Tag: university of peshawar

  • University of Peshawar to remain closed on Valentine’s Day

    University of Peshawar to remain closed on Valentine’s Day

    The University of Peshawar has announced an official ‘off day’ on Valentine’s day for seminars and workshops, reports The News.

    The management has released a notification that states, “It is notified for the information of all concerned that the University of Peshawar will observe a closed holiday on Monday, February 14 in lieu of February 5, Kashmir Day, for keeping the university open for arranging talks/discussions, seminars and workshops. Schedule of examination, tests and interviews, if already announced, will remain unchanged.”

    In 2018, the administration took similar steps to prevent students from celebrating the day. They arranged a seminar, “Faculty Development Workshop on Quality Assurance” and also cancelled the classes because of it.

    In the past, violent clashes had been reported between groups on February 14 over the celebration of Valentine’s Day.

    In 2014, activists of the Pakhtun Students Federation (PSF) and Islami Jamiat Tulba (IJT) turned the campus into a battlefield when they opened fire on supporters of the day which resulted in several injuries of students.

    Many conservative groups in Pakistan mark February 14 as “Haya Day” and often arrange walks to prevent western influence on young minds.

  • University of Peshawar graduate doctor to head American College of Physicians

    University of Peshawar graduate doctor to head American College of Physicians

    US-based Pakistani origin physician, Dr Omar Atiq has been nominated unanimously and will be the first Pakistani origin doctor to be the next president of the prestigious American College of Physicians (ACP).

    Atiq, who founded the Arkansas Cancer Clinic in 1991, is the only candidate for the post and the elections will be held in January next year.

    Pakistan’s US envoy Asad Majeed Khan announced in a tweet: “Dr. Omar Atiq becomes the first ever Physician of Pakistani descent & only the second international medical graduate to be elected as President of American College of Physicians.”

    Dr Atiq, a professor of medicine and otolaryngology is based in Arkansas and had been a fellow of ACP for almost three decades. In 2019, he wiped away $650,000 in debt for nearly 200 of his patients with cancer, reports Dawn.

    The physician earned his medical degree from the Khyber Medical College, University of Peshawar.

    The American College of Physicians is the largest medical specialty organisation in the United States with members in more than 145 countries worldwide.

  • Peshawar University makes ‘shalwar kameez’ compulsory for female students

    The University of Peshawar has reinforced a dress code for students, first introduced in 2013.

    As per a notification issued by the university management, women must wear “white shalwar with kameez of their own choice, while men should wear decent/modest clothes.”

    The dress code is being implemented to “lessen the financial burden on the parents” said the university’s spokesperson while talking about the notification.

    Earlier in January, the Hazara University in Mansehra issued a new dress code for students, faculty members and administrative staff. In the notification, female students were advised to wear abaya/scarf/dupatta in neutral colours without any decorative material. The female students were also instructed to wear shalwar kameez with dupatta or chaddar.

  • Peshawar university employees take pay cuts after varsity runs out of money

    Peshawar university employees take pay cuts after varsity runs out of money

    The administration of the University of Peshawar has announced that it will not able to “disburse full salary to its employees for the month January” due to the financial constraints.

    In a notification issued by the registrar on Jan 21, the university said it will only be able to pay “basic and personal pay” due to lack of funds.

    The Current confirmed the veracity of the notification from the Peshawar University’s registrar office. A news report said that the university will pay its employees only 30 per cent of the salaries due to the constraints.

    The registrar was quoted as saying that the provincial government had approved Rs250 million for the university, but Rs150 million only was released and the remaining funds were linked with the introduction of some reforms.

    “We have requested the government for more money, but they haven’t responded to our request yet,” the registrar was quoted as saying.

    Earlier this month, the Higher Education, Archives and Libraries Department of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) had issued a notification to the public sector universities directing to implement “no pension liability” for all future initial recruitments in addition to other strict measures to overcome the rising deficit.

    The department had also directed delinking of the pay scales from the basic pay scale scheme and university pay scale, while further stating in a notification that government grant and other resources meant for higher education shall not be expended on meeting the shortfall of the schools run by the universities.

    “These schools should have separate Board of Governors (BoG),” it had read.

    Furthermore, house subsidy and requisition should be paid to the employees on the provincial government rates. All medical allowances in their current form had been abolished and shall be paid at the provincial government rates, it had said, adding that the maintenance cost, including repair, security and other facilities’ costs, should be fully recovered from the employees provided with accommodation by the universities.

    “The universities will be assisted in the process of exploring new avenues of financial resources, including renting out academic blocks to other institutions,” the notification had said.