SPLA leaders now in politics

SPLA leaders accused of indulging in politics
Karachi: Sindh Education Minister Pir Mazharul Haq on Tuesday accused Sindh Professors and Lecturers Association (SPLA) members of working for their own interests instead teachers' community. In a statement issued here on Tuesday, he said that he was working for teachers' welfare and betterment. He said that the present government had promoted many teachers during last three years. The minister said that the members of SPLA were busy in politics and they were ruining the future of students. The minister said that the present government is providing rural allowance to the teachers serving in rural areas of the province. ppi

Students take exams amid power breakdowns
Karachi: Students appearing in the intermediate examinations once again suffered a great deal due to massive power breakdowns at examination centres on Tuesday.

Despite the assurance by the Karachi Electric Supply Company (KESC), almost every examination centre remained without electricity. The management of the KESC had assured the Board of Intermediate Education Karachi (BIEK), that load shedding would not occur during the papers in the neighbourhoods of the examination centres.

However, BIEK, which is conducting the board?s exams for Class-XI and XII, told this correspondent that candidates solved their papers without electricity.

Meanwhile, the police and rangers were also reluctant to be seen near the examination centres. The BIEK has asked the Sindh Home Department to impose Section 144 to stop the influx of outsiders around the examination centres so that candidates could solve their papers without any interference in the classrooms.

During the second day of the annual exams, 31 candidates of Class-XI of Medical Technology Group appeared at two examination centres in the paper of Microbiology while 1,817 students of Science Pre-Engineering and General Group appeared in the Paper-I of Computer Science. Furthermore, 30,212 pupils of Commerce (Regular) Group appeared in the Paper-I of Business Maths. According to BIEK officials, no unfair means case was reported in the morning and afternoon shifts on Tuesday.

125 deaf students graduate with a bright future ahead
Karachi: As the academic year approaches its end, many children all over the city attend graduation ceremonies with their beaming parents bearing witness to this milestone, and the 125 hearing-impaired students at Deaf Reach were no exceptions; as they too received academic merits at the annual graduation celebration at the Arts Council Karachi on Tuesday.

Deaf Reach School is a project of the Family Educational Services Foundation (FESF), and is Pakistan's only educational institution for the deaf which has a network extending to major cities like Hyderabad, Sukkur and Lahore; with a new branch opening soon in Rashidabad, 35 kilometers from Hyderabad. A project in collaboration with the Rashid Memorial Welfare Organisation (RMWO), the Rashidabad school will enroll 500 deaf children from underprivileged families in interior Sindh, and these students will have the opportunity to receive top quality education for the first time in their lives.

The real merit of these schools is that they provide quality education to deaf children in areas where these opportunities are virtually non-existent. Students not only receive academic as well as vocational training, the older students are also facilitated in finding employment through the school's "Job Placement Program."

Sign language and awareness classes are taught on a regular basis to parents and other family members of students, as well as to hundreds of volunteers who are interested in helping children that have a hearing impairment.

The event's objective was not only to appreciate the achievements of the students as well as their instructors, but also to honor their mothers; without whom the academic development of deaf children would be impossible, said Richard Geary, the Executive Director of FESF.

He added that these extraordinary women go the extra mile to meet their child's special needs, and ultimately revel in the joy of witnessing their children acquire the education as well as skills required to make them self-sufficient in the future and significant contributors to society.

During the poignant ceremony, Country Head Rutgers World Population Foundation (WFP) Qadeer Baig presented a "Mother of the Year" award to three proud women, while other mother's were honored with appreciation gifts as well as cards that were handmade by the students.

Special guest Amjad Sabri recited a Naat and prayer to begin the ceremony. The news