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NEWSBITS
Ata asks VCs to get teachers trained
The Higher Education Commission (HEC) chairman, Dr Attaur Rehman, on Saturday directed the vice- chancellors of public-sector universities to get their teachers trained under its programme 'Train the Trainers' with the objective of improving teaching standards.
He was speaking as chief guest at the Pakistan Educational Research Network (PERN) website launching ceremony.
Speaking on the occasion, he said: "I have formally asked vice-chancellors to get their teachers trained under the project with the help of the commission so that they could further spread the skill in their respective campuses."
PERN is part of the overall vision and objectives of National Information Technology (IT) plan of action, Dr Attaur Rehman said.
The project has been financed by the government in closer cooperation with Pakistan Telecommunication Company (PTCL) research and development funds.
He said this project was aimed to be an integral part of the overall education system of the country and was designed to interlink all public/private sector chartered universities/degree awarding institutes registered with the Higher Education Commission.
The network design of PERN consists of three nodal points at Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi and these three nodal locations are interconnected on existing fibre system and terminate the internet facility in a pool.
This project allows institutions to pool resources with each other through national fibre network and to access internet from the respective nodal points.
While highlighting the services offered by PERN, Dr Ata mentioned that presently PERN would provide access through internet bandwidth; to over 11,000 scientific journals, four or more public IP addresses for use by the university, broadband link to other universities and infrastructure for point to point video-conferencing.
At the end, Dr Attaur Rahman distributed shields and certificates among successful candidates responsible for launching this project.
Teachers training stressed: Training of teachers in line with technological advances and ever-changing curriculum is need of the hour.
This was stated by Comsats adviser Dr Shahzad Ahmad Mufti while speaking as the chief guest at the concluding ceremony of workshop on biotechnology and bioinformatics here on Saturday.
The five-day workshop was organized by the biochemistry department of University of Arid Agriculture (UAA) in collaboration with the Higher Education Commission (HEC).
Congratulating the participants of the workshop, Dr Mufti said: "We want teachers to be able to keep pace with ever- changing scientific developments and comprehend new concepts of teaching in the world."
Stressing on the methodology of teaching, he impressed upon the participating teachers to leave passive kind of teaching and bring a positive change in the their teaching styles.
Speaking on the occasion, UAA's Dean Faculty of Crop and Food Sciences Dr Mushtaq Ahmad Khan said the government had taken initiatives for the development of science subjects curriculum almost at all levels.
"I hope this conference would help the participating teachers to upgrade their teaching skills with incorporation of new ideas and methodologies," he added.
The main objective of the workshop was to train the young scientist, academician and research students, besides equipping them with advanced teaching techniques in biochemistry, molecular biology, genetic engineering and biotechnology for carrying out teaching programmes successfully and developing scientific linkage between the higher institutions, he said. — Sci-tech World Report
Access to information is right of people: Zobaida
Access to information is the right of the people, therefore people must be provided an opportunity to know about the information which is directly linked to their lives.
The Federal Minister for Education Zobaida Jalal stated this at the launching ceremony of the Badin District website (www.badin.gov.pk). The website was developed by the district government in collaboration with IUCN, the World Conservation Union.
The minister said that traditionally people have been deprived access to information but now there is an increased need to disseminate information to the people.
She said that the district government of Badin has taken a step in the right direction by developing district website, which would strengthen the devolution plan.
She said that once people have access to critical information they would start monitoring the service delivery made by the public sector such as schools and hospitals.
She said that the website should also have section in Sindhi language so that common people can also benefit from it.
Appreciating the website, Provincial Minister for Population Welfare Mr Ali Bux Shah appreciated the District Badin website and said that Badin’s contribution in the national economy is significant as it produces oil while its fish resources particularly shrimp are exported.
The District Nazim Badin Sardar Kamal Khan Chang and DCO Badin Syed Mumtaz Ali Shah also spoke about the initiative.
They said that more detailed information of each union council of the district would be available on the website.
Tahir Qureshi and Nasir Ali Panhwar of IUCN said that IUCN is assisting the District Government Badin to develop the district vision. They said that information for planning purposes is essential and added that website is one component of District Management Information System (DMIS).
Dr Akash Ansari Chairman Sindh NGO Federation said that the website would be major source of information for not only the people of Badin but also for civil society organizations who are engaged in development of the district at various levels.
The ceremony was attended by the Senator Yasmeen Shah, Secretary Education Ghulam Ali Shah Pasha besides the representatives of government and non government organizations — Sci-tech World Report
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