BIEK announced HSC part-II | SSC exams from March 24

BIEK announced results of HSC part-II Humanities (regular) and special candidates' supplementary examinations 2008
Karachi, Mar 13: The Board of Intermediate Education Karachi (BIEK) on Thursday announced the results of the HSC part-II Humanities (regular) and special candidates' supplementary examinations 2008.

According to statistics, a total of 4,567 candidates appeared in the examination and 2,324 of them were declared to have passed.

A BIEK statement said that marks-sheets could be collected by the candidates from their respective colleges after two weeks. No marks-sheet would be issued from the board premises, it added. App

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Arrangements for SSC exams finalised
Karachi: Around 300,000 male and female candidates (both regular and private) will be appearing in the Secondary School Certificate Part-I and Part-II (Class IX and X) Science and General groups annual examinations-2009 scheduled this month.

The Class X General group examinations are scheduled to begin on March 20 and the Class X Science group examinations on March 24.

The Class IX General and Science groups examinations this year are to be held on the new pattern. The first paper in the General group has been scheduled for April 1 and in the Science group on April 2.

Under the new pattern of examination, being introduced for the first time for Class IX candidates, all papers except for the compulsory subjects (English and Pakistan Studies) will have three portions. The portion "A" will have multiple choice questions, portion "B" will comprise questions requiring short answers and portion "C" will consist of questions requiring descriptive answers.

According to the Board of Secondary Education Karachi (BSEK) Secretary, Prof Asif Pasha Siddiqui, the Class X papers in both the groups will be held in the morning shift (from 9am to 12 noon) while the Class IX papers in the afternoon shift (from 2pm to 5pm).

Giving details of the arrangements made for the holding of the examinations, he said that a total of 476 centres (264 for male and 212 for female candidates) had been set up at government and private schools. He said arrangements had also been made to ensure availability of adequate furniture at all the centres. A certain amount under the head of contingency would also be provided to the heads of the schools where examination centres had been set up, he said, adding that the fund was meant for provision of drinking water and other essential facilities to candidates.

Vigilance teams
Prof Siddiqui said that with a view to ensuring transparency and checking cheating/unfair means in the examinations, the BSEK had set up 182 vigilance teams - 92 for male and 90 for female candidates' centres - while the EDO education would form his own vigilance teams for the purpose.

The examinations would conclude on April 23 and shortly afterwards, a centralised assessment of answer scripts would begin, he said. The results would be announced by the dates already fixed by the Sindh education department's steering committee. Dawn

'Meltdown indicates demise of communist, capitalist systems': KU seminar on global financial crisis
Karachi: Since the communist and capitalist economic systems have both failed, the only logical alternative is the Islamic economic system.

This was observed by Dr Shahida Wizarat of the Applied Economics Research Centre (AERC), University of Karachi, while speaking at a seminar on "Global financial crisis: impact on the world economy and the developing countries" held at the university on Thursday.

The day-long seminar was organised by the university's Area Study Centre for Europe (ASCE) in collaboration with the Hanns Seidel Foundation, Islamabad.

Dr Wizarat argued that Islamic banks appeared less affected by the economic downturn as compared to the other banks. She said that the current international financial crisis might change the course of history.

The crisis, she recalled, had started in the housing sector in the United States where interest rates were very low. Investment firms and hedge funds also got into house financing and there was intense competition in the sector.

Adjustable mortgage rates were introduced to attract buyers. When the US Federal Reserve increased the interest rate, people began to default on loans and there were foreclosures of properties by banks and financial institutions, she added.

According to her, the previous economic crisis of similar proportions was felt in 1973 with a steep rise in the oil prices in the aftermath of the Arab-Israel war. This had profoundly impacted the social, economic and political spheres and an important outcome was that the role of the state was greatly enhanced.

Ali Ercelan of the Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research (Piler) quoted the adage "capitalism for the poor and socialism for the rich", and said this was an apt discription of the situation prevailing in the world.

He said economies of most countries could be categorised into two sectors - formal or state sector, run through taxes etc, and the people's sector - adding that "the masses only get what is left over."

He observed that the global financial crisis that started from the US had now turned into a worldwide economic crisis. "Perhaps the US will ultimately benefit from this crisis," he remarked.

Mr Ercelan was of the view that the crisis was rooted in the inequality between nations/states and between individuals. He pointed out that the average per capita income in the developed world was around $25,000 while it was just $1,000 in developing countries.

He observed that an impact of the financial crisis on the world economy was a downward revaluation of properties, assets, etc. "If there had been less international economic integration, or in other words less globalisation, the impact of this crisis would not have been so severe," he said.

In this regard, he pointed out that the countries in the developing world or the emerging economies of south-east Asia, for instance, appeared more severely-hit than the inward-looking economies, for they were trade dependent.

Asif Iqbal of the Social Policy Development Centre (SPDC) told the audience that since Pakistan was not so well-integrated in the global economy, the impact of the international financial crisis in the short-term was not severe.

SPDC Managing Director Dr Khalida Ghous summed up the seminar's proceedings.

Earlier, ASCE Director Dr Naveed Ahmad Tahir spoke on the topic of the seminar. App

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