be eligible to compete in next two stages to be held on second
and third day of the event. The universities that are being
represented in the competitions include Gomal University, PAF Academy
(Risalpur), International Islamic University Islamabad, the University
of Punjab, Institute of Management Sciences, NUST and NFC (Faisalabad).
The essay writing competition was divided into two categories-English
and Urdu-in which the students were supposed to use their writing
skills keeping in view their respective topics. The essay writing
(English) was further divided into two categories including fictional
and normal writing. Topics for fictional writing included 'Photographer
and Meaning of Life', 'Journey of a Water Drop', 'Global Warming' and
'Priest'. The participants of normal writing wrote on topics such as
'Dog Day' and 'The Planet Criminolia'. The topics for essay
writing (Urdu) included 'Mazhab', 'Adam ki Sarguzsht', 'Khud Ko Taqseem
Na Karna' and 'Zamane Ka Asar Mazhab Par'. The judges for these
competitions were Mariam Piracha, Dr. Saghir Awan, Dr. Sohail Abbas,
Dr. Bushra and Dr. Shameem. In painting competition, some 18
students were given two-day time to complete their work after which the
judges would evaluate their skills before announcement of winners. The
themes for the competition were 'Renaissance', 'Psychedelic' and
'Conceptual Art'. The jurists included Attiqa Zafar and Khizar from
Hunarkada. In theatre performance, the students divided into
16 teams rehearsed on the opening day for their events to be conducted
in next two days. Every team would be given 20 minutes in which they
would show their artistic skills in street performance, 'notanki' and
mime (silent). Songs would also be included to attract attention of the
audience. In cultural performance, students from various universities
continued to rehearse for their combined performance to be presented
today (Sunday). Their performance would mainly focus on wedding
ceremonies including 'Mehndi (Henna)' in which the students would try
to portray real local culture and traditions. Earlier, FAST
University Director Dr. Aftab Maroof addressing the inaugural ceremony
of Tamasha 2010 said the event has been organised to provide students
with ample opportunities to show their skills in various competitions.
"Our students can make waves in every sphere of life due to their
unmatched talent and skills, but there is a need to provide them with
better opportunities to enable them utilise their potential to the
fullest," he said.
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Letter writing competition
Islamabad: Pakistan Post here Saturday announced 39th
International Letter Writing Competition for students under age 15. An
official of the postal ministry said that the subject chosen for
this year is " Write a letter to someone to explain why it is important
to talk about AIDS and to protect yourself against the disease. " He
said that the following cash prizes will be awarded to the best three
winners in addition to Pakistan Postage Stamps Albums and Certificates
of merit. The first prize Rs20,000, second
prize Rs10,000 and third prize Rs05,000. He
said that the best letter in Pakistan (English version only) will be
sent to the Universal Postal Union, where a jury set up by Unesco will
select three winners to be awarded gold, silver and bronze medals
respectively bearing relevant inscription and their names as well as
albums of the UPU official postage stamps. "In addition, the
next four or five winners will be awarded certificates
and consolation prizes," he added. Students
not more than 15 years can participate by sending a letter either in
English or Urdu duly verified by the Head of their school to the
Assistant Director (INTL. POST) Pakistan Post Directorate General
Islamabad-44080. He said that the following particulars should
be authenticated by the head of the school full name, father's name,
age, class, photograph of the candidate, name of the institution with
complete address & telephone number, length of letter from 500 to
800 words. "Each participation must send his/her entry
Urgent Mail Service (UMS) Registered mail from any post office," he added. The news
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Children creative skills
Islamabad: Pak-Turk International Schools & Colleges, Islamabad
Campus has come up with a unique idea of 'Third Eye Project' with a
purpose to enhance sense of creativity among children so that they
could view things with different possible angels. The school
administration has taken the idea from Turkey after deliberations with
the different educationists of Turkey. The idea of 'Third Eye Project'
spoke about its success and the hard work of children as it could be
witnessed after watching their projects displayed during a funfair held
in the school premises on Saturday. After watching the projects of
the children, it could be ascertained that things could not only be
interpreted in the way as they apparently looked but could be explained
in the more optimistic manner with different angles. The projects in
fact revealed the inner thoughts and imaginations of children that
could help them a lot to enhance their sense of creativity in practical
life. Bashna Emaan's project was conveying a good message generally for
all citizens of Pakistan and especially for residents of the Capital
that 'traffic violations could be lethal for all of us'. Subaat
Eman and Eshah Eman, both had given the message of tolerance and
non-violence in her project titled 'Earth is a worth living place for
all of us'. Another child had made beautiful comparison between a book and money
with the words inscribed on it 'Knowledge is worthier than money'. Maooz,
Affan and Tayyab had made a clock with a fixed candle in the middle of
it conveying an important point that "Time is like a burning candle, so
do not waste it. Abdullah Ibal Hatipogue 's idea was very relevant in
the prevailing situation of extremism and terrorism as he while giving
the message of broad-mindedness in his project showed different pencil
colours saying that "we can learn a lot from crayons, some are sharp,
some are pretty and some are dull. All are different colours but they
all have to live in the same box". An other child's 'Love Train' was
floating the idea that all human beings were brothers and sisters
besides the fact what race, religion and country they had and all were
like boogies of one train and should have love and respect foe each
other. H Mustafa Hatipoglu, principal of the
school said that Pakistan and Turkey were the two countries but "one
nation" and were true promoters of education. The nation
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