January 20, 2008	Sunday	Muharram 10, 1429

KARACHI, Jan 19: The education department has prepared the PC-I of three new engineering colleges in different districts of Sindh.

Officials said that one engineering college would be established in Badin, Larkana and Jacobabad each. Around Rs1,200 were needed for the construction of one college, they added.

Initially, each college would have courses in one faculty from the new academic session which would hopefully begin this year, officials said and added that new faculties would be introduced in a phased manner. “According to the plan these colleges would be fully functional by four years but from this year we’d start them with at least one technology,” said a source, adding that on completion of all the four phases, every college would be offering three technologies with a total 280 seats.

Sources said that the construction of three colleges would start only after a couple of meetings of the officials of education and planning and development departments. They would also meet federal government officials to decide about the share of the provincial and the federal governments in funding the project.

Sources said that new engineering colleges in these districts would save the students of these areas from hardships they faced while traveling long distances to study engineering subjects.

New VC

President Pervez Musharraf, who is also the chancellor of the Federal Urdu University of Arts, Science and Technology (FUUAST), has appointed Prof Dr Mohammad Qaiser, as the university’s vice-chancellor for the next five years, it is learnt.

Dr Mohammad Qaiser has also served as the head of the botany department, registrar and dean of science faculty of the University of Karachi. He is the third regular vice-chancellor of the FUUAST and overall seventh since 2002 when the Urdu College was given the status of a university.

The FUUAST had been without a regular vice-chancellor for the last two years. Prior to Dr Qaiser’s appointment, Dr Kamaluddin was the in-charge vice-chancellor of the university.

Training course

A training course is being launched for primary and junior school teachers so that they could be equipped with modern educational techniques and groom their students in a better way.

The course being launched under the Sindh Elementary Teachers Training Programme, was discussed at a meeting in the education department which was chaired by Sindh (caretaker) Minister for Education and Literacy Shujaat Ali Baig. The minister noted that 35,000 primary teachers would be trained under the programme.

Project Director Naimatullah Shaikh told the meeting that the two week training programme would be launched at the Government Elementary College, Hyderabad, where the first batch of 300 primary and junior school teachers will be imparted the training.

The meeting was told that the education minister would inaugurate the programme on Jan 21.