Booti mafia makes a comeback

By Khalid Khattak

LAHORE: TWO different incidents of massive cheating during the recent supplementary examinations of intermediate and BA/BSC are evident of the fact that the powerful booti mafia has re-emerged in the province with the help of its strong connections.In the first incident, as many as 12 people were caught red handed for appearing in place of real candidates in the BA/BSc Supplementary Examination held under the Punjab University. According to details, on Oct 25, 12 fake candidates appeared in the examination of English B paper in Centre No 2, established at the Government Degree College, Pattoki. During the routine checking, the college principal and staff stopped the illegal activity and informed the PU Examinations Department. Besides, the Examinations Department was also informed about the incident through an unknown telephone call. On this, the department constituted a five-member inquiry committee to probe into the incident. PU Controller of Examinations Zahid Karim Khan believes that some booti mafia is involved in this incident, adding that there are chances of the involvement of some university officials too.The other incident of massive cheating was reported during the recent Intermediate Part-I Supplementary Examination of the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (BISE), Lahore. One of the exam centres of the BISE at Shahdra was reportedly “hijacked” by the armed members of a student union who “facilitated” the candidates to solve their papers.However, during the next paper, when one of the BISE’s monitoring squads, along with heavy contingent of police, paid a surprise visit to the said exam centre, it found Ashfaq Jutt, a representative of the student union, trying to disrupt the examination once again. Interestingly, when police and the BISE squad tried to arrest him, after he was identified by the superintendent, he succeeded in fleeing from the scene. The board officials got a case registered against him with the Shahdra Police Station. The interference of student unions in examinations is not a new phenomenon. There had been incidents in the past when students organisations used to control the exam centres not only to mint money but also to help their own activists pass different exams. It may be mentioned here that during his previous tenure, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif had done his best to purge educational institutions from booti mafia. He had even introduced entry test in medical colleges for the elimination of the mafia. This year when students and their parents expressed concerns over entry test for admission to medical colleges, the chief minister reiterated his stance that entry test was introduced for the elimination of “booti mafia,” adding: “Now full attention will be paid to transparency of general examinations.” He vowed to completely eliminate booti mafia from the province to safeguard the rights of hardworking students.Seen in this context, the recent incidents of cheating, no doubt, pose a great challenge to the authorities concerned to ensure the protection of the rights of hardworking students from the booti mafia.

Source: The News International

Monday, November 03, 2008

ICS: Probe into tampering with results

By Khalid Khattak

LAHORE: The Punjab University (PU) administration has initiated an inquiry into alleged tampering of results at the varsity’s Institute of Communication Studies (ICS), The News has learnt. Sources in the PU administration said that Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Mujahid Kamran had ordered a probe following complaints received about the alleged tampering of results of viva voce exam of MS (Replica) Session 2005-07.They said it was found during the probe that award sheet signed by the ICS director, the internal examiner and the external examiner was allegedly tampered to get some failed students passed. They said the Punjab Institute of Language, Art and Culture’s director Dr Shaista Nuzhat was the external examiner who had conducted the viva voce exam. Giving details of the probe, the sources said a final award list of the said exam was displayed on November 7, 2007 in which four students were declared as “fail” adding, however, another forged list was displayed soon in which all those who earlier could not clear the exam were declared successful.The sources added the university administration had contacted Dr Shaista Nuzhat seeking her opinion about both the lists. They added the lady had verified that the signatures on the first list as genuine making it clear that her signatures on second list were not genuine.A senior PU official, on condition of anonymity, said the external examiner had informed the administration that the result was tampered as the second list was not signed by her. He said the matter remained in dark until recently when the VC received complaints by some students about the said results. He further said Dr Ahsan Akhtar Naz was internal examiner of the said exam. When contacted Dr Shaista Nuzhat said some students could not pass the viva voce exam adding the students as well as some faculty members had approached her at that time to seek favour in this regard. “I did not listen to them and issued the list”, she said adding “I told them to talk to the head of the department if they had any problem”. She confirmed that she had informed the PU administration that the second list was not signed by her hence it was forged. When contacted Dr Ahsan Akhtar Naz said he was not internal examiner of the said exam. When contacted, ICS director Dr Mughees Uddin Sheikh said he had not received any complaint or news regarding tampering of the results, adding he would be able to comment once he got information in that connection.He, however, claimed that results prepared at his department were the most transparent in the university. PU registrar Prof Dr Muhammad Naeem Khan was not available for comments. However, when contacted, additional registrar Dr Aurangzeb Alamgir said Institute of Biochemistry & Biotechnology (IBB) director Prof Dr Muhammad Amin Athar had been appointed as inquiry officer. He also confirmed that Dr Ahsan Akhtar Naz was internal examiner of the said exam, adding the inquiry was ordered following the probe proved tampering of the results.

Source: The News International
Tuesday, November 04, 2008

PTB bans use of recycled paper for books

By Khalid Khattak

LAHORE: The Punjab Textbook Board (PTB) has banned the use of recycled paper in preparation of textbooks in order to ensure the provision of quality books to the students of government and private schools of the province. The PTB has also formed an advisory committee comprising of representatives of publishers, mill owners and the board which would monitor the entire process of textbooks printing for the coming academic session. The initiatives have been taken on the special directions of Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif who took stern notice regarding the provision of poor quality textbooks to the students. Teachers and students have been raising objections to the low quality textbooks being distributed by the government among the students of the government schools. The Punjab government provides free textbooks to students of the government schools across the province. Sources in the PTB said 70 million textbooks would be printed for free distribution among students for the next academic session. They said publishers and printers had been directed to ensure the use of fresh pulp and not recycled paper in preparation of the books. They said the mill owners had also been asked to certify their paper, adding the initiative was aimed at discouraging the practice of using poor quality paper for printing of the textbooks.They said the PTB officials had a meeting with Punjab Chief Secretary (CS) Javed Mahmood recently, adding the CS had ensured the assistance of district administration to carry out raids during the printing process. They added the PTB Subject Specialists would also be part of the monitoring teams to ensure that the entire process of publishing and printing was up to the standard. A PTB official, seeking anonymity, said at present 75 percent of the books which were distributed among students of public schools free of cost were printed through open tender system while the remaining 25 percent, meant for open market for sale among students of private schools, were printed through the allocation system. He said owing to the use of recycled paper the PTB had to receive complaints regarding poor quality of books, adding that the banning of recycled paper would certainly help fix the problem.He said, under the open tender system, the entire process of books printing including purchasing of paper was done by the publishers while under the allocation system it was responsibility of the PTB to provide paper to the publishers for printing of the textbooks. He said the PTB would ensure the provision of quality paper to them.The official said in order to avoid any unpleasant situation in the provision of books the PTB had also fixed the dates of orders adding the task would be completed in three installments. He said, for the first installment, Dcember 31, 2008 had been fixed as the last date while for second and third installments January 31, 2009 and February 15 would be the deadlines respectively. When contacted, PTB Chairman Sohail Masood confirmed banning of the recycled paper in preparation of textbooks, adding an action would be taken if the new criterion was violated. He said since mills had been asked to certify their papers they would ensure the provision of quality paper as their repute would be at stake. He added the paper provided by the PTB to the publishers would also carry watermark of the board so that no one could use low quality paper.

Source: The News International

Saturday, September 20, 2008

Four schools to be made centres of excellence

By Khalid Khattak

LAHORE: THE Punjab School Education Department has identified four schools of the provincial metropolis to upgrade these to centres of excellence under the scheme of model schools.The schools, which would be converted into centres of excellence include Government Central Model School, Lower Mall, Government High School for Boys, Ghoray Shah, Government Comprehensive High School for Girls, Wahdat Road and Government Girls High School, Samanabad.The scheme of converting selected government schools into model schools was introduced by the government in the recent budget while Rs 3,630 million was also allocated in this regard for the Fiscal Year 2008-09. It was also announced that 72 schools would also be provided with dormitories. An official of the School Education Department said a total of 288 schools would be converted into centres of excellence provincewide, adding gender parity would also be kept in view in this process. He added that 144 schools had been included in the scheme in the first phase.He said the department initially had identified four schools from the provincial metropolis while one each at district and tehsil headquarter level all across Punjab to convert these into centres of excellence.He further said the major component of a centre of excellence would include best infrastructure facilities, science labs, IT labs, libraries and dormitories. He said that the department identified schools, which had matched the necessary requirements in this regard including reasonable area of land and good number of students and other.The official said the programme of establishing centres of excellence was basically aimed at restoring lost confidence of the masses in the government schools. He said, “There is a feeling that people prefer to send their children to private schools instead of public sector schools,” adding, “In such circumstances, there is a dire need of taking drastic measures to improve the quality of education being imparted at the government schools.” He said establishment of centres of excellence would also promote a sense of competition between the public schools and the private schools, adding unfortunately at present the government schools were almost out of this competition. Sources however further informed that the department was also considering a proposal to award status of autonomous institutions to the would-be centres of excellence, adding in this case, each model school will have a board of governors (BoG).When contacted, Secretary School Education Department Nadeem Ashraf said PC-1 regarding centres of excellence had been sent to the Planning and Development (P&D) department for approval, adding that best faculty and facilities would be provided at these institutions.He further said that e-libraries would also be introduced in these schools for maximum exposure of students to the computer technology.He added that special halls and rooms would also be constructed in the centres of excellence to organise extra curricular activities. Replying to a question, he said the autonomy of the selected schools was also being discussed these days, adding however, any final decision in this regard would be taken after thorough deliberations. He added the first phase would be completed by June 2009.

Source: The News International
Tuesday, October 14, 2008

GCU directed to reinstate students

By Khalid Khattak

LAHORE: THE PUNJAB government has directed the Government College University (GCU) administration to reinstate the expelled students who had earlier been nominated in FIR for staging a protest demonstration a couple of days ago.The government has also ensured to get withdrawn the FIR against nine GCU students through proper channel. The Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah Khan held a meeting with the GCU students, who had been nominated in the FIR, their parents and varsity registrar in his Punjab Assembly office on Saturday.Senior police officials, the investigation officer of the case and officials of Higher Education Department Punjab were also present on the occasion.The parents of the students expressed strong concerns over expulsion of students and demanded their reinstatement so that they might continue their studies at the university. They said the varsity administration earlier took an unfair and unjust decision by getting registered a case against these students under Anti Terrorism Act (ATA) and now the university had expelled them. Upon this the Law Minister expressed strong annoyance saying the act was like “adding fuel to the fire” on part of university administration, it is learnt. He directed the GCU registrar, Sahibzada Faisal Khurshid, to reinstate the expelled students so that they might join the university from Monday.It is further learnt the Law Minister told the GCU registrar “Your act (of expelling the students) has worsen the situation as the varsity administration as well as the government has been facing severe criticism from public after registration of the cases against protesting students under ATA”.Rana Sanaullah asked the registrar to get the expelled students reinstated immediately while he also ensured the worried parents that the government would ensure to get the FIR quashed against their children through proper channel.It may be mentioned here that a large number of GCU students had protested against the university administration on October 28 following the university administration struck off more than 200 students on charges of short attendance.Afterwards on complaint of GCU registrar the local police had registered a case against protesting students under the ATA. Two GCU students Haroon Mahmood and Usman Latif were arrested in a midnight raid and were produced before the Anti Terrorism Court and later were sent to jail as they were charged with section 7 Anti Terrorism Act (ATA). However both the students were released on Friday as Chief Justice of the Lahore High Court Sayed Zahid Hussain took suo moto notice of the students’ plight after it was reported in the Press that two students had been sent to jail by an Anti-Terrorism Court.Interestingly during the Saturday’s meeting a controversy erupted over registration of FIR as both, the university official and police, denied responsibility for registration of case under the Anti Terrorism Act. The police officials claimed the FIR was registered on complaint of GCU registrar while Sahibzada Faisal Khurshid claimed he had simply complained about the incident. Talking to The News Muhammad Latif father of Usman Latif said he was quite worried about the future of his son saying on October 28 an FIR was registered against his son while on October 30 the university expelled Usman. He said the Law Minister had assured the parents that all the expelled students would be reinstated while FIR would also be withdrawn. When contacted Provincial Law Minister Rana Sanaullah said misunderstanding between GCU administration and students had been removed adding that the university administration had also been asked to reinstate the expelled students.He said after representation to the university administration the expelled students would be reinstated adding FIR against students would also be got withdrawn through proper channel.Akmal one of the students said, students was really grateful to the Punjab government which had intervened to address their grievances.

Source: The News International
Sunday, November 02, 2008