Tag: Pakistan education

  • Has Punjab banned co-education in private colleges? Here is what’s going on

    Has Punjab banned co-education in private colleges? Here is what’s going on

    News reports of the Punjab Higher Education Commission (PHEC) banning co-education in private colleges for the BS (Hons) programmes have been circulating on social media since Wednesday night.

    However, Azhar Mashwani, the Punjab chief minister’s focal person for digital media has said that the news reports are fake, and no such decision has been made. He also shared the screenshots of the “false” news.

    Moreover, Punjab Minister for Higher Education and Information Technology Raja Yassir Humayun Sarfraz has also denied the reports.

    “Higher Education Department hasn’t issued any notification about Co-Education in Colleges. Plz, stop spreading fake news on Media,” his tweet read.

    Journalist Benzair Shah while talking to The Current said that the news is “not accurate.” She added that the director of public instruction colleges Punjab also confirmed that the notification circulating is from 2010.

    However, a checklist for BS Four year degree programme is available on the website of the Higher Education Department and serial number 25 of the document says, “Affidavit for No Co-Education.”

    In addition, serial number 28 of a document available with The Current regarding the checklist of ADP ( Associate Degree Programme) states, “Separate Boys and Girls Block. Affidavit for no Co-Education according to sample available in the booklet on stamp paper duly attested by Oath commissioner.”

    Serial number 19 of the document says only male staff members are allowed to teach in male colleges and only female staff members are allowed to teach in female colleges. As per our sources, the document is “apparently new”.

    As per sources of The Current, the government will issue a clarification on the matter and the checklist has always been there since 2008.

    A notification issued by the Directorate of Public Instruction (Coleges) says, “It is to inform that there is no condition of submitting an Affidavit of NO CO-EDUCATION from private colleges to launch BS4YDP, AFP, DPT, Pharma-D and LLB Programs.”

    The notification further says, “The information may be conveyed to all the Private Colleges to submit an application according to New Updated proforma (which is available on HEC website.)”

  • Punjab boards to announce matric, intermediate results in 48 hours

    Punjab boards to announce matric, intermediate results in 48 hours

    All Punjab education boards will announce the results of the Matric and Intermediate Annual Examinations 2021 within 48 hours, reports Khalid Khattak for Geo News.

    Punjab Minister for Higher Education Raja Yassir Humayun Sarfraz said that all the Boards of Intermediate and Secondary Education (BISEs) had already prepared results, expressing the hope that the results would be announced soon in Punjab.

    There are a total of nine education boards in Punjab including BISE of Lahore, DG Khan, Faisalabad, Gujranwala, Bahawalpur, Multan, Rawalpindi, Sargodha, and Sahiwal.

    Students gave their board exams in August and since then no result date was announced.

    To facilitate students, it was also decided that all candidates who failed in any subject would be given 33 per cent marks for the purpose of computing averages.

  • Students accuse Shafqat Mahmood of ‘destroying careers’, demand resignation

    After Federal Minister for Education Shafqat Mahmood announced on Tuesday that no examinations will take place in the country until June 15 and that O’ and A’ Level exams will now take place in the October-November cycle, students are now demanding Teacher and School Assessed Grades with the hashtags #ShafqatDestroysOurCareer and #ResignShafqatMahmood trending on social media.

    Students are arguing that their study schedules have been disrupted because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and are demanding Teacher Assessed Grades (TAGs) and School Assessed Grades (SAGs). On the other hand, some are even proposing other ways of promoting the students without exams.

    https://twitter.com/dauddogar/status/1387313554647363585

    https://twitter.com/ahmedhaseeb48/status/1387315787459928065

    https://twitter.com/RajaAliuzZaman2/status/1387304518354935808?s=20

    Pakistan is currently experiencing a deadly third wave of COVID-19 with fears of an India-like situation. According to the National Command and Operations Centre (NCOC), 5292 cases and 201 deaths were reported in the last 24 hours.

  • Rs93bn on education, Rs25bn on health, Rs1,289bn on defence: How govt is spending in ‘Naya Pakistan’

    Rs93bn on education, Rs25bn on health, Rs1,289bn on defence: How govt is spending in ‘Naya Pakistan’

    Public sector universities are facing a financial crunch due to budget cuts and the coronavirus pandemic. Despite tall claims, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government didn’t allocate much for the higher education and the budget for the Higher Education Commission (HEC) remains nominal.

    Pakistan has at least 135 public-sector higher education institutions that cater to at least 1.8 million students, says a report in The News. But how much the country spends on its education? Not a lot when compared to other expenditures, such as defence and development.

    Education:

    The government had allocated Rs93 billion — Rs29.4bn is development budget — for the HEC for 2020-21 for development and non-development expenditures in the education sector. The HEC, however, had asked the government for a budget of Rs104bn, reported Dawn at the time.

    The decision to keep the education budget static amid a pandemic has proved expensive, as a number of universities are struggling to make ends meet. According to The News, the University of Engineering and Technology (UET) Lahore, the University of Peshawar, Shah Abdul Latif University Khairpur, Quaid-e-Azam University (QAU) Islamabad and others are facing issues regarding finances.

    Health:

    Pakistan is one of the countries that do not spend a lot on health. In 2019-20, the federal government had budgeted Rs11 billion for the current expenditure on health, reported Express Tribune. However, the government funneled Rs1bn more into the budget to counter the coronavirus threat. In the current financial year, Pakistan more than doubled the health budget to Rs25.5 billion due to COVID-19.

    However, the decision was still criticised as the country’s healthcare needed more than that to battle the deadly pandemic.

    Defence:

    The government spends a major chunk of its money on defence-related expenditures. In financial year 20-21, the allocations to the defence sector saw an 11 per cent increase from the previous year. Rs1,289 billion was allocated to the military.

    According to Ayesha Siddiqa, the author of Military Inc., “major acquisitions by the armed forces, spending on the public sector development programme (PSDP), expenditure on the nuclear programme and para-military forces, payments for military pensions, a newly set-up national security division and a few other military expenditures are not reflected in the budget. If these were to be added to it, Pakistan’s defence spending would be even higher — at around $11bn”.

     Development budget:

    Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and a lull in economic activity, the government could increase its public-sector development spending. It had been budgeted at Rs1,324bn, 18pc below than last year’s budget.

    Of this, federal PSDP had been allocated Rs650 billion, while Rs676 billion had been allocated to provinces, as per Dawn.