SWABI, Nov 8: Students of two degree colleges held separate protest demonstrations and blocked roads here on Monday against the failure of the government to provide the required teaching staff to the colleges.

Students of government degree college Zaida blocked the Topi-Zaida road near Zaida police station disrupting traffic.

They were chanting slogans against the government and local politicians, alleging that the latter had made tall claims but did not take any practical action to this effect. They said they were without classes since September due to non-availability of the teaching staff.

Over the past one week this was the second blockade of the road by the students of the college to press for their demands. They dispersed peacefully when they were assured by the officials concerned that steps had already taken in this connection.

Similarly, the students of government college Yar Hussain blocked Yar Hussain-Chota Lahor road against what they called “an extreme shortage of the teachers for many months.” The protesting students said due to shortage of teachers their precious time was being wasted. They said whenever they met the principal of the college he assured them of doing the needful but his words could not be translated into deed.

The students also alleged that officials at the directorate of colleges, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa adopted dodging tactics because their children studied in elite institutions. Later, officials of the district administration assured them that steps would be taken for the provision of the staff. MODERN TECHNOLOGY:

Sitara Ayaz, Minister for Social Welfare and Women Development, said here on Monday that without developing indigenous technology the dream of progress and prosperity could not be materialised.

She was speaking at the prize distribution ceremony of three-day all Pakistan software, multimedia, quiz and speed programming competition held at Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology. The competition was organised by Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), GIKI chapter.

Sitara Ayaz said that without dedicated work and collective endeavours 'we would lag behind in technological field.

She said youth being the major chunk of population, should concentrate on utilising their capabilities and energy to steer the country out of the very difficult phase. She said the youth had to work for improving the soft image of Pakistan, telling the world that 'we are a peaceful nation. She stressed that the country's womenfolk should also come forward to play their due role. “We should stop talking only about our rights. Now it is time to talk about our duties and responsibilities and the role we could play for the progress of our country,” she remarked.

Multimedia and poster competition was won by university of Gujarat and its students also shared the reward of speed programming competition with the students of Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS).

The quiz competition was won by Fast University, Islamabad and software competition by AQ Khan Institute, Islamabad. Sitara Ayaz gave away shields and prizes to the winners.