Category: Education

Punjab extends closure of educational institutes till Sept 15 due to Corona threat.

Posted on by Ali Qasim

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

 

Yasir Hussain shares his first look from film ‘Javed Iqbal’

Posted on by Ali Qasim

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.”

 

Enabling Teachers to Use Activity Based Learning through Visual Arts for Social Cohesion and Peace

Posted on by Ali Qasim

Lahore (NUT-DESK)

The Little Art arranged a capacity building training workshop with school teachers in Faisalabad from 23-25 August 2021, on themes of peace, democracy and rights. The three day training workshop was part of ArtBeat project, aimed for teachers in low-income schools to acquire skills of activity based learning using visual arts.
Through this project, The Little Art enables the teachers, how to engage children on peace, and learning different skills that relates to them to promote social inclusion. It is also noted that in some cases, children might not be able to afford to buy basic art materials in such schools. The project provides Art Kits containing art materials for children so no child is left behind to creatively express themselves and take part in the national exhibitions of ArtBeat.
The Little Art’s “ArtBeat” is a national competition for children to submit painting and drawings. It is also the largest such even in Pakistan which is running now since past 11 years and keep growing every year.
With the support of Australia Aid and Australian High Commission Islamabad, TLA undertakes a National level Visual Art project for children and youth to raise awareness on Peace, Democracy and Human Rights. The first workshop was organized one of the project school “Umul Maddaris Model School” in Faisalabad and On the last day of capacity building training, H.E. Australia High Commissioner Ambassador Mr. Dr. Geoffrey Shaw visited the school in Faisalabad. H.E. Ambassador was amazed to see the immediate implementation of the set of activities with the children by teachers learned from the capacity building training. H.E talked to the teachers, gave certificates to the participating teachers of the training workshop and handed over the Art Kits to the school principal.
In the concluding ceremony, ArtBeat call to submit artworks was also announced. The Little Art will collect artworks from across Pakistan, from public to private schools, and select some of the best to be a part of an exhibition. Exhibition will be held in Islamabad and also a digital exhibition will be online on Google Cultural Institute.
ArtBeat – National Child Art Competition and Exhibitions was initiated in 2012 with a vision to promote visual culture, understanding of issues among children and youth from their own perspective, celebrate children as artists and present children’s view as a point of discourse for adults and community. It’s a National level competition of visual arts (painting and drawing) on the themes of Peace, Democracy and Human rights for children and young people.
The Little Art is a registered non-profit arts education organization, which carries a mission to establish arts in Pakistan as a major facilitator for children and young people to realize and achieve their dreams; through innovative arts education projects and creative learning opportunities. We use the medium of art to promote positive social values through innovative learning opportunities among children and young people, specially marginalized and from low-income backgrounds.

PM Imran Khan launches Single National Curriculum in Pakistan.

Posted on by Ali Qasim

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.

Murad Raas warns schools to get teachers, staff vaccinated by Aug 22. or face closure.

Posted on by Ali Qasim

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.

 

Schools reopened in Punjab after summer vacations.

Posted on by Ali Qasim

Lahore (NUT-Desk)

The schools across the Punjab province have reopened after the summer vacations on onday 2nd 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.