Education Thread

[Neo]

Friday, February 23, 2007

Pakistani students top 9 in A Levels

ISLAMABAD: Nine Pakistani students were world toppers in different A Level’s subjects under the University of Cambridge International Examinations (CIE). Among them was Fahad Mahmood of City School, Islamabad, who scooped two prizes.

Another 55 Pakistanis topped different subjects in the O Level examinations conducted last June. The successful students were presented awards at a High Achievers ceremony organised by the British Council in partnership with the CIE.

Fahad took the honours in Thinking Skills and Physics to emerge as the world topper. He also received an award for topping chemistry in Pakistan. His proud mother collected the awards on his behalf to a thunderous applause from parents and students. Simon Lebus, Cambridge Assessment group chief executive, and Ms Jo Bakowski, the British Council director, gave away certificates and prizes to the High Achievers.

Terming as fantastic the achievements of the students, Lebus said that schools in Pakistan had great academic records and that teaching methods always brought unbelievable results.

William Bickerdike, the University’s regional manager in South Asia, pointed out that the Pakistani students had shown a marked improvement. “There were only three world toppers last year in A Level, but we have nine this time,” he said, adding “Similarly, there are more toppers in O Levels than last year.” “We have made comparisons and seen that students from Pakistan achieve high grades, which is the result of the excellent teaching in Pakistani schools,” he said.

The students who topped the world in the O Level from the Islamabad region were Ali Moeen Nawazish in Computer Science (St Mary’s Academy, Rawalpindi), Alyna Ahmed in English Literature (Khaldunia High School, Islamabad), Farhan Shaukat in Mathematics Syllabus-D (St Mary’s Academy, Rawalpindi), Myra Ejaz in Economics (Islamabad Prepatory School) and Sameea Najam Butt in History and World Affairs since 1919 (Headstart School, Islamabad).

Fahad was the only A Level student taking world honours from Islamabad. Four of the students in the highest award category are from Lahore and another three from Karachi. Syeda Saba and Zehra Zaidi achieved the highest marks in Islamabad across five Cambridge International A Levels while Hira Yousaf received the award for being best in nine International O Levels.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007\02\23\story_23-2-2007_pg11_5

:flag:

 

[Neo]

February 27, 2007

KARACHI: College education body given dept status

KARACHI, Feb 26: The College Education Management in Sindh has been granted the status of an attached department. This was announced in a statement of the Sindh Education and Literacy Department issued here on Monday.

It said that the provincial government, with the approval of the governor of Sindh, had issued notification, giving status of an “Attached Department” to the College Education Management.

Through the same notification, issued by the Services and General Administration Department, the Provincial Education Manager (Colleges) has been declared as “Head of Attached Department”.

It was pointed out that the control of 238 government colleges in Sindh was transferred to the provincial government from the city and district governments with effect from July1, 2006 through an ordinance issued by the governor.

Subsequently, the provincial government submitted the case to the governor for an amendment in the Government of Sindh’s Rules of Business 1986, as to make the college education management an attached department.

http://www.dawn.com/2007/02/27/local20.htm

 

[Neo]

Tuesday, March 06, 2007

PA adopts University of Education (amendment) bill

By Qamar Jabbar

LAHORE: The Punjab Assembly on Monday adopted the University of Education (amendment) bill 2006 after a clause-by-clause reading.

Under the new bill, the university will be authorised to affiliate or de-affiliate any educational institution on the government’s directive. All government colleges of education, the Government College for Elementary Teachers, Vehari, the Government College for Elementary Teachers, Joharabad, and the provincial education assessment centre, Lahore, will become the constituent colleges of the university.

An employee of a constituent college shall stand transferred to the university on the terms and conditions determined by the government. The university’s staff will consist of a chancellor, a pro-chancellor, a vice-chancellor, directors, principals of the constituent colleges, a registrar, a treasurer, a controller of examinations and a librarian.

The chancellor will appoint the registrar, controller of examinations and the treasurer on the government’s recommendation.

The treasurer will manage property, finance and investment in the university. He will also prepare annual and revised budget estimates to be presented before the finance and planning committee and the university’s syndicate.

Judicial Academy Ordinance 2007: Law Minister Muhammad Basharrat Raja also tabled the Punjab Judicial Academy Ordinance 2007 for legislation.

According to the ordinance, the government, through a notification, will establish the Punjab Judicial Academy. The headquarters of the academy will be in Lahore. It will impart pre-service and in-service training to the judicial officers and court personnel, develop the skill and techniques for court management, case management, delay reduction, alternate dispute resolution and judgment writing.

The academy will conduct examinations, award certificates and organise training courses on the administration of the justice. It will hold conferences, seminars, lectures, workshops and symposia on court management, administration of justice, law and development and legislative drafting.

The board of the academy will consist of the LHC chief justice (chairperson), two LHC judges, the LHC registrar, Planning and Development Board chairman, additional chief secretary, the Finance Department secretary, the law and parliamentary affairs secretary, a district judge and a director general (DG).

The chairperson will appoint an LHC judge or a district judge as the academy DG for four years. The DG will prepare the budget of the academy for each financial year. PA speaker Sardar Shaukat Hussain Mazari referred the ordinance to the standing committee on law for consideration.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007\03\06\story_6-3-2007_pg7_39

 

[Neo]

Thursday, March 08, 2007

January 1 to be made education census day

ISLAMABAD: The federal government has decided to mark January 1 of every year as national education census day and to integrate provincial and central educational management information systems (EMISs) to keep people updated with the progress in the education sector.

Sources told Daily Times on Wednesday that the Education Ministry had directed provincial EMISs to maintain a record of all categories of educational institutions in their databases. Under the integrated system, the provincial EMISs would have to create link with other institutions like the Auqaf, private school management bodies, Pakistan Army, Water and Power Authority (WAPDA) and Pakistan Railways (PR), for data collection. The Education Ministry has carried out the first ever national education census last year. In this census, the country’s human development index was set at 0.539 because of incomplete coverage of all educational institutions, putting the country on 134th position in the world ranking of human development.

The census revealed that there were 245,682 educational facilities in the country, accommodating a total of 33,379,578 students. The male enrollment ratio was 57 percent and that of female 43 percent.

Ironically, 12,737 public educational institutions were non-functional, generally referred to as ghost schools, around 9,776 schools had no proper building structure and that 4,001 of ghosts schools were only in Sindh. Around 53,481 public sector educational institutions did not have a boundary wall, 46,766 lacked drinking water arrangements, 81,633 were not supplied with electricity and 57,216 did have latrines.

The integration of EMISs will help the government develop a comprehensive database.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007\03\08\story_8-3-2007_pg11_3

 

[Neo]

March 16, 2007 Friday Safar 26, 1428
Frontier needs Rs128bn to meet education targets

PESHAWAR, March 15: The NWFP will need Rs58 billion to achieve universal primary education and Rs70.46 billion to achieve 70 per cent secondary education by 2015, while the provincial government can only provide Rs4.6 billion per year, the Senate standing committee on education was told here.

Provincial Education Minister Fazle Ali Haqqani demanded that the federal government should allocate four per cent of the national budget for education and the NWFP in infrastructure development, said a handout issued on Thursday.

The committee was informed that the provincial government had allocated 33 per cent of the current budget for education. The literacy rate in the province had increased to 45 per cent in 2006 from 37 per cent in 1998. Women’s literacy rate had increased to 30 per cent from 21 per cent. In the schools, 68 per cent of the students were boys and 32 per cent girls. The teacher-student ratio had improved to 1:40 by hiring about 40,000 teachers on ad hoc basis, the handout said.

Federal Minister of State for Education Aneesa Zeb Tahirkheli assured the meeting that President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz were committed to raising the education budget to four per cent of the Gross Domestic Product.

The minister pledged the federal government’s support under the education sector reforms and said model education districts would soon be inaugurated in the province.

The senators in the committee stressed the need for comprehensive religious education and suggested inclusion of Quranic text and Hadith in the Islamyat syllabus.

Senators Dr Abdul Khaliq Pirzada, Prof Sajid Mir and Maulvi Agha Mohammad, in the meeting with the provincial education authorities, commended the efforts of the NWFP government to redesign the syllabus within the parameters of the religion.

The senators urged the provincial ministry to make madressah reforms its priority and convince the seminaries to accept financial grants of the federal government to include modern subjects in their syllabus and set up science laboratories.

They asked the provincial government to involve the stake holders in the reformation process of the madressahs.

Mr Haqqani told the committee that his ministry was trying to remove misconceptions about the reforms.

The senators were informed that women teachers posted in backward areas were given one additional basic pay per month and girl students of class VI to X were given a monthly stipend of Rs200.

http://www.dawn.com/2007/03/16/nat27.htm

 

[Neo]

March 17, 2007
Sweden to help set up university

SWABI, March 16: Postgraduate classes of an engineering university being built in Sialkot with the collaboration of the Swedish government will commence later this year on a temporary campus in Lahore.

Members of a delegation of the Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, said during a visit to the Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology that the Sialkot campus was likely to be inaugurated in 2009.

They said that about 100 postgraduate students would be offered admission in the first batch. The undergraduate programmes would be launched on the Sialkot campus in 2009, with the induction of 200 students.

The university will offer degrees in chemical engineering and bio-technology, information technology, industrial and production engineering, infrastructure and building and environment engineering. A department of basic sciences is also planned.

They said the establishment of the institution was part of the Higher Education Commission’s programme to set up eight world-class engineering universities in collaboration with the developed countries.

The Swedish delegation comprising Prof Ake C. Rasmuson, Goran Melin, Bengt Sedvall, Susanne Odung, Jan Boija and Christian Frisenstam was accompanied by Dr Mohammad Mujahid and Ahmad Shahzad Memon of the HEC.

Prof Rasmuson said the Swedish university would introduce its own education system but it had not yet been decided whether it would have a Pakistani or a Swedish charter.

Dr Mujahid said: “Other European powers, like France, Germany, Italy and Austria, are also establishing engineering universities in Pakistan.”

Sweden will provide technical expertise for the university through the vice-chancellor, senior professors, examination system, quality assurance and training of faculty, whereas the Pakistan government will provide the finances.

The academics of the GIK Institute and the Royal Institute of Technology discussed collaboration for promoting mutually beneficial interaction in engineering education and research. They also discussed details of exchanging students and faculty.

http://www.dawn.com/2007/03/17/nat34.htm

 

[Neo]

March 18, 2007

KARACHI: IT, call centre training to students being planned

KARACHI, March 17: The Sindh government is planning to devise programmes for spreading awareness about information technology and call centre training to students. This was stated by Sindh IT Adviser Noman Saigal while speaking at certificate distribution ceremony to graduate students of Adamjee Sciences College on Saturday.

He said the programmes would be aimed at providing IT and call centre training to college students to polish their talent. He said the government was taking all-out steps to promote IT culture in the province and many development projects had been initiated to raise awareness of computer knowledge and effective use of IT. Adamjee College Principal Dr Rafiq Ahmed Siddiqi and teachers also spoke on the occasion.

http://www.dawn.com/2007/03/18/local15.htm

 

[Neo]

March 18, 2007
PESHAWAR: 11 districts to get Rs7bn for education reforms

PESHAWAR, March 17: The NWFP government will provide technical assistance and funding amounting to Rs7.12 billion to 11 district governments under the National Education Sector Reforms Programme initiated with the help of the World Bank.

The provincial secretary for schools and literacy, Shafiullah Khan, and nazims of the 11 districts signed the terms of partnership of the aforesaid programme on Saturday at the Civil Secretariat, according to a handout.

Education Minister Maulana Fazle Ali Haqqani and representatives of the World Bank attended the meeting.

The programme will be implemented in Dera Ismail Khan, Buner, Hangu, Peshawar, Dir Upper, Charsadda, Swabi, Bannu, Tank, Shangla and Kohistan.

Under the programme, the performance of every district will be evaluated annually and future financing will be linked to achieving the targets.

The provincial government will transfer to the districts Rs7.12 billion as grant, for improvement of schools, besides extending them technical assistance for capacity-building.

District governments will ensure timely distribution of textbooks, timely disbursement of stipend to female students, creating facilities in schools and monitoring of parent-teacher associations.

The districts will be required to collate data in order to formulate performance indicators and performance targets and to develop a comprehensive district profile.

http://www.dawn.com/2007/03/18/local21.htm

 

[Neo]

S. Korea, Pakistan to Open Joint Tech University in Karachi

By Lee Hyo-won

Five Korean universities will join hands with the Pakistani government to establish a university in Pakistan.

The school named the University of Engineering, Science and Technology-Korea (UESTP-Korea) in Pakistan, will essentially be an extended campus for the partner universities based in Pakistan for the first 10 years of existence.

These Korean partner universities will help the school formulate the curricula and syllabi of core disciplines (electrical and electronic engineering, chemical and industrial engineering, information technology and computer sciences), as well as the logistics (facilities and technical base) of the university, according to Masood Khalid, Pakistani ambassador to Seoul.

In an interview with The Korea Times on Tuesday, he said the Korean school in Pakistan will be a joint venture between the two countries, under the sponsorship of the Pakistani government.

``Engineering universities in Pakistan are still lagging behind,¡¯¡¯ said Khalid. Pakistan currently has several UESTP projects underway with eight other developed countries, and has signed official agreements with France, Sweden and Austria. The collaborations are an important part of Pakistan¡¯s plan to increase its expenditure on education to 4 percent of the GDP in the next few years.

``Korea is important [because it] has made major strides in science and technology and in research fields,¡¯¡¯ said the ambassador. ``The Korean economic model, which is much admired in Pakistan, is relevant for our country. That is why we seek Korea¡¯s partnership.¡¯¡¯

The site for UESTP-Korea has been set in Karachi, Pakistan¡¯s largest city. Negotiations with the Korean government are expected to culminate in a formalized agreement sometime this year. Pakistan will finance the project, anticipated to be around 25~30 billion Pakistani Rupees (about 390~545 billion won).

``UESTP-Korea will become the everlasting symbol of Pakistani-Korean friendship,¡¯¡¯ said Khalid. ``Korean symbols _ Samsung, Hyundai, Daewoo, and LG _ are very well known [in our country]. We drive Korean cars, use Korean refrigerators and microwaves, and we watch soccer and cricket matches on LG televisions. Daewoo also built the first highway between Islamabad and another city.¡¯¡¯

Apart from the project, a Korean language department was created at the National University of Modern Languages in Islamabad last year. ``It will be a good contribution to further broaden understanding between the two countries,¡¯¡¯ said the ambassador.

In addition, Pakistan¡¯s Higher Education Commission plans to send some 500 Pakistani students to Korea over the next five years. There are currently about 100 young men and women studying in institutions such as KAIST, Seoul National University, Myongji University and Korea University.

``Pakistani students [in Korea] are not only training in their respective disciplines but also familiarizing themselves with rich Korean culture and traditions, thus becoming goodwill ambassadors for Korean-Pakistani friendship,¡¯¡¯ said Khalid.

http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/200703/kt2007032017152510160.htm

 

[Neo]

March 20, 2007
Toronto varsity to work with Hazara University

PESHAWAR, March 19: The University of Toronto, Canada, has agreed to work with the Hazara University, Mansehra, to explore possibilities of archaeological research and supervise MPhil and PhD students.

A press release issued on Monday said that Heather Miller and Ms Jennifer, two professors of the University of Toronto, met the vice-chancellor of Hazara University, Dr Ihasan Ali, to discuss matters of collaboration between the two varsities.

They agreed to explore the possibility of holding joint seminars, conferences and research work in the fields of archaeology and anthropology.

They inspected various departments of the Hazara University and discussed educational programmes with the senior faculty, the press release said.

http://www.dawn.com/2007/03/20/nat19.htm

 

[Neo]

Wednesday, March 21, 2007

‘Historic steps taken in education’

LAHORE: The government, in collaboration with the private sector, has taken historic steps and has achieved practical results in the field of education, Education Minister Mian Imran Masood said on Tuesday.

Masood was addressing the annual prize distribution ceremony of Blessing Field School System at Alhamra. He said the Education Ministry had consulted the provinces regarding a uniform education policy, which was being adopted throughout Pakistan. He promised all possible help to the students of matric (classes 9 and 10) who had suffered because of the short academic session.

Masood asked the parents to keep an eye on their children and monitor their activities including the use of computers and mobile phones. He praised the efforts of the All Pakistan Private Schools Welfare Association (APPSWA) and offered cooperation in solving the problems faced by member schools.

APPSWA President Syed Zulqarnain Shah highlighted the role of the private sector in enhancing the country’s literacy rate. He praised Masood for initiating the Punjab Education Foundation and giving due share to private schools in the Education City. Executive district officer (Education) Muhammad Zahid Khan, Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (BISE) secretary Haji Muhammad Dogar and DPS principal Nasim A Khan attended the function.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007\03\21\story_21-3-2007_pg7_42

 

[Neo]

Tuesday, March 27, 2007

HEC allocates $300 million for science, tech university

BEIJING: The Higher Education Commission (HEC) has allocated US$ 300 million to set up the University of Engineering, Science and Technology of Pakistan (UESTP) with China's cooperation.

On Monday, Technical Affairs Counsellor of the Pakistan Embassy Syed Ali Tallae said, "There are several options as far as the site of the project is concerned; Islamabad, Karachi, Jamshoro and Multan."

UESTP is the part of a larger government project to establish international standard universities in the country.

Tallae said that one of these universities in Sialkot will start admissions from the current academic session. He pointed out that a Chinese delegation will be leaving for Pakistan, at the invitation of the HEC, to expedite the project in regards to, but not limited to, physical inspection and identifying an appropriate site for the UESTP.

He said that all education related projects are required to be planned in a very systematic manner. He pointed out that this university would act as a tool to boost student exchange programmes, competition and other healthy activities between students, including sports and cultural activities.

"This university will play an important role in compounding relations between China and Pakistan as well as impart education, which is the main focus," he said.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007\03\27\story_27-3-2007_pg12_6

 

[Neo]

$300 million...??!? :read:
Don't believe the figure is correct.

 

[Neo]

Tuesday, March 27, 2007

Pakistan could fail to achieve education goals, says report

KARACHI: Pakistan might be among the 26 countries that would fail to meet even a single Education For All (EFA) target by 2015, revealed a research report by the Sindh Education Foundation (SEF) titled “EFA: A critical review of policies, implementation and quality of education” that was launched at a local hotel on Monday.

According to the report, as many as 4.2 million girls were out of school out of a total 6.5 million that formed the country’s population. In primary schools, 50 percent of the out of school children were boys and 65 percent were girls, while 82 percent of the out of school children in middle schools were boys and 85 percent were girls. In secondary schools, 80 percent of the out of school children were boys and 73 percent were girls.

The report said that of the 45,000 schools in the province, 7,734 schools were for girls, 19,917 were for boys and 16,987 catered to both boys and girls. The report also mentioned that the Sindh Government at present was operating 711 non-formal schools for working children and the number of learners enrolled in these schools was 39,651 of which 48.73 percent were boys and 51.27 percent were girls.

Speaking at the ceremony, Sindh Minister for Education Dr Hamida Khuhro said that significant steps had been taken towards achieving the goals set by the EFA. She said that primary enrolment in the province had been steadily growing since 1990 and many independent research studies and reviews of the UNESCO suggested progress in basic education.

Khuhro said that each district of the province was given Rs 100 million to upgrade, modernise and standardise the school structure. The education budget, she said, had been increased to Rs 12 billion from Rs 2 billion and in the next two years, spending on education would form four percent of GDP as opposed to the current two percent.

Aziz Kabani of the SEF said that in a literacy test conducted of students of grades 4 and 5, more than half of them failed to demonstrate proficiency in literacy and numeric skills that were normally expected of children of grades 1 and 2. Therefore, he said, need of the hour was to focus on quality instead of increasing enrolment figures. Prof Anita Ghulam Ali, head of the SEF, said that the EFA had merely been reduced to “literacy for all” rather than “education for all”.

Najma Sadique, executive director of Shirkatgah, Haris Gazdar, senior researcher at the Collective for Social Science Research, Muhammad Ali Memon, director of the KU-IED, Ichrio Miyazawa, chief education specialist of the UNESCO Pakistan, and Prof Abbas Husasin, director of the Teachers Development Centre also spoke at the ceremony.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007\03\27\story_27-3-2007_pg7_7

 

[Neo]

April 12, 2007

Satellite-based education project okayed

ISLAMABAD, April 11: A Higher Education Commission (HEC) project to transform distance-learning through the use of a satellite-based interactive system, for delivery of television content and Internet for the Allama Iqbal Open University has been approved by the Central Developmental Working Party.

A press release issued here on Wednesday, says the aim of the project is to develop the infrastructure for a modern technology- based distance-education university, including interactive satellite-based television channels.

It will create digital content and deliver that through a multicast, satellite-based broadcast network from studios to study centres, schools and colleges.

The main campus will be connected through a wide area network (WAN) to regional centres, study centres and selected schools and colleges where AIOU students do practical work with a group of faculty members, available online over the network.

The establishment of an IT Directorate will develop, maintain and provide IT services for the university, students and tutors as well as improve quality of assessment of students and reform the staff examination system, using online assessment methods and tools.

On completion, the project would provide highly skilled and trained teachers to fill the human resource gap, in the higher education sector and help restructure the pre-service and in- service training needs of these teachers.

The establishment of an interactive information and communication infrastructure and quality education delivery and support system will enhance the education outreach to 350 selected locations to begin with. It will also reduce the gender disparity by extending incentives to female students, in order to improve their participation rate.

http://www.dawn.com/2007/04/12/top18.htm