Category: Education

LAHORE (NUT-DESK)

THAAP held a enlightening talk, in collaboration with Bazm-e-Alam, on RE-IMAGINING CURRICULUM IN PAKISTAN at Thaap secreteriat Gulberg Lahore. Speaking on the occasion Professor Dr Waseem Anwar, a person of vast teaching experience who spent long years at the FC College and FC University and is currently at the Kinnaird College for Women, emphasized the need for a fresh and unbiased look at Curriculum to be taught in Pakistan. In his opinion the curriculum has to have a humanistic base; it must be pluralistic and must be honestly implemented.

Dr Farooq Bajwa, Lawyer and Policy Planner, with a deep interest in the promotion of Punjabi emphasized the need to introduce education at all levels, in particular the Primary level in the mother tongue of the student. He informed the audience that all evidence shows that students learn and comprehend best in the language that they are most familiar with, which is the Mother Tongue. He gave the example of Patiala University where all subjects were taught in Punjabi.

Ms Baela Jamil, the CEO of Idara-e-Taleem o Aagahi(ITA) mentioned the issue of curriculum which lies at the heart of any education program of a country. Dr Baela Jamil has extensive experience in education delivery and management. She emphasized that every child is an individual and the attempts to make all students into a uniform mold is not desirable and even harmful for the children. She said we have inherited confusion and continue to live that state.

Mr Waqas Halim an expert in technology of education delivery elaborated on how technology is making delivery of education easier and faster. He said he felt optimistic because of the avenues being opened up by technology.

The session was moderated by Dr Hasnain Javed, who made very pertinent remarks and comments.

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Lahore (NUT-DESK)

Huawei in collaboration with the Higher Commission of Pakistan has opened registrations for the Huawei Middle East ICT Competitions 2021. This is the 6th time the event is happening in Pakistan. Through the Competition, the company aims to provide students with a platform to compete and exchange ideas in order to enhance their ICT knowledge, practical and application skills, and raise their innovation awareness.

The competition is also a platform that facilitates connections between international talent as well as the collaboration between governmental organizations, higher educational institutions, training agencies, and enterprises, thus promoting the education, growth, and employment of ICT talent. National competitiveness will be increased through developing ICT talent in Pakistan. Upgrades of teaching methods and connectivity with the industrial development will be focused upon. This will direct the students to perceive employer’s perspective by developing their ICT knowledge.

Throughout the Huawei ICT Competition stages, contestants receive the latest updates on emerging technologies that are reshaping Pakistan’s digital economy. These include Artificial Intelligence (AI), Big Data, the Internet of Things (IoT), and most importantly 5G broadband—seen as a crucial digital-service enabler. The competition is a unique opportunity for students to test their abilities in these cutting-edge fields, and helps colleges and universities to better understand the talent requirements of today’s top businesses and government leaders.

Roadshows and awareness sessions are to be conducted at 50+ colleges and universities all around Pakistan. The number of registrations reached 15000+ last year, which was the highest record in four years, it was also the first time the competition was held online, due to the restrictions placed by Covid-19.Additionally, the Pakistani team won first prize in the regional competition.

Following the launch of the competition, the preliminary and national finals will be held in October, with the regional finals taking place in November of 2021. The competition covers an array of courses like Datacom, Security, Wlan, 5G, Cloud, storage and AI, to name a few. The winners of the regional competition will win 20,000 USD, a Huawei certification trophy, internship opportunities and the Huawei Matepads.

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Lahore (NUT-DESK)

The Government of Punjab has extended the closure of all educational institutions till September 15 due to the spread of the novel coronavirus. This was announced by Punjab Education Minister Murad Raas on Friday.”Stay home and stay safe,” the minister tweeted.

Last week, Punjab had announced to close educational institutes from September 6 till September 11. However, this latest announcement comes following the directives of the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC).

On Thursday, the NCOC decided to extend its coronavirus restrictions in 24 districts of Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Islamabad Capital Territory for another week. Under the restrictions, outdoor and indoor gatherings and intercity public transport will be banned.

Indoor gyms and educational institutions will also remain closed. The decision was taken after the NCOC took a detailed stock of the current disease situation in different districts, daily hospital admissions, pressure on critical care and availability of oxygen.

In a notification, the NCOC has said that it is closely monitoring the coronavirus situation and necessary decisions will be taken whenever deemed appropriate to control the spread of Covid-19.

Meanwhile, Punjab reported 1,705 cases and 36 deaths from coronavirus over the past 24 hours. The provincial tally has risen to 410,463 and the death toll has reached 12,171.

Moreover, Islamabad reported 254 cases and five deaths, while KPK recorded 590 cases and 25 deaths. Pakistan’s coronavirus tally has reached 1,197,887, while the death toll stands at 26,580

Lahore (NUT-DESK)

Pakistani actor, playwright and host Yasir Hussain on Sunday shared his first look from his upcoming feature film Javed Iqbal: The Untold Story of a Serial Killer.

The Baandi actor took to Instagram and shared the first poster of the film and announced that it will be released soon in cinemas.

He shared the poster with caption, “Javed Iqbal: The Untold Story Of A Serial Killer. Coming Soon!”

Iqra Aziz also turned to the photo-video sharing platform and extended best wishes to husband Yasir Hussain for the upcoming movie.

The Ranjha Ranjha Kardi actor shared the first look of Yasir Hussain from film Javed Iqbal and said, “BASED ON A TRUE STORY OF JAVED IQBAL‼️”

She further said, “Best of luck @yasir.hussain131. I know how difficult this character is for you to play, to feel this entire heartbreaking story and then perform. #comingsoon #feauturefilm.”

Lahore (Nut-Desk)

Prime Minister Imran Khan on Monday launched Single National Curriculum (SNC) in the country saying that it was his vision from the last 25 years, which people sometimes termed as an impossible thing in the country.

Addressing the launching ceremony, Prime Minister Imran Khan said that previously children from the ruling elite were able to access English

“The society was divided into two lines owing to the syllabus being taught in our educational institutes,” he said adding that failure to bring a single curriculum after the independence was the biggest injustice to the society.

He said that today the number of English medium schools has increased, raising a divide in the society. “No country does this by dividing its curriculum,” he said.

PM Imran Khan said that implementation of a single curriculum was the first step and would lead to criticism from status-co who would never want this system to be implemented.

He, however, said that despite criticism, they would not hesitate and would move forward to make one nation through a single national curriculum.

Lahore (Nut-Desk)

Punjab Minister for School Education Murad Raas has directed all public and private schools to get teachers and other staff members vaccinated against COVID-19 by August 22.

In a video message shared from his official Twitter account, Murad Raas asked teachers and other staff members to get themselves vaccinated and submit their vaccination certificates at their concerned educational institutions.

“We have established monitoring teams and they will conduct random visits in schools to check vaccination certificates after August 22,” he added. The minister warned that if any staff member of any school was found unvaccinated, authorities will close the school.

“We will also take disciplinary action after finding out that any staff member is not vaccinated,” he added. The provincial minister had taken to Twitter to share the picture of a written notification issued by the ministry.

“All teachers, administration and staff of public and private schools of Punjab to be vaccinated by August 22nd, 2021. Any individual without a vaccination certificate after the stated date will NOT be allowed in the school premises. Please follow the issued SOPs,” Raas had written on his official Twitter account.

The notification had said that the directives for immediate vaccination of the schools staff had been issued in pursuance of what was agreed in a meeting with the National Command and Operation Centre last month.

“Pursuant to the discussion, it is hereby ordered that the un-vaccinated employees of the School Education Department shall not be allowed to enter into any school/office after August 21, 2021,” reads the notification.

Lahore (NUT-Desk)

The schools across the Punjab province have reopened after the summer vacations on onday 2^nd August. Last week, Punjab Education Minister Murad Raas had rejected extension in summer vacations in the wake of COVID-19 and announced the reopening of all public and private schools in the province from August 2.

The school staff and administrations have been strictly advised to ensure the implementation of the COVID-19-related standard operating procedures (SOPs) to contain the COVID-19 Delta variant.

The entry of teachers and other staff have been banned in the schools without COVID-19 vaccination certificate, while only 50 per cent of the students are allowed to attend the schools in a bid to ensure social distancing. The time of schools is from 8am to 2pm.

An inter-Provincial Education Ministers Conference that was held on Tuesday had decided to not extend the summer vacations of educational institutions and all schools have been instructed to open from August 2, Monday. The decision was made in a meeting chaired by Federal Education Minister Shafqat Mahmood. All provincial education ministers, including Gilgit-Baltistan’s minister, attended it.