Ban objectionable textbooks in Punjab
PU dean urges CM to ban objectionable textbooks
Lahore, May 28: Punjab University (PU) Faculty of Education's Dean Prof Dr Hafiz
Muhammad Iqbal has urged Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif to ban certain
textbooks which contain objectionable material. In a
letter to the CM, a copy available with The News, the educationist
alleged that the History textbooks, particularly for English medium
schools, written by a foreign author contained objectionable material. He
said one of the history textbooks included such text and information as
were against the teachings of Islam and centuries old views held by the
Muslims. Quoting an example, Iqbal said one textbook described that the
Holy Quran was written (compiled) twenty years after the demise of the
Holly Prophet (PBUH), which was totally against the Islamic teachings.
According to him Islamic history clearly indicated that the Holy Prophet
(PBUH) had appointed some scribes to write the verses of the Holy Quran
on any suitable object like the leaves of trees, pieces of wood,
parchment or leather, flat stones and shoulder blades as and when the
verses were revealed to the Holly Prophet (PBUH). Similarly,
contrary to the propaganda by Jews, the Muslims of Jerusalem had built
Aqsa Mosque on an empty piece of land. While the Jews, in their bid to
expel the Muslims from Jerusalem, propagated that the mosque had been
built on a Jewish temple, he said. Iqbal further said the same concept
was being propagated by the author of the same history textbook. In
a paragraph the author stated that the Aqsa Mosque was built on a
Jewish temple. The actual word of the textbook was, "Though Jerusalem
had been conquered by the Muslims in 638 and, soon after, the famous
Dome of the Rock was built on the site of the Jewish temple, the Muslim
rulers allowed Christian pilgrims to continue to visit their holy
places." The PU Dean of Education also said after the 18th
Amendment, powers related to check, control and to remove any material
from the textbooks, which would be repugnant to the injunctions of Islam
and contrary to the integrity and ideology of Pakistan, had been
devolved to the provinces.
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PU identifies places for police pickets
Lahore: Punjab University (PU) administration has identified two places for
establishment of police pickets on both campuses of the university. It
is learnt one picket, on the demand of PU Academic Staff Association,
will be established near the varsity's Sports Complex near the Institute
of Communication Studies (ICS), New Campus while the second at Khalid
Bin Waleed Hostel at Old Campus. Sources in PU
administration said policemen would be deployed at both the pickets for
almost three months. PUASA had recently observed academic boycott at the
varsity as a protest against Islami Jamiat Talaba (IJT) hooliganism. PUASA
ended its boycott following the Punjab government vowed to ensure
provision of peaceful academic environment at the varsity. While
majority of Punjab University (PU) teachers have welcomed the Punjab
government's decision of deploying police on the campuses demanding its
early implementation. There are also those who are opposing the same. PU
Academic Group, a pro-Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) faction of teachers, has
been opposing the same, saying the police presence would turn the
university into a police state.
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Humiliation of PU faculty flayed
Lahore: University of Engineering & Technology (UET) Lahore's Teaching Staff
Association (TSA) has strongly condemned the recent incident of
humiliation of Punjab University's faculty members by students. The TSA Executive Committee in a meeting condemned the incident through a unanimous resolution. It
added that TSA President Prof Dr Sohail A Qureshi also assured his
support on behalf of the Federation of All Pakistan Universities
Academic Staff Association (FAPUASA) Punjab.
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FA/FSc part-I exams
Lahore: The Board of Intermediate and Secondary
Education is holding FA/FSc Part-I annual examinations for 2012 from
Monday .
As many as 124,000 candidates are appearing for the examination at
507 examination centres in board's jurisdiction in Lahore, Kasur, Okara,
Nankana and Sheikhupura.
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Teachers warn of boycott
Lahore: The Punjab Teachers Union (PTU) has warned of boycott of a refresher course
starting from June 6 as a protest against the DG Khan district
government for its alleged anti-teacher behaviour. In a press statement
on Sunday, PTU office-bearers alleged that the officers of the DG Khan
district government were victimising the schoolteachers to hide their
own negligence and incompetence. They warned that if the DCO and DMO of
DG Khan continued acting in the same manner, teachers, across the
province, would be compelled to boycott the refresher course starting
from June 6.
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Two deans hired for UET
Lahore: Prof Dr Shahid Naveed of University of Engineering & Technology (UET)
has taken charge as new Dean of the varsity's Faculty of Chemical
Engineering while Prof Dr Fayyaz Hussain as Dean of Faculty of
Mechanical Engineering.
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Students welcome IHC decision
Lahore: The recent decision of Islamabad High Court (IHC) declaring the non-refund
policy of all the educational institutions as illegal is being widely
appreciated by the stakeholders especially students. Besides
declaring it illegal, the court also directed the Higher Education
Commission (HEC) to formulate a policy in order to safeguard the
students' interests. However, one wonders as to why over
the years the HEC, a body to regulate public and private
universities/higher education institutes (HEIs) of across the country,
has remained oblivious to this issue of public interest and failed to
form any policy in this regard. Anyhow, it is better late than never, as
they say. It is generally observed that at the time of
admission students apply to a number of universities/HEIs with an aim to
secure admission to the best of their choice and suitability among
these institutes. Almost all the institutes offer admissions
simultaneously but the last dates to deposit fee seldom coincide,
leaving the prospective students stranded and confused. In such cases
many students deposit fee at more than one institute with a hope once
they get admission at the institute of their choice they will follow the
refund issue. But unfortunately many of them fail to get a refund.
Arham Nazir is one such student who deposited Rs 64,000 under Challan
Number N-16331-FA10 for BBA programme at Comsats Institute of
Information Technology (CIIT), Lahore, in July 2010. Later, he secured
admission at another more suitable institute. But when he approached
CIIT for refund, he was denied the same. It is pertinent
to mention here that Islamabad High Court had passed this particular
order related to refund by universities while deciding the petition of a
student who got admission to Comsats Institute of Information
Technology (CIIT) in BS Computer Science programme in July 2010. Now
when the HEC has been directed by the IHC to formulate refund policy,
the stakeholders demand that while formulating the policy the Commission
should also keep in view all those students who had been denied refund
by varsities/ HEIs during, at least last five years and, if possible
beyond, should not be deprived of hard-earned money by
universities/HEIs. HEC Executive Director Dr Sohail H Naqvi says the
Commission is evaluating the whole things after the court order and will
formulate a comprehensive policy in this regard.
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AIOU VC offers one million books to public libraries
Lahore: Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU) Vice Chancellor Dr Nazir Ahmed Sangi
has offered provision of one million books to public libraries, saying
around 1.3 million students of the varsity visit public libraries across
the country. Speaking at an inaugural ceremony of
the International Journal of Information Management Science on Saturday,
the AIOU VC said the university was ready to support public libraries
for promotion of education and research among the students. The news
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