Over 500 schools yet to receive grants

LAHORE

Punjab Teachers Union (PTU) has expressed serious concerns over non issuance of third and fourth installment of non-salary budget and School Management Committee (SMC) grant for over 500 public schools of the provincial metropolis. 

Punjab Teachers Union  central general secretary Rana Liaqat Ali said the fiscal year 2015-16 was about to end on June 30 but it was unfortunate that these funds could not be released so far.

“These funds were supposed to be utilised during the ongoing fiscal year”, he said and questioned “If released now, how the funds will be utilised in just two days?”

The Punjab Teachers Union leader went on to say that contractor “mafia” was very powerful in the School Education Department which was always ready to exploit such situation.

He feared that as observed in the past, this mafia would create fear among heads of schools about the lapse of funds forcing them to make purchases on their terms and conditions.

He said if the government wanted to release the funds now, it should also allow a month’s time for audit so that the schools utilise these funds in a proper way without pressure from the contractors. 

BA/BSc date sheet: Punjab University has issued the date sheet of BA/BSc Part-I Annual Examination 2016. 

The exam will commence from August 2.

Meanwhile, Punjab University (PU) has awarded PhDs to two scholars. Muhammad Abdul Khabeer, son of Abdul Jabbar Sheikh, has been awarded a PhD in Islamic Studies after approval of his thesis entitled “Religious Impact on Scientific Contributions of Early Muslim” and Muhammad Ali, s/o Riaz Ahmad, in Molecular Biology after approval of his thesis entitled “Pharmacological Preconditioning of Endothelial Progenitor Cells for the Repair of Diabetic Cardiomyopathy.”. 

MoU: Virtual University (VU) and Government College Women University Faisalabad (GCWUF) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for collaboration in academic, research, human and infrastructural resources. 

Virtual University Rector Dr Naveed A Malik and Government College Women University Faisalabad  Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Naureen Aziz Qureshi signed the MoU.

The two top universities will also develop joint research projects and programmes in line with the national priorities for influencing policies through evidence generation.