Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Minister of State for Education, Balighur Rehman, told National Assembly (NA) on Friday that the performance of the universities was being assessed in the country to upgrade the standard of education and notices had been served to one-room universities.

He expressed these views in the house during the question hour. He said the standard of education had declined due to one-room universities. The performance of the universities had been monitored and work was under way to improve the standard of education therein. He stated about three million out of school students had been given admission in three years. “Our national universities are ranked among the top ten universities in Asia,” he explained.

The national curriculum policy had been evolved, he said. All the students from FATA were integrated into educational programmes. All the students of other universities were also included in educational programmes. The fee in respect of students studying in other universities is paid under the Prime Minister’s Programme. They have been included in the laptop scheme as well.

Parliamentary Secretary, Maryam Aurangzeb, told the house that steps were being taken to overcome the shortage of doctors in Islamabad’s hospitals. The biometric attendance system has been put in place at Poly Clinic Hospital and the children hospital of PIMS. Training programmes were being arranged at the international level to impart training to journalists in order to improve their performance, she told the house.

All the activities of cable operators were being monitored. If someone violates them then a notice was sent to him and action was taken, she added.

The Minster for Interprovincial Affairs, Riaz Pirzada, said seven radar systems had been installed in the country to ascertain every situation and new radars were also being set up. One more radar in all the provinces would be installed. He said a premier service had been launched from Islamabad to Lahore and a minor increase had been made in the fare.