Private schools flout govt decision by holding exams in April

Karachi, March 22: Several private schools in violation of a decision of the Sindh education department’s steering committee have decided to conduct the annual examinations of their students of Class I to Class VIII in April instead of March, it emerged on Saturday.

The steering committee at its last meeting presided over by Sindh Education Minister Pir Mazhar-ul-Haq directed all the schools to conduct the annual examinations of their students of Class I to Class VIII in March and announce the results of the examinations by March 31.

The decision was taken by the committee to ensure that the new academic session in all public and private schools of the province could begin on April 1, 2010.

The schools which have the Cambridge system of education were permitted to conduct the examinations in August.

However, a number of private schools in contravention of the steering committee’s decision informed the parents of their students that the annual examinations of Class I to Class VIII would be held in April and results would be declared in the last week of the same month.

Criticising the decision of all those schools whose managements had decided to conduct the annual examinations in April, a number of students’ parents who said that such a move not only amounted to an open violation of the education department steering committee’s decision, but would also delay the academic session of their children by a month.

A woman who rang us complained that she had planned to visit her ailing mother in Lahore once the annual examinations of their children were over by the end of March, but she was now unable to do so because of the different schedule of examinations being followed by schools as most of the schools were conducting the exams in March while some in April.

“Such a different policy with respect to annual examinations has upset my plans of seeing my ailing mother as my daughter who is a student of Class VI is nowadays taking her exams while the annual exams of my son who is in Class V in another school are scheduled to be held in April,” she said.

Sources in the Board of Secondary Education Karachi (BSEK) said that it was mandatory upon all schools to hold the exams of their students of Class I to Class VIII in March and announce the results by March 31 so that schools’ new academic session could start on April 1 across the province.

However, they added that some private schools in their attempt to save their institutions from being selected as centres for the Secondary School Certificate (Class IX and X) annual examinations by the board were deliberately conducting the exams in April.

The sources said that such an act on the part of the private schools was not only against the decision of the steering committee, but also amounted to a violation of the BSEK school recognition rules. However, such schools remained unpunished because of their influence in the education department and the BSEK, they added.

Source : Dawn

PEF set to take over 1006 non-functional schools

LAHORE – Punjab Education Foundation (PEF) is taking over 1,006 non-functional schools of the province; out of which, 107 schools will be taken in the phase-one of the project.

As the schools are non-functional due to various reasons, including unavailability of teachers, students or buildings, therefore, it has been planned to make them functional through PEF mandate of promoting quality education through public-private partnership. A brain storming session was organised by the PEF at a local hotel on Saturday in which Managing Director PEF Mohyuddin Wani briefed the participants about the PEF initiatives to take over the non-functional schools of the provincial government.

Director CPDP Ms Maliha Batool presented the situational analysis of non-functional schools in the province and various suggestions were invited from the participants to explore the possibilities for public-private partnership in education sector to achieve the 100 per cent literacy targets.

According to the briefing, the initially proposed schools to the NGOs include 11 schools of district Mandi Bahauddin, 13 Layyah and seven school of Lodhran district which have their buildings; while, 33 out of 41 DG Khan schools, 31 of 38 Muzaffargarh and 23 of 28 Rajanpur district schools have also necessary building infrastructure.

Meanwhile, 20 of 33 Mianwali schools, 5 of 16 Multan schools, 41 of 52 Nankana Sahib, 6 of 13 Narowal, 38 of 55 Okara, 4 of 7 Pakpattan, 49 of 78 Rahim Yar Khan, 35 of 51 Rawalpindi, 2 of 7 Sahiwal, 21 of 35 Sargodha, 26 of 48 Sheikhpura, 36 of 47 Sialkot, 9 of 13 Toba Tek Singh and 5 of 6 of Vehari schools have also buildings.

It was decided in the meeting that GIS and TNA may be done at the earliest. The interested NGOs was asked to come up with their proposals, as the first phase has to be launched within one month.
It was proposed that organisations may suggest modalities to develop sustainable framework by catering indicators like infrastructure, repair and maintenance, teaching and non-teaching staff recruitment, salaries and training, students enrolment and retention, school management committees’ constitution and their activation, monitoring and evaluation mechanism and roles and responsibilities of PEF and NGOs may be defined accordingly.

According to the plan, the NGOs, entrepreneurs may be taken into partnership to achieve the target. Terms and conditions for partnership may be developed on the basis of needs assessment. The NGOs may turn up with suitable models to be implemented successfully and district-wise sustainability may be ensured by the applicant NGO.
Source: The Nation

Students pay tribute to homeland

Islamabad: Sheikh Zayed International Academy (SZIA) staged a grand celebratory function here Saturday to pay tribute to the creation of Pakistan.

Minister for Commerce Makhdoom Amin Fahim graced the event as the chief guest. Aside from parents, several ambassadors and members of diplomatic delegations attended the function.

Virtually, every student – right from Playgroup to Grade 12 – participated in the event with speeches, poetry, patriotic songs, cultural dances, a fashion show, and presentations based on provincial costumes, famous personalities and historical figures.

The second part of the programme featured a multimedia presentation on Pakistan, followed by a lavish buffet luncheon offering the best of Pakistani cuisine.

The programme was undoubtedly a befitting tribute to the nation of Pakistan. Speaking on the occasion, the Academy’s principal Wafaa Abdul Ghaffar said, “Events such as the one staged today serve to reinforce one of the most important objectives of SZIA – that of inculcating cultural awareness among our students.”

Education sector fails to utilise funds of millions

Lahore: Due to cumbersome procedures in Punjab finance department, millions of rupees of college and school funds are lying rotten in the banks since years.

The public sector schools and colleges receive funds in the form of fine for absence of students, security, cycle stand, uniform, ID card, library and laboratory funds etc from the students which are deposited in the respective school, college accounts in the banks. Over the years, these funds have been multiplied into millions and are virtually abandoned, as neither the principal nor the headmaster is competent to utilise these funds without the consent of the Secretary Education and Secretary Finance thus the amount remain unspent.

To refer a few cases, the Central Model School Lower Mall have 2.50 million in its account, Central Model School Rattigan Road 2 million and an amount of Rs0.5 million to 2 million in different schools having 4,000 to 6,000 students strength. Islamia College, MAO College and almost all women colleges maintain their own accounts of millions of rupees.
The provision of missing facilities, like class rooms, boundary walls, electricity, furniture, drinking water facilities etc were the responsibility of the government which spent a sum of Rs21 billion under the Punjab Education Sector Reform Programme during the past few years while school, college funds were not allowed to be spent on any infrastructure development or improvement of facilities.

The colleges also fetch millions of rupees revenue from the second shift tuition fee etc which are also at the disposal of principals but they can’t spent any amount by virtue of their grade and status. What could be the utilisation, it is a matter to be pondered over by the policy makers in the education department

The education department, however, conceived a plan to utilise the college, school funds by empowering the respective principals, headmasters to utilise the funds up to certain amount under intimation to the secretaries of education and finance.

A committee was formed to deliberate the modalities and areas where the heads of institutions can spend amount on necessities like shortage of teaching and non-teaching staff, improvement of library and lab facilities, provision and repair of furniture and spending on extra curricular activities like sports, debates and study tours.

A six-member committee headed by the then principal, Science College and comprising principals of leading city colleges deliberated the issue and prepared a draft recommendations for implementation. However, with the passage of time government failed to implement the recommendations and with the change of government, the issue was driven to cold storage.

Source: The Nation

BSEK annual exams to commence from 24th

Karachi, The annual examinations of the Class IX, X (Regular and Private) will start from March 24, 2010, Syed Anzar Hussain Zaidi said on Wednesday.

BSEK also took serious notice of complaints regarding the cases of with-holding of admit cards of students, and directed the heads of such schools not to hold any admit cards without proper reasons.

The Board has been receiving a number of complaints that private schools are with-holding the admit cards of the Class IX and X students without any justified reasons or grounds which is unfair, Zaidi said.

However, there is no clear instructions available in the notification regarding the fees process and the loophole in the notification will provide benefits to the private schools, The News has observed.

Over 0.296 million candidates have registered for the annual examinations. Out of them, at least 12 candidates will appear from the central jail, he added. The BSEK has arranged 431 examination centres, including one at the central jail, he added.

According to the chairman BSEK, there would 241 examination centres for male candidates while female candidates would appear at 190 examination centres.

“The Board will request the Home department to impose Section 144 around these examination centres to control the law and order situation during the annual exams, he told local media.

He added that over 100 vigilance teams would also visit the examinations centres, he further said. Each vigilance team would comprise two members, whereas areas like Malir, South, East, West and Central would be monitored by special teams.

The Department of the Education, Sindh, and members of the Board would participate in this special committee, Zaidi said.

IUB probe body summons 44 students

Bahawalpur, March 14: The Islamia University Bahawalpur (IUB) management has summoned 44 students of different departments for their alleged involvement in cases of indiscipline and misconduct in connection with Feb 19 violence on its Baghdadul Jadid and Abbasia campuses.

The chairman of IUB committee on indiscipline and misconduct has advertised a joint notice in newspapers directing the students to appear before the committee on the dates mentioned against their names.

These students are facing charges like resorting to firing, violence and creating the law and order situation on Feb 19 on the two IUB campuses, besides torching hostel rooms, hijacking varsity buses and damaging buildings of Khwaja Farid Art Gallery and Museum.

They are also charged with causing a serious damage to the valuable varsity assets amounting to at least Rs3.133 million and ransacking vice-chancellor’s secretariat and office.

The accused students have been asked to appear at the IUB’s chemistry department from March 16 to 19.

Out of the 44 accused students, 33 belong to various engineering departments, seven to economics, two to media studies and one each to English and commerce departments.

The committee will also record statements of two injured students – Juma Khan and Syed Shah Mirul Hasan – of the engineering department in the hospital.

The varsity is expected to be reopened on Monday (tomorrow) after a three-week closure.

However, the engineering college and hostel for engineering students will remain closed till further orders.
Source: Dawn

Students facing transport problems

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Islamabad : Students in the twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi are facing transport problem, as hundreds of educational institutions have no proper transport facilities.

While a large number of students coming from the suburbs of the city to their respective schools and colleges have to face inconvenience in packed public transport besides the maltreatment by drivers and conductors.

Several students shared their sufferings while travelling to their institutions.

“The school and college buses ply only on specific routes and I always use local transport to reach my college,” said a student, Taseer Khan. He said this is one of the major problems for all those who come from far-off areas.

Students complained that majority of the local transporters do not stop their vans when they see students waiting.

Sanam Ali, a student, said due to financial problems, she couldn’t pay full fare of the van, while the transporters do not allow student concession. She said girl students particularly have to wait for a long time to find a seat due to which they often reach their college late. She demanded the authorities concerned to provide sufficient buses for colleges, especially women colleges.

Parents also complained about the rashly driven school and college vans and buses, saying that very few institutions care for the school kids by closely monitoring the mode of transport used by their students. Though a few institutions have their own pick and drop facility for students, several others are bereft of the facility.

The parents said that school pick-ups are charging Rs1,500 per child whereas school buses are taking Rs1,200 per student, adding that any parent having three or four school going kids have to pay Rs5,000-6,000 only as transport fee besides the already high school fees.

Source : The News

Mathematics problems

It is a general observation that students normally feel nervous more during the mathematics lessons than in any other subject. Math anxiety is an emotional reaction having to do with the manipulation of numbers and the solving of mathematical problems in a wide variety of ordinary life and academic situations. It can cause one to forget and lose one’s self-confidence.

Research shows that students of primary classes suffer more from this type of anxiety.

But a student can manage this behavior with support from the teachers. Following are some of the ways through which a teacher can facilitate his or her students in order to minimize the anxiety and enjoy mathematics as a lively subject.

No more negative self talk

It has been noticed that extreme anxiety may get the student to indulge in negative self talk, for e.g., “I never do mathematics”, “It is just not possible for me to pass the math exams”, and so on. In order to overcome the habit, it is the teacher’s responsibility to treat all students equally which encouraging them though some kind of praise for their work. They should also show them their support in understanding the problematic areas of mathematics.

Ask questions

The teacher should encourage the students to ask questions whenever they feel that they are stuck on a problem.

They should be given the freedom to say, “Please explain … I do not understand”. And the teacher should be always available and willing to explain even when the students want it done again and again.

Practice makes perfect

The students should be encouraged to practice the same kinds of mathematical problems and exercises again and again. It should be done in a way that becomes more of a gun exercise rather than drudgery.

No memorizing

Never ever ask students to memorise concepts. They should rather develop a conceptual understanding.

According to the child’s style

Everyone is an individual. The teacher should find a way that suits the student’s style of learning rather than making him or her do their work just as the others. They should be allowed to learn at their own speed.

Midterm exams loom before Eid

KARACHI: Students all over the city are busy preparing for their upcoming midterm exams that will start in the first two weeks of December before schools are off for the Eid holidays.

Despite several unexpected and unscheduled holidays, teachers have managed to complete a sufficient amount of the syllabus, albeit not as initially planned. “I must admit that when our principal said that no extra classes will be conducted on Saturdays I was very worried how the students would catch up,” said Rukhsana Watni, a seventh-grade teacher at a local private school. “But students these days have a smart head on their shoulders.”

Watni said her students were so keen on learning that they were even willing to give up 15 to 20 minutes of their break-time in the past couple of months just so they could spend time understanding difficult concepts. “I was very tense whether I would be able to cover the syllabus. I had to work wisely so as not to leave out any important parts and I used to stay in class during most recesses so I could check copies or edit the planner and students started coming in to ask questions,” she said.

When asked how the students revised for the upcoming exams with so much course work to cover, some teachers were proud to say that the students had been responsible and had put in an extra effort for the exams. “We have given our secondary school study leave from Monday till Friday but according to the policy of revising in class, I am proud my teachers have done revision this past week,” said Afshan Mirza, who is the headmistress of a local school.

Some students have been benefiting from surprise quizzes ahead of the exams. “It is not always the best thing and normally it’s not welcome, but this close to the exams it is a great way to check our weak points,” said Anaya Said, an eighth grader.

While primary and secondary school students are prepping for their midterms, senior students are also preparing for their mock exams. “Students don’t usually sit for the mock exams as they don’t count towards their final grades but the schools still hold them,” said Farah, a coordinator for the University of London and London School of Economics external programs at a private college. She said that on average, students sit the mocks for their weaker subjects.

Ali Kaleem, a BSc student, said that he was only sitting for two exams because he needed more practice in those two courses. He reasoned that the mocks were another way for him to practice.

“Students will be given mock exams at the end of the academic year as well,” said Ismail Qadri, a senior economics teacher. “But I still find the real end of term exams very important.”

Source: Daily Times