KC shows door to seven teachers

LAHORE: The administration of Kinnaird College for Women on Wednesday terminated the services of three of its faculty members, repatriating four others to the Punjab government.

According to sources, the faculty members along with some others had pointed fingers at the alleged irregularities in recent admissions, besides showing strong resentment over the appointment of Naima Khursheed as the college’s registrar and head of examination department.

A faculty member, seeking anonymity, said the KC Board of Governors in its meeting held on December 5, had constituted a three-member inquiry committee to investigate different allegations leveled by some faculty members. The ‘action’ against teachers is being taken as a victimization act by the administration, the source said, adding that the teachers had reservation over the said committee as no representative from the education department was part of it.

The faculty members repatriated to the Higher Education Department include Saira Malik, Head of Political Science Department, Shibba Syed, Head of Urdu Department, Farrukh Sohail, Head of Islamic Studies Department and Helen Khokhar, Head of Physics Department

The faculty members whose contract services were terminated include Sadaf Munir and Asma Jamil from the Psychology Department and Zarina Rizvi from Urdu Department.

Talking to The News, Sadaf Munir said the teachers were victimized only because they had raised their voice against the administration’s unjust and unfair policies, including the appointment of Naima Khursheed as college’s registrar. She even claimed the said official was earlier removed by Queen Marry College over allegations of corruption. Sadaf Munir alleged the admissions were made even in October and November, despite the fact the process was completed in September. “They are replacing the best with the worst” she commented, saying those serving on contract were not issued any notices as required by the rules. She also alleged that the administration was asking the teachers to remain silent, issuing threats of consequences.

When contacted, KC Principal Dr Bernadette L Dean denied the allegations, saying no one was victimized. The college administration is free to keep or let someone go, the KC being a private institution, she added.

She said some faculty members were repatriated as the administration was planning to induct highly qualified teachers as faculty members. She said the position of registrar was advertised and the appointment was made purely on merit.

She refuted the allegation that contracts were yet not expired, saying Sadaf Munir had even applied for renewal of her contract.

Dr Dean said two of the faculty members were serving the college on contract after their retirement, adding one of them, Asma Jamil, had even asked her (Principal) to relieve her.

She said, during an interview with students sometime ago, she had held Jesus Christ, Nelson Mandela and Gandhi as her ideal, adding, unfortunately, some faculty members were busy in propaganda against her since then,

To a question, she said the fact-finding committee constituted by the KC BoG had yet to submit its report. Those leveling allegations had even taken a U-turn in the said meeting, claiming their signatures on complaints were forged, she said.

When contacted, Punjab Higher Education Department secretary Ahad Khan Cheema said the department had yet to receive the repatriation orders. However, he added, the KC principal was advised to hold-on until the inquiry committee submitted its report as the conduct of administration was under question.

“At this time, it simply looks like clash of interests”, he commented.

He said the KC was neither a government nor totally private institute, adding it was being run under a special arrangement with its representation from different government departments, including education, finance and law, on its BoG. Naima Khursheed was not available for comments.

KC barred from action until probe

LAHORE: The Punjab Higher Education Department on Thursday formally asked the Kinnaird College (KC) principal not to remove or surrender any faculty member until the committee formed by the college’s Board of Governors submits its report.The KC Board of Governors (BoG) had formed a three-member committee on December 5, to investigate the allegations levelled by the faculty members against appointment of the KC registrar. The faculty members, in a letter addressed to the BoG chairman, dated 28 October, 2009, had alleged that the appointment of Dr Naima Khurshid as Registrar of Kinnaird College was unjustified. A copy of the letter bearing signatures of 97 KC teachers was made available to The News on Thursday. In the letter, addressed to BoG’s Chairman Dr Alexander John Malik, the faculty members expressed strong resentment over the appointment of Dr Naima as registrar, making it clear that she was not acceptable in any of the administrative capacities at the college. They further maintained that her previous professional record and references in the Queen Mary College were overlooked by the principal at the time of her induction. The teachers had also alleged that the tenure of Dr Naima at KC had been full of questionable activities including an inquiry against her in 2008 when she was appointed as Resident Inspector in Intermediate Examinations. However, on December 23, KC Principal Dr Bernadette L Dean fired seven teachers, repatriating four heads of different departments, since they were government employees, to the Punjab government and terminating services of three others serving on contract basis. It is pertinent to mention that Dr Dean had denied allegations of unjustified appointment of the registrar, claiming that no teacher was victimized and the decision was taken in the best interest of the college. She also rejected the allegation levelled against her, reports say. According to the sources in the department, Higher Education secretary Ahad Khan Cheema took a serious notice of the removal of seven teachers, asking the principal to ‘abstain’ from any action against teachers as her own conduct was under question. The principal was asked not to take any action even against contract teachers since the BoG had ordered an inquiry into alleged irregularities on complaint of the teachers, the sources added. They said, after the constitution of the inquiry committee, the KC teachers had also submitted an application to the department, the inquiry committee and the BoG, alleging that they were being threatened of dire consequences ever since the initiation of the probe. A KC faculty member, seeking anonymity, said the principal had removed seven teachers on last working day ahead of winter and Christmas holidays fearing any resentment from the students. She added the news had created great anxiety among the students who had been sending SMSs through mobile phones to all the teachers expressing complete solidarity with them. When contacted, the Punjab Higher Education Department secretary, Ahad Khan Cheema, confirmed that the KC Principal had formally been asked not to take action against any teacher until the submission of inquiry report as it would be taken as ‘a conflict of interests’. “The principal had also been asked not to remove even teachers serving on contract basis,” he added. Talking to The News, Dr Bernadette L Dean said she did not know about the letter from the department since the college was closed, adding, “I’ll only know when the college reopens after the vacation”.

Schools closed in hundreds for want of teachers

PESHAWAR, Shortage of teachers has closed 367 primary schools in the Frontier province, depriving over 36,700 children of education.

Sources said more than 30 primary schools had been closed in the provincial capital alone. Schools were being closed for the last few years because of non-availability of teachers. That not only put the future of students at stake but also set decay in the school buildings for lack of repairs.

The miseries of students have increased manifold since militants started blowing and torching educational institutions in parts of Frontier province, already short of primary schools. The closure of such a large number of schools owing to non-availability of teachers has alarmingly increased the drop out rate.

“Most of the closed schools are located in the far-off areas. Teachers from these schools have been transferred to cities purely on political grounds,” sources said. They added that teachers serving in cities were getting different allowances.

The Elementary and Secondary Education department had appointed teachers in all the closed schools, which remained functional for many years after their establishment. But almost all of these teachers managed to get themselves transferred to other schools of their choices, mostly in urban areas, leaving 367 schools closed.

The parents couldn’t admit their children to the schools located at a long distance from their respective villages due to security reasons, an educationist, wishing not to be named, said. He linked the growing rate of child labour with the non-availability of teachers and lack of primary schools in the province.

The director Education Sector Reforms Unit, Raja Saad Khan, told Dawn that teachers didn’t to be posted in far-flung areas.The phenomenon had aggravated the situation, he added.

According to him teachers don’t want to perform duty at remote areas owing to security reasons and non-viability of transport. The government was working on various options to ensure availability of teachers in the closed schools across the province, he said. Mr Khan said that additional teachers serving in the schools located in city areas would be transferred to closed schools in rural areas on priority basis.

“We are also recruiting teachers on emergency ground in different districts to overcome the shortage of teachers,” he added.The third option was to authorise the Parent Teacher Council at school levels to appoint teachers in the closed schools on fixed salaries, he said.

The government was also in contact with the NGOs to help it in providing teachers in the far-off areas, he said. He hoped that within one year all the closed schools would be made functional.

Political pressure impeding check on cheating in exams

Karachi, Political compulsions not only stymie improvement to the affairs of the education department, but also impede efforts to eliminate the use of unfair means during examinations, said Education Minister Pir Mazharul Haq on Thursday during the Sindh Assembly session. Responding to a point of order raised by Fayaz Butt regarding the growing tendency of ‘copy culture’ during Secondary School Certificate (SSC) examinations, the education minister said that, when he takes strict action, he faces political pressure; when he does not take action, he faces criticism. In both cases, the minister said, he felt he was in trouble himself. Referring to his recent visit to Dadu, Haq said that he issued instructions to both the DCO concerned and the education secretary to control unfair means in the SSC examination. He recalled that, last year, he personally caught students in Badin trying to cheat. In order to curb such practices, the minister said, the Sukkur education board has started issuing admit cards with candidates’ pictures printed on them. Appreciating this effort, Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ebad, who is the controlling authority of boards, has instructed other boards to follow this practice, he said. In response to a point of order raised by Shama Mithani, the education minister said that that the governor had taken notice of non-issuance of admit cards to students of matriculation in Karachi, and ordered an inquiry. He said that the administration of two private schools should be blamed for the fiasco, as they did not submit their students’ examination fees on time. Absolving the students of any blame, he said that it was almost impossible for admit cards to be issued a day before the exams, given that their forms were submitted a day earlier. Haq said that another such incident was reported from Sobho Dero, where a teacher accepted examination fees from 35 students, but did not forward them to the authority concerned. The teacher had initially cited the excuse of being ill, but it later transpired that the teacher had usurped the money. The teacher was subsequently placed under suspension, and the aggrieved students were allowed to appear in the exam, he said. Replying to a point of order raised by joint opposition leader, Jam Madad, the education minister said that the lower staff in Matiari district could not receive their salaries because the concerned DCO spent huge sums in a certain sector, allegedly to collect some commission, and an inquiry in this case was under way.

SSC exams set to begin today; outstanding issues remain unresolved

Karachi, Secondary School Certificate (SSC) Annual Examinations-2010 are set to begin on Friday (today), with the General Sciences assessment being the first evaluation to take place.

Despite the postponement of SSC exams, a number of contentious issues remain unresolved, sources told The News. The issuance of admit cards, re-allotment of examination centres as well as the choice of invigilators in various vigilance teams may blight aspirations for a transparent exam process this year as well, sources said.

On Wednesday, Board of Secondary Education, Karachi (BSEK) officials had told media personnel that exam forms of over 1,000 more students had been accepted by the Board. This number turned out to be an understated estimation, as about 2,000 admit cards were issued on Thursday.

“We could not count the actual quantity of forms received yesterday (Wednesday). When we started tabulation of these forms, we realised that the number of forms was in excess of 1,500, and went up to about 2,000,” Board officials told The News.

Sources however maintained that Board officials continued to accept exam forms on Thursday. Due formalities were completed the same day, and cards handed back as soon as possible. A Board official, when contacted around 8pm, said that only a few admit cards had to be collected by the candidates/schools, while the rest had already been handed out.

Interestingly, while the governor’s intervention on Tuesday was meant only for regular candidates of private and some government schools, the Board had barred private candidates on Wednesday from applying for admit cards. Sources told The News that many private candidates had submitted their forms as regular students registered in public and private sector schools, albeit with the help of the “mafia.”

The matter of issuance of admit cards is only half the story, sources said, claiming that the involvement of junior teachers as members of vigilance and super vigilance teams has irked senior teachers and other officers of the educational department.

Education Executive District Officer (EDO) Muhammad Ibrahim Kumbhar had sent suggested names of invigilators from his department to the BSEK, sources said, claiming that this list contains a number of controversial figures.

Sources cited the name of a man named Abdul Latif Mughal, who is simply a headmaster, but claims to be Education Deputy District Officer (Secondary and Higher Secondary, Male). Mughal had been removed as the assistant district officer (ADO) of Jamshed Town on charges of corruption, but he was nominated as a member of super vigilance team for this year’s exams.

Moreover, while 13 subject specialists have been assigned the responsibility for monitoring exam procedures across the city, head masters of various private schools are also entitled to act as members of vigilance teams.

Several of these principals either own or run these schools, sources said. This in turn breeds apprehensions over the transparency of the exams conducted, especially given the conflict of interest, sources said.

Meanwhile, a three-member committee has been constituted by BSEK Chairman Intizar Hussain Zaidi to probe the reasons for the delay in issuance of admit cards, a statement released by the BSEK on Thursday read. The committee, formed on the directives of the Sindh governor, will submit its recommendations by April 6, 2010 to the BSEK chairman.

Governor Punjab will be chief guest at Punjab University 118th Convocation on March 27

Lahore, Punjab University Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Mujahid Kamran presided over a meeting of the Convocation Committee for 118 th Convocation 2010 in New Campus here on Wednesday. In addition to Pro Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Jamil Anwar Ch., Registrar Prof Dr Muhammad Naeem Khan and Controller Prof Dr Zahid Karim Khan, Conveners of Reception, Stage, Hall, Address, Parking and Transport Committees were also present. Governor Punjab/Chancellor Punjab University Mr. Salman Taseer will be the chief guest on the occasion. Pro Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Jamil Anwar Ch gave a comprehensive presentation on the uptodate progress made by respective conveners of committees with regard to the convocation arrangements. Expressing his satisfaction over the arrangements, Dr Mujahid Kamran said that the student community would exhibit exemplary discipline and decorum during the convocation in keeping with the glorious traditions of their alma mater. It was also decided that the participating students will not be allowed to take mobile phones in the hall. The full dress rehearsal of 118 th convocation will be held on Friday, March 26 in the Faisal Auditorium where degrees will be awarded to 139 PhD scholars, 297 MPhil students, 310 Master and 138 Undergraduate students while 142 gold medals would be awarded to top position holders. All the students who have been sent intimation letters and will get degrees as well as medals in the convocation will attend the rehearsal. It may be recalled that as many as 125 scholars were awarded PhD degrees in the year 2009.

GCU holds paintings exhibition

Girl looks at paintings

Lahore, The Government College University Fine Arts Department Thursday held a painting exhibition of a group of young talented painters; Amna, Khalid, Qurat-ul-Ain, Naveed and Sadaf. As many as 23 art pieces are put on display at the one-week exhibition opened by National College of Arts Principle Professor Naazish Ata Ullah. The artists use oil paint, acrylic, etching and photography as a medium to express emotions and thoughts. Talking about her expressionist paintings, Amna said that she had tried to express depression and sorrow through dark colours. “Red, Brown and Black express the sadness of subjects,” she added. Khalid put on display 10 paintings of Landscapes of rural areas. Talking to media, Sadaf said that she had used etching, aquatint, dry paint and photography as mediums to produce impressions of confusion and irregularities. Poles and wires are seemed intermingled in her paintings. However, Professor Naazish Ata Ullah says, “Vision can travel on these lines.” Artists Qurat-ul-Ain and Naveed worked on surrealistic subjects and expressed their thought in vibrant colours. Speaking on the occasion, Naazish Ata Ullah appreciated the work of young talented painters.