IT labs in 4,286 schools

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Lahore: Additional Chief Secretary Punjab Javed Aslam has said the Information Technology Laboratories in 4286 secondary and higher secondary schools will be set up by November 2009.

He said this while addressing the participants of agreement signing ceremony about provision of IT equipment for these labs. Additional Chief Secretary signed the agreement on behalf of Punjab government while representative of Microsoft, DELL, ACER, HP, Siemens, N-Computing, PTCL and PEL also signed the agreement.

Javed Aslam said that 95% civil work of IT laboratories had been completed while reputed national and international companies had been engaged in project for provision of IT equipment and allied resources. He further said the agreement had been signed with PTCL for installation of internet facilities in these IT labs while TEVTA would provide furniture. Additional Chief Secretary, Javed Aslam further said the Chief Minister Punjab's vision was to bridge the digital divide between private and public sector schools and create awareness in use of latest technology for learning and skill building. He said the training programme for the teachers of IT labs had also been started.

Meanwhile, the Chief Secretary has said all the departments will have to be vigilant for coping with emergency situation in case of terrorism and natural calamity.

He expressed these views while presiding over a meeting regarding defence planning at Civil Secretariat on Saturday. Representatives of federal government and armed forces besides senior officers of Home, Police and other departments also attended the meeting. Briefing was given by Home Department, Rescue-1122, Police, Prosecution Service, Civil Defence, Communication & Works, Transport, Irrigation and other departments. The Chief Secretary said that a practicable plan should be evolved for coping with terrorism and emergent situation in an effective manner which should be implemented in letter and spirit. The News

IJT defies PU adm, sets up stalls again

Lahore: The Punjab University (PU) chapter Islami Jamiat Talaba (IJT) once again set up admission stalls at the varsity's New Campus on Saturday.

On Friday, the PU administration had uprooted Jamiat stalls on the ground that no student organization was allowed to set up stalls.

According to a press statement issued by IJT, the student organization set up a number of admission stalls at the Punjab University on Saturday at various places including IBA Lawn, Center for Higher Energy Physics (CHEP) and University Gate No 2, while the main admission stall was set up in front of Faisal Auditorium. A large number of admission seeking students visited these stalls.

Booklets containing information about admission process and last year's merit of all departments were also available at the Jamiat stalls.

PU chapter IJT nazim Qaiser Sharif vowed that Jamiat would continue organizing such positive activities in universities to guide new comers in proper way.

He also demanded PU Vice Chancellor Dr Mujahid Kamran take a stern action against the guards and administrative staff involved in Friday's incident wherein Jamiat stalls were removed.

He also demanded the VC make a review committee regarding admission policy of university and abolish entry test.

PU landfill site | IJT defies PU adm

PU landfill site polluting Mustafa Town
Lahore, July 19: Residents of Mustafa Town, a locality on Wahdat Road, are forced to put up with stinking smell and poisonous gasses emanating from a landfill site used by the Punjab University (New Campus) to dump and burn its garbage.

Mustafa Town is located only 200 meters from the university's private landfill site. The site is maintained unscientifically and it had been polluting ground water and environment for the last two years.

Mustafa Town residents said pollution caused by burning garbage had ruined their lives, claiming PU staffers dumped at least three trolleys of garbage at this landfill site everyday.

Residents of the colony said smoke engulfed the entire locality when PU staffers burnt garbage and residents had no option but to breathe poisonous gasses emanating from the burning garbage. People were contracting diseases from these poisonous gasses, they remarked.

"My family now only dreams of breathing fresh air," said Muhammad Amir, a resident of Mustafa Town. "You can not imagine the stench of garbage that invades our nostrils if wind blows from the direction of the landfill site towards Mustafa Town," he said. He said several children in the society had developed asthma from breathing poisonous smoke.

Omar, another resident, said his entire family was suffering from breathing problems. He said his house was closest in the society to the landfill site. He said he had desperately tried to sell his home but no one was willing to buy it due to its proximity to the site.

Mushtaq, another resident of Mustafa Town, said the landfill site polluted ground water of the area during rains. He said despite requests, PU authorities had not stopped disposing of garbage near the colony.

He said the landfill site was threatening to 'bury' the colony under garbage. He warned of protests if PU authorities kept up this practice.

Residents said that they were running pillar to post but neither the government nor the PU was ready to give them relief. "We filed applications with the Punjab governor, the Punjab chief minister's Complaint Cell, the Punjab Environment Department, the City District Government Lahore (CDGL) and the vice-chancellor of the Punjab University. Regrettably, we got a very cold response," Omar said. He said residents had decided to approach human rights organisations and the Supreme Court of Pakistan to get relief.

Naseemur Rehman, a senior officer of the Punjab Environment Department, said that private housing colonies and other organisations were allowed to build landfill sites but only in accordance with specifications and design issued by the Pakistan Environment Protection Department. He said if the Punjab University was operating a landfill site then it should match the department's specifications and design otherwise action will be taken against the varsity. He said the department had not received any formal complaint from residents. He said the department will investigate the issue and will take action to solve problems faced by residents of Mustafa Town.

When contacted, the Punjab University registrar said the issue was not in his notice. He said he will take action if any complainant from the society approached him.

Internship programme 2009

Lahore: A four-month internship programme 2009 for final year DVM students was inaugurated at the University of Veterinary & Animal Sciences (UVAS) by Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Muhammad Nawaz on Saturday. A five-day orientation workshop was also organised in this connection which concluded on Saturday. Speaking at the concluding session, the VC lauded the efforts made by the Faculty of Veterinary Science in arranging the internship placement for 109 students in the public and private sectors.

Posting of junior teacher raises eyebrows

Lahore: The recent posting of a BPS-17 lecturer against a BPS-18 administrative post with additional charge of BS-19 post by the Punjab Higher Education Department has raised many eyebrows with some stakeholders accusing high-ups of favouring the incumbent because of his political connections.

The lecturer, Muhammad Afzal, is among those over 90 ad hoc lecturers who were reinstated in March this year on orders of the Supreme Court of Pakistan. Reportedly, the Punjab government had sacked the lecturers who had been serving for almost 14 years from service in 2001 instead of regularizing them.

It is learnt that during this period Muhammad Afzal started taking part in local politics, developed relations with senior leaders of the PML-N and also won elections at Union Council level in Dera Ghazi Khan.

According to sources in the department, as per rules the post of DO Colleges was to be filled from among the teaching cadre, however, the candidate should have been an assistant professor of BS-18. They said similarly the recently created post of Director Colleges at divisional level was meant for associate professor of BPS-19.

They said at present not a single DO Colleges except of DG Khan was of BPS-17 while adding similarly all posts of Director Colleges had been filled except of DG Khan Division.

They even claimed the Establishment Wing of the department was intentionally not filling the post of Director Colleges of DG Khan so that the lecturer kept enjoying 'authority'.

The sources said the department had to face political pressure each time appointment was to be made on administrative posts as such postings were always considered lucrative as they offered various facilities such as official vehicle etc.

When contacted, Muhammad Afzal said his posting had nothing to do with politics adding his posting was ordered by the department secretary. To a question, he said he was verbally asked to look after the charge of Director Colleges.

Additional Secretary (Establishment) of the Punjab Higher Education Department Humayun Maqbool Bhatti claimed that the department had to face problems in posting officials against administrative posts in unattractive areas.

"We have to post even BPS-17 lecturers as principals in unattractive areas", he further claimed.

To a question whether any of the DO (Colleges) from any district of the province was of BPS-17, Bhatti said" "I cannot recall right now". He, however, maintained that the said DO had not been asked to look after the office of Director Colleges.

He said a summary was moved to the chief minister regarding appointment of Director Colleges at DG Khan Division however it was sent back with observations. He expressed hope that a regular incumbent would soon be posted at DG Khan.

Punjab Professors & Lecturers Association (PPLA) President Nazim Hasnain said the posting was certainly disappointing as merit was not observed. He said if the CM claimed supremacy of merit in the province than it should be same for all.

NLA Machine translation (MT) Urdu software

NLA launches Urdu software to break language barriers
Islamabad, July 19: English is no more a barrier in learning computer and internet technology as National Language Authority (NLA) on Saturday released and Urdu software carrying computing and processing systems, developed by its Centre of Excellence for Urdu Informatics.

Machine translation (MT) software is a big step and now Urdu Data House is ready to replace other National languages on cyber space, NLA Chairman Iftikhar Arif announced in a ceremony.

"Microsoft applications like Windows, Office are now converted into Urdu operating systems. One font and one keyboard for Urdu and other Pakistani languages is also released by NLA," Arif said.

Arif said in a rapidly growing integrated technology, it was inevitable to make Urdu language parallel to developed contemporary languages in usage of computer, internet and informatics. "Unveiling Urdu software is a step forward in development of Urdu language," he said.

He said under this project, Nastaleeq font was developed to support Urdu and all Pakistani languages. "As the font is Unicode, hence all kinds of data processing and computing become possible," he said.

He said with the use of such fonts, Urdu became a language of internet. "Basic letters, dots and diacritics are also separated, on basis of Ghost Character Theory, now registered with ISO and Unicode, whereas, it is not a feature of Inpage Urdu," he said.

He said MT software had been developed to perform automatic translation from English to Urdu. "To develop a software for a general language translation is near impossible. Initially, the scope of this MT software is translate official discourse including budget and finance matters," Arif said.

He said Urdu Database would make language resources available at one click and its application with testing data was ready to be used for data processing with an aim to develop a comprehensive language reference bank not only for scholars, researchers, teachers but also for students and general public.

"This is a post-dictionary work, where one is not forced to share a prior knowledge of work or phrase as a prerequisite of searching its meaning and usage," he said.

Arif said Urdu Style Guide let researchers, authors and publishers to style articles, books and other materials automatically as per international and customised standards. "Applying style manually not only takes extra time but also extra care. With the use of Urdu Style Guide, raw data is formatted just by one click. The first part of this product is a Bibliographer that is being released for writers," he said.

Dr Attash Durrani, Centre of Excellence for Urdu Informatics project director, said, "Survival of the fittest is the rule applied on languages as well in a global village. Only those languages will survive that are available on computer and internet." Daily Times

Moot on Islamic microfinance on July 21

Islamabad: A two-day International Conference on the 'Emerging Concept of Islamic Microfinance,' organised by Helping Hand for Relief & Development and Riphah Centre of Islamic Business of Riphah International University, will start on Tuesday (July 21), at the Best Western Hotel, says a press release.

It is aimed at exploring emerging concepts for poverty alleviation and economic empowerment in developing countries through Islamic microfinance.

Distinguished scholars and field experts from Pakistan and abroad, including USA, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Turkey and Saudi Arabia have consented to participate.

Federal Minister for Privatisation Naveed Qamar is expected to be the chief guest at the event.

Renowned scholars and economists such as Dr. Zahid H. Bukhari, currently working as director, American Muslim Studies Programme at Georgetown University, Washington (USA); Dr. Muhammad Yusop Damit, rector, Islam Sultan Sharif Ali University (Brunei Dar-us-Salam), Sarker Muhammad. Ramzan Ali, secretary, Islamic Aid Bangladesh and Durmus Aydin, Vice President IHH (Turkey) will present their papers on various aspects of Islamic microfinance at the conference.

The participants will deliberate upon related subjects with the objective of consolidating the thematic and operational issues associated with the emerging Islamic Micro Financial Instruments and institutions. The News

PU Law College lecturer escapes from court

Lahore: Punjab University (PU) Law College lecturer Khujista Rehan on Friday managed to escape from the court of an additional district and sessions judge who cancelled her interim bail in a case registered against her with New Muslim Town police. According to details, Rehan — also the PU girls hostel number 9 superintendent, had gotten a three-day interim bail until Friday. She appeared before the court for confirmation of her bail but the court instead ordered her arrest. However, she managed to flee from the court premises. On July 10, an FIR was registered against Rehan on the complaint of hostel employees for allegedly torturing hostel number 9 warden Dr Farah. Rehan was accused of thrashing Farah and hitting her with a paperweight. According to the FIR, she also issued life threats to the warden and disappeared after the incident. Daily Times

Dr. Farah named for best U-teacher award

Lahore: Dr. Farah Malik of Psychology Department Government College University Lahore has been declared to receive the Award for the Best University Teacher of year 2008 by the Higher Education Commission (HEC). She will be honoured by Assistant Director (Academics) HEC Asfand Yar Khan and will be presented a certificate and cash prize of Rs. 100,000/- on the occasion. The Vice Chancellor GCU Lahore Prof. Dr. Khalid Aftab has commended Dr. Farah Malik for attaining the award and has hoped that she would continue enhancing her academic and research activities in the realm of Psychology in future as well. F.P report

Transition of '.pk' domain | Islamic microfinance

Transition of '.pk' domain completed
Islamabad, July 18: The transition of county code Top Level Domain (ccTLD) of Pakistan '.pk'has been successfully completed marking it as the most significant and noteworthy landmark in the internet history of the county.

A press release issued on Friday revealed that in this regard, Chairman PTA, Dr Mohammed Yaseen, visited
Lahore office of PKNIC. PKNIC was the present ccTLD operator for '.pk' domain. The purpose of his visit was to appraise the newly upgraded '.pk' infrastructure, data centre and customer services department in Pakistan.

During the visit Chairman PTA noted that the root server mirroring for '.pk' domain in Pakistan was fully operational. PKNIC had successfully implemented the root server mirroring for '.pk' and tested it with all global root servers from a.root-servers.net to m.root-servers.net.

The new authoritative mirror M-2.PKNIC.NET.pk (203.128.7.123) would enable local resolution of '.pk' websites. PKNIC representatives briefed the Chairman regarding mirroring techniques and provided some testing on new Domain Name Service (DNS) resolution mechanism of .pk ccTLD. Formal inauguration of new PKNIC office should be organized in August.

It may be mentioned that Chairman PTA had a long association with '.pk' transition project and had been working vigorously for the successful transition of '.pk' domain to Pakistan. There had been numerous attempts since a decade to bring .pk operations to Pakistan; however during his efforts for '.pk'transition, Chairman PTA strongly perused and coordinated the whole process resulting in execution of '.pk'local mirroring.

Speaking on the occasion Chairman PTA said that '.pk'domain was a national asset for the country and improvement in its services would boost the local content development; subsequently encouraging enterprises to host their web content under '.pk'and ensuring smooth operations of an important internet resource. A dedicated team at ICT Directorate, PTA under the supervision of Chairman had been working on this significant project for the improvement of local internet industry.

Chairman PTA appreciated the efforts of PKNIC management especially of Ashar Nisar and Imran Anwar for this important accomplishment. He also praised the efforts of PTA ICT Directorate towards the project and commended their role during the transition project. PKNIC management highly valued the necessary endorsement of Chairman PTA in this regard. Daily Times