LAHORE: Punjab University on Sunday announced a national online art festival and students from all over the country could participate in it at home due to the coronavirus lockdown.

PU Vice Chancellor Prof Niaz Ahmad directed the college of art and design (CAD) to hold the ‘national online art fiesta’.

PU CAD Principal Prof Dr Shahida Manzoor said the competitions were being organised to engage people in healthy activities.

He said the festival included poster design, photography, painting, drawing, calligraphy, video film and creative writing.

He said there were also two age-wise categories for Pakistanis i.e. less than 15 years and above 15 years to participate in all competitions.

He said the prize money for winners was Rs50,000, Rs25,000 and Rs15,000 for first, second and third positions, respectively.

He said besides the top three winners, Rs5,000 consolation prize would also be awarded to selected artwork of the artists in order to encourage them.

The last date to submit entries in each category is May 30.

A PU spokesman said on the instructions of VC Prof Niaz Ahmad, various departments of the university had launched online competitions and other activities to take care of mental and physical health of the people in the prevailing situation.

He said in order to polish creative skills of Pakistanis, the CAD was also launching free online courses from next month.

He said people could contact official social media channels of Punjab University for further details and to participate in competitions.

PITB: Taleem Ghar App has been launched to make available localised and engaging multimedia lessons online, for public school students of class I to VIII while matric and intermediate lectures will be available soon.

This was informed in a meeting chaired by Chairman Punjab Information Technology Board (PITB) Azfar Manzoor. Director General Waqar Qureshi, Director Kashif Farooq and others were also part of the meeting.

PITB Chairman Azfar Manzoor said the Taleem Ghar initiative aimed at encouraging remote learning among students as it was also available on local cable TV and its website.

The Taleem Ghar project is a collaboration among School Education Department, the Punjab government’s programme monitoring and implementation unit (PMIU), and the Punjab IT Board (PITB).

The science and mathematics lectures are conducted through eight animated teachers from Mondays to Thursdays on local cable TV while these are now accessible 24/7 online via android app and website www.taleemghar.punjab.gov.pk.

Published in Dawn, April 27th, 2020