HYDERABAD, April 6: The third one-week training course for in-service physics teachers of colleges of the province started in Jamshoro on Tuesday. Speaking at the inaugural ceremony, Sindh University vice- chancellor Mazharul Haq Siddiqui said that training was essential for updating knowledge of teachers.

He said that training about new developments in education, upgradation of skills of teachers in their respective fields, current changes and trends would go a long way in improving the quality of higher education.

He said that the training being provided by the university and the HEC to teachers was aimed at improving higher education. The vice-chancellor said that the university had announced six scholarships for teachers of its affiliated colleges for research and added that if the teachers showed interest in research, the number of scholarships would be increased.

He stressed the need for providing laboratories in colleges with latest equipment. The chairman, department of physics, Prof Mohammad Maroof Khushik, said from February 2001 to March 2004 more than 1,000 books had been purchased from the allocation of the department.

He said students of the department were contributing Rs100 each ever year to the lending library and out of this fund, the department had purchased more than 350 textbooks.

He said the department had developed its laboratory for conducting research which would help M.Phil and Ph.D scholars. The course has been jointly organized by the department of physics, Sindh University, and the Higher Education Commission.