Source (Express Tribune) A historical educational institute in Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B) is decaying due to negliience of the concerned authorities, belying the government’s claims of improving education in the country. Built nearly 120 years ago, High School No 1, located in the heart of Gilgit city, is regarded as the Aligarh University of G-B by historians.
The school has had hosts of problems over the years but no measures were taken to improve or preserve this national heritage that has churned out some of G-B’s rulers for decades. Built in 1893 on the orders of Colonel Algernon Durand, a British political agent, the school made little progress regarding infrastructure. Later, the Maharaja of Kashmir was reluctant to invest money in the school, as he felt that there was no point in trying to educate people from such a far-flung and mountain-locked region.
“This is akin to Aligarh University for us,” said Sherbaz Barcha, a historian.” I believe the contribution of the school is unprecedented in the history of G-B,” he added.

The original building no longer exists today, as it was demolished for security reasons and to meet modern day requirements instead of being renovated, depriving the region of a legacy. No 1 school – as it is known today – has produced hundreds of renowned figures of the region, some of whom later ruled the region for years. Another historian, Professor Usman, pointed out that Lt Colonel (retd) Ahsan, the first person from the region to be a commissioned officer in the Indian Army, studied at this institution.
Problems galore
A board suspended inside the principal’s office shows Hashmatullah Khan as the first principal of the school in 1950 and ends with the name of the current principal, Shahbaz Khan.
Khan told The Express Tribune that the incomplete building is one of the main factors hindering the pace and quality of education in the school.
The school doesn’t have a dispensary for first aid, nor does it have a water filtration plant on the premises. The boundary wall is not sufficient to protect students during law and order situations. Admissions In-charge Jehangir Khan said the laboratories of the physics, chemistry and biology departments have been nonfunctional after construction was halted by contractors in 2003.
“The teachers and students are good but space is a problem,” he said, adding that the remaining construction was never completed as the government cited reasons such as funding gaps.
Spread over nearly 11,600 square metres, the school has 35 rooms with more than 465 students currently enrolled. Most of the classrooms have rickety furniture. The school has a library but no librarian. “We have over 3,000 books in our library, but no one to tend to them,” said Masroor Wali, another senior teacher, who is also a member of the school management committee.
“The school should have been upgraded to higher secondary by now,” the principal said. Being a government school, education is free for all, but this also means that, “The management doesn’t have any funds available to meet additional requirements,” he added.
Education Secretary Hadi Hussain said that as per the government system, the school was undertaking its activities, while adding that the Public Works Department had blacklisted various contractors, who then left the building incomplete. He added that they would extend all possible support to this historic institution to keep it operational.

Girls students outshined boys by claiming all the top positions in Gilgit-Baltistan Karakoram International University (KIU) SSC examination 2011 results announced on Saturday.

“Of 14730 students in all, 6347 succeeded in SSC examination in Gilgit-Baltistan,” said Shahid Ali Khan, controller of examination KIU while announcing results at the university. Abida Parveen topped the examinations in science group, claiming 930 marks out of 1050, while Nida Zehra got 922 marks. Noreen Ali got third position with 913 marks.

According to the controller of examinations, a total of 8020 boys and 6710 girls students appeared in the examination held under KIU in May 2011 across Gilgit-Baltistan. As many as 2809 girls and 3538 boys succeeded in the examination as the rate of success remained 43.9 percent in all.

Source ( Jaan Haider, Express Tribune) One wonders why the people of Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B) are still sympathetic towards former president Pervez Musharraf. Given that many people in the country consider him to have left an unpleasant legacy, especially one which has left Pakistan embroiled in an unending war.

Many friends and acquaintances say he is an absconder from the courts and that he sold Pakistan out to the Americans for personal gain. The same people say that Musharraf was a dictator and during his regime the rule of jungle prevailed. So, if for the sake of argument, all that is true, then how would one explain his popularity in G-B?

Consider what the people of the region have to deal with. For instance, a few days ago, policemen came down with an iron fist on several protesters in Upper Hunza who were demanding promised help from the government after landslides severely affected the region. However, instead of paying attention to their grievances and dealing with the situation in a calm and non-violent manner, the police responded harshly and baton-charged the protesters, injuring several people and arresting dozens.

In another incident last month, police and other law-enforcement agencies opened fire on protesters in Chilas, killing two and injuring seven others. The protesters were demanding that the government compensate them for the construction of the Diamer-Bhasha Dam on their land. Are these the actions a ‘democratic’ government has to offer to the patient people of G-B?

During his election campaign, a local PML-N leader said Gilgit-Baltistan experienced unprecedented levels of development under Musharraf’s rule.

What compelled an opposition member to make such a statement?

Perhaps, the fact that he could no longer fool the people of G-B and knew that the people wanted him to admit that the two major parties – the PML-N and the PPP – hadn’t done much for the people of G-B during their stints in power.

To cut a long story short, the general gave the only university to the region – Karakoram International University. He also inaugurated an 18-megawatt hydro-power project in Naltar Valley near Gilgit, and a dry port in the border town of Sost.

Looking back, it seems the law of the jungle wasn’t too bad after all for the people of Gilgit-Baltistan.

Author : Rubab Ali
From : Ghizer
Occupation : Student of MBBS
Email:
A new study reveals that children who spend too much time watching TV are at a higher risk of developing several health problems later in life.

The study conducted by the University of Sydney in Australia found that 6 to 7-year-olds who spent the most time in front of the TV had narrower arteries in the back of their eyes, which increases their chances of developing heart disease, high blood pressure and diabetes when they are older.

Dr. Bamini Gopinath, the study’s lead author, said: “Parents need to get their children up and moving and off the couch.”

The first-of-its-kind study involved 1,500 children in 34 primary schools in Sydney.

On average, children spent almost two hours a day in front of a TV or computer screen and just 36 minutes in organized physical activity.

But those with the highest level of activity – more than an hour or so – had significantly wider retinal arteries than those who spent less than 30 minutes.

The damage appears to be caused by a combination of concentrating for too long on the screen and not getting enough exercise.

“This suggests unhealthy lifestyle factors may influence microcirculation early in life and increase the risk of heart disease and high blood pressure later in life,” Gopinath added.

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Shabbir Mir (tribune) In what appears to be a one-of-a-kind con, a person impersonating Federal Minister for Commerce and Trade Makhdoom Amin Fahim, robbed a position holder of Karakoram International University (KIU) of Rs240,000 by befooling the Vice Chancellor (VC) of the institution. The drama occurred on Monday after Kavita Parveen, a KIU position holder received a phone call from VC Najma Najam. “The VC asked my niece to attend a ceremony being organised in Islamabad for the position holders,” Afiat Nazar, Parveen’s uncle said. The VC told Parveen to reach Islamabad by the evening of February 21 to claim the award, he added. “But it wasn’t possible for us to get there at such short notice so we informed the VC of our inability to make it on time,” Nazar said, adding that the VC later called Parveen and gave her a telephone number, which she claimed belonged to Makhdoom Amin Fahim, for further guidance. “When Parveen called on that number, someone with a similar voice as Fahim took the call,” Nazar said.

He said that the person posing to be the minister told Parveen she was being awarded a car but she first needed to deposit a sum of Rs260,000 as some sort of a car tax in account No 032-01335953001 of the Standard Chartered Bank. The person impersonating Fahim told Parveen that the president had announced the prize of a car for the students with high educational achievements. “Since the VC had given us the telephone number and the voice of the person was also familiar, we deposited the money and also got the receipt from the bank as was directed by the person on the phone,” Nazar said. He said that later when a relative went to Makhdoom Amin Fahim’s office in Islamabad to inform him that the money had been deposited, people in his office denied having made any call to Parveen. Upon checking, it was confirmed that the minister had not contacted Parveen nor was he linked to the matter in any way.

Parveen’s relatives then tried to draw out the money but it was too late as they were informed that someone named Nilam Imtiaz had already drawn the money. Registrar KIU, Dr Ahsan Ullah Mir, said that someone called the VC saying he was Makhdom Amin Fahim and asked her to send KIU students for an awards ceremony in Islamabad upon which VC Najam contacted some students and told them about the ‘presidential ceremony’ and asked them to contact the so-called minister on his cell number. Mir said that a case has been registered with the police. Deputy Commissioner Gilgit Asad Zamin, from whose office the thugs had apparently gotten the VC’s number, said the government has taken the matter very seriously.