STEP – Science, Technology, and Education in Pakistan

Bilal Zafar is a doctoral candidate at the University of Southern California (USC) and a graduate research assistant at the Information Sciences Institute. His research work is focused on computer architecture and interconnection networks, and real passion is teaching. He has served two terms as a Teaching Assistant Fellow at USC’s Center for Excellence in Teaching, and was the receipient of Best Teaching Assistant award in 2006.

Now that the debate on whether to devolve or dissolve or d-something HEC has –at least for the time being — ended, it is time to go back to the fundamental challenges facing Pakistan in higher education and look for some answer. To me, the fundamental challenge facing Pakistan is simply this: 95% of college-age population is out of institutions for higher education, and therefore, without marketable skills in the 21st century.

How to bring this number down and create a skilled workforce is no small challenge. And, the fact that higher education in high-value fields like engineering and medicine is fairly expensive makes the problem even harder. University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore, one of the premier public-sector engineering schools in the country, spends roughly Rs. 200,000 per student per year (not including the cost of developing new infrastructure for future expansion). Add to that the cost of living that is usually borne by the student himself or herself, and the price tag of producing one engineer runs well over a million rupees. Multiply that with the need to produce tens of thousands of engineers and scientists to keep pace with developing countries like Turkey, Brazil, India and China, and it is easy to see how daunting the math simply is. To illustrate the point, Chinese universities graduate roughly 350,000 engineers each year. If we were to aim at producing 50,000 engineers at the cost of Rs. 0.25 million each (borne by the state), it would add up to Rs. 12.5 billion just to run the engineering programs nation-wide. The entire budget allocation for HEC for the fiscal year 2011-12 is Rs. 14 billion.

The important question, which to my view is not getting enough attention, then is this: How do we create a system where we are able to train tens of thousands of engineers every year without going deeper into debt? And, perhaps more importantly, how to do we create a system where the engineers our universities produce are job-ready? Because, after 16 years of education, if it takes an engineer another two years (or more) to add value to the society, it simply adds to the burden.

A one-of-a-kind experiential education program in the Iron Range region in northeastern Minnesota in the United States offers an worthy model. The Iron Range region is rich in multiple distinct bands of iron ore, and houses mining, paper, and energy industry. Faced with the challenge of finding engineers who are ready and willing to work in the local industry, a consortium of local businesses and universities have banded together to design a unique engineering programmed called Iron Range Engineering (IRE).

IRE is an upper division engineering program (3rd and 4th years).  Students graduate with a B.S. in Engineering, with an emphasis of their choice (e.g., Mechanical Engineering) from Minnesota State University. Students join the Iron Range Engineering program after spending two years taking foundational courses in maths, programming, and engineering sciences at area community colleges or other universities. Specifically, the program requires that incoming students complete 51 credits, including the following courses:

General Physics (calculus-based), 10 credits
Calculus and Differential Equations, 16 credits
Introduction to Engineering, 2 credits
Engineering Mechanics (Statics & Dynamics), 6 credits
Electrical Engineering (Circuits, including lab), 4 credits
Chemistry, 5 credits
English Composition, 4 credits
Computer Graphics Communication, 1 credit
Geometric Dimensioning & Tolerancing, 1 credit
Introduction to Problem Solving and Engineering Design, 2 credits

The distinguishing feature of that program is that at IRE, students do not take any classes. They spend 20 hours per week working on projects at local manufacturing plants under the direction of practicing engineers. The remaining 20 hours per week are devoted to learning engineering theory and discussing its application with the faculty. As  a result, students and faculty spend a tremendous amount of time interacting on the learning of the technical knowledge, the professional skills, and design processes. This unique method of instruction completes them as engineers, while keeping them firmly grounded in the context of the local manufacturing industry.

Students in the program blog about their experience on irengineering.blogspot.com. Their posts provides a window into the program and what kind of projects the students are engaged in. For example, on April 7, a student blogged:

After multiple meetings with the engineers and mechanics, we have narrowed our design down to hydraulics. The team has been working to complete two different mounting designs for the hydraulic system for installation. When the designs are finished and our price estimates are complete, we will then present our final work to Hibbing Taconite. We are nearing completion, even though we planned on having our final deliverable done by Friday, April 15th. We set our finish date early so that if we ran into issues or had delays, we could still finish before the end of the semester. Also, we set our end date sooner so that Hibbing Taconite could install the lift system as soon as possible because they are ready to get it installed

Iron Range Engineering is a program in its infancy. Started in 2009, there are currently only 25 students in the program with the first graduates expected in December, 2011. So, it may be a while before we can judge the success of the program. But, that does not mean we cannot learn from it and build from its example.

A program like IRE offers several unique benefits in the context of our own education system:

• First, by allowing students to take foundational courses at local colleges, instead of national universities which are concentrated in major metropolitan cities, the cost of both tuition and lodging can be reduced significantly for students in rural areas or residing outside major metropolitan cities like Lahore, Rawalpindi, and Karachi. In addition to lowering the financial cost for families outside major cities, this option can be especially attractive for girls whose parents might be reluctant to send them to major cities at a young age.
• Second, by teaming up students with professionals in the industry, the time spent in the engineering program contributes directly to job-readiness of the students. Since students have access to the faculty at the university during this time, they are not reliant entirely on their industry mentors for help and guidance in technical matters. In other words, it allows industry to off-load part of employee training to the university.
• Finally, and perhaps most importantly, a program like the IRE creates a true symbiotic relationship between the local industry and the academia. The industry benefits mainly by having a ready supply of qualified engineers who can not only meet the technical needs, but are also familiar with the work environment. And, the academia benefits by offering the faculty an organic collaborative relationship with the industry — a true win-win for both sides, and especially for the students.

It may be that IRE model is an idea far too radical, and far too demanding to work in Pakistan. Many times, when it comes to education policy, what appears like a sound idea on paper does not translate well in the real world. So may be the case with IRE. My point, however is that the cost of traditional higher education is simply far too great on the individual and the societal level to work for a populous and debt-ridden country like Pakistan. We have no choice but to think of creative ways to leverage precious resources to benefit the greatest number of students. The traditional four-year programs offered at our top engineering universities like the UET Lahore, NUST SEECS, and LUMS SSE simply cannot be scaled to large enough a number. We have to come to terms with this basic reality, and chart a different course rather than try to replicate the same model of education but with inferior resources.

Dr. Shaukhat Hammed Khan is the Executive Director of Society for the Promotion of Engineering Sciences and Technology in Pakistan (SOPREST), the parent body of GIK Institute. A nuclear physicist by training, he recently served as the Rector of GIKI and member of the Planning Commission. In Part 2 of our conversation with Dr. Khan we talk about GIKI — its vision and its future, his work on lasers and much more. Part 1 of our conversation is here.

Read the rest of this entry »

Very few scientists are able to successfully navigate the road between a research lab, academic administration, and the government. Shaukhat Hameed Khan is certainly one scientist who has. An Oxford-trained nuclear physicist, Dr. Khan started the first group working on lasers at the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission in 1969. During the proceeding four decades, he contributed to the nation’s nuclear program, served as the Rector of Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology, and as a member of the Planning Commission. Dr. Khan now serves as the Executive Director of Society for the Promotion of Engineering Sciences and Technology in Pakistan (SOPREST), the parent body of GIK Institute. In this two-part interview, we talk about higher education, HEC, GIKI and much more.

Let’s start by talking about the recent funding crisis at the HEC and the universities. Do the universities have a point that current funding is simply inadequate? Is there a way out?

The Universities are quite vulnerable as regards their development budgets, which are frozen except for the projects nearing completion. I believe considerable funds have been released for their operational expenditures and the critical moment is over.

I must point out that while the HEC has done excellent work by focusing on developing the physical and intellectual infrastructure and hence access to higher education, this growth cannot continue at such a high rate indefinitely. The Universities have been conditioned by HEC to expect funding increases every year, with few serious reviews in place. In fact, (until recently) HEC was expecting 20-26 % increase in funds annually for the foreseeable future, which was simply not sustainable.

The recent funding crisis was foreseen earlier, and the HEC was cautioned as far back in 2007 by the Planning Commission – where I looked after Higher Education – to pause and consolidate, to slow down expansion, and concentrate on quality matters, which is perhaps more important than mere numbers. After all the only deliverable from a University is its graduates and their competence and ability in meeting the demands of the very competitive 21st century. This does not mean, as some have suggested recently, that the HEC and Universities should not have received large funding at all. However, this crisis has thrown up the opportunity for a major review of the HEC itself, and address the issues of its organizational efficiency, and decision framework. Of particular importance are activities related to funding for research, accreditation, and rankings which needs to be reviewed for potential conflict of interest. This is extremely urgent under the new devolution regime.

Please remember that Pakistan is not unique in facing this problem. Higher education and its funding is in crisis everywhere. This is why Western Universities solicit students from countries such as Pakistan so that they can continue to subsidize their own students one way or the other. Coming now to the present, even without a financial crisis as at present, this tapering off of funds would have happened, but it should have been gentler and more gradual. With the economy being badly hit by several factors such as the global crisis in financial sector, inflation in fuel and food prices, war in Afghanistan next door, and now the floods; all have heightened the fragility of governance and macroeconomic instability.

The current stress on the Universities is expected to continue.

What is the way out?

First, reduce costs, and mobilize other resources simultaneously, with a moratorium on new development projects for at least 3-4 years. The word should be: Consolidate. There is just not enough faculty to allow further expansion, and the result of this shortage is that we have a ‘teach – hop – teach’ syndrome exploited by roaming ‘visiting faculty’. While a few thousand PhDs will no doubt be joining Pakistani universities in the near future, I do not buy into the argument that a freshly returned PhD , no matter how talented, must also be a good teacher.

Ultimately it comes down finally to increasing internal efficiencies. Increase the student: teacher ratios to 25 instead of 18 to one, and reduce the very high ratio of non-teaching staff to total staff in Universities. This hasn’t changed much over the years and need to come down to 1:1 from the current 3:1 Perhaps more mergers may be the answer, as there are too many small, non-critical, and hence inefficient institutions operating in Pakistan. Hardly any University has enrollment on its own campus(es) of 15,000 to 25,000 students. I ignore affiliated colleges, which offer two year degrees.

Given the funding shortfall we’re likely to face even in the future, isn’t increasing the tuition fee a prudent option? Shouldn’t public universities be responsible for generating at least some significant portion of their operating expenditure?

Public universities certainly need to generate more funds themselves, and should also be more prudent in expenditures, because the desired funds will just not be available. Let me give you an idea of the expected shortfall. According to the HEC’s  Medium Term  Development Framework (MTDF 2005-2015) the projected expenditures are  Rs 1150 billion over this period.  The resultant shortfall would be nearly Rs 600 billion unless  additional resources are harnessed, as pointed out by the World Bank in late 2006. Such expenditures are neither feasible nor justified given the national  tax : GDP ratio  of only about 10%. The matter is made worse by the increasing burden of pensions and major increase in emoluments of all employees.

What are the possible solutions?

First, the HEC must slow down the pace of development and expansion, and should stop any new programmes for 4-5 years.

Second, there is no choice but to increase tuition fees, which is admittedly likely to result in higher unit costs / student apart from slowing the growth in enrolment and increasing the inequities already existing in the country’s education structure. On the other hand, it is argued that Higher Education provides an economic advantage to those who get it, and no fees (or low fees) gives an unfair economic facility to those who can afford to pay.

This is not easy to implement, as it is linked with the sensitive question about how much cost recovery is reasonable. All public universities should be encouraged to progressively generate at least 50% of their operational expenses within five years, coupled with rigorous means testing for financial assistance in order to preserve some equity. The concept of interest-free student loans from an expanded Student Fund needs to be visited, with the loans being paid back after obtaining jobs.

Thirdly, we need to recall our traditional concept of waqf through land being attached to universities for their upkeep. All our major mosques and madrassa have such endowments. Oxford and Cambridge are the biggest landlords in the UK while land-grant universities in the USA have also been quite successful. Some Pakistani universities have plenty of spare land even after decades of existence, and can use some of it to generate some revenues. Vertical physical growth will also be more efficient in space utilization. This also means raising and managing endowment funds from alumni and businessmen.

Fourthly, HEC needs to improve its own internal efficiencies as well as of universities (student teacher ratios, faculty: non-faculty numbers, better trained and educated administrative personnel). While the operational costs of HEC are of the order of 3% of its operational funding of universities, it is too high when the sheer disparity in its personnel numbers versus all the universities is taken into account.

Fifth, the HEC needs to revisit all the incentives it offered to university faculty for doing research and supervising PhD students. This may no longer be valid now with much enhanced faculty salaries, and will reduce the operating costs considerably.

Sixth, the student numbers being sent abroad for MS or PhD need to be reduced in the proportion of the returning PhD scholars from abroad, as more and more PhD work should be done progressively within the country.

All these measures have to be applied simultaneously.

What do you make of the role that the private sector is playing in higher education in Pakistan? Current and likely future funding shortfalls for public sector universities will likely increase the role that private universities are playing? How can that be managed better?

The private sector is already very active in higher education, with some 35 % of enrollment, and 60 private universities as against 75 public institutions. It can make even greater contribution by reducing the burden on the public exchequer, specially in the present crisis, where its role can be more efficient in providing access to higher education. Even though private Institutions are generally smaller, and more expensive, their graduates such as from GIKI and LUMS  are well regarded by academia, business and industry.

It would be necessary to provide the private sector a more level playing field by making them eligible for state R& D funds, which should be neutral and depend only on the quality of proposal. At the same time, they will need they need to submit to greater regulation, scrutiny,  and transparency in quality and financial matters, in regard to full-time faculty and the exemption from income tax.

In our interview with Dr. Asad Abidi, he talked about the importance of vocational training and how most of the industrial economies were built on vocational training. Why hasn’t that happened in Pakistan? And, would establishing vocational training institutions not have been a better investment of public funds than sending students for PhDs, funding research at local universities,  and other programs that HEC started ?

I agree entirely with Dr Asad Abidi.  We cannot increase our economic envelope without raising our collective competence, which alone will ensure our breaking out of the low skills, low productivity, low expectations trap. Just 1% of our 12-17 age group are enrolled in some skill-development programme as compared with, say, Turkey which enrolls nearly 21% of this age cohort.  Why is this so? It is not glamorous enough. We have more doctors than nurses and more engineers than technicians. However, it is not an either-or situation.

We have to improve the quality of students entering University; even more important we need to make secondary education economically relevant, which requires rapid increase in funding for schools and colleges.

We now need to move beyond merely higher education and focus on schools and colleges, specially the neglected transition link between school education and economically relevant skills. After all the knowledge worker in the 21st Century is as much the switchboard operator, or the admissions clerk in a college or the person behind the sales counter or the fisherman and farm worker, as is a PhD.

I feel that the vocationalisation of secondary education (class 8-10) with one or more vocational tracks offered to complement traditional schooling will help reduce school dropouts and improve productivity. It will also make our young people more employable, and keep them away from social distress and mischief. When I left GIKI as Rector, I went back briefly to the Planning Commission and managed to produce a policy paper on expanding quality and relevance of vocational/technical education. This has been accepted by the CDWP and also recently accepted by USAID one of three major reforms needed in Pakistan’s education sector.

Do remember that university and vocational training are not an either-or choice. Both are essential, and with universities now approaching a certain threshold, it is possible to shift the focus to the neglected technical training sector.

I estimate that it will cost a fifth per student per year for a technical diploma /certificate as compared with a university undergraduate degree, with earlier economic returns.

In Part 2 of our conversation with Dr. Shaukhat Hameed Khan we talk about GIKI and Dr. Khan’s experience working as the Rector of GIKI.

Asad Abidi is a professor at the Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). He served as the first dean of LUMS’ School of Science and Engineering from 2007 through 2009. In the first part of our conversation with Dr. Abidi, we talked about LUMS SSE. In this second part, we talk about the challenges faced by the higher education sector in Pakistan, possible solutions, and what Pakistanis living abroad can do to help. Read the rest of this entry »

In Fall 2008, the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) opened its doors to 150 freshmen students to study science and engineering at its brand new School of Science and Engineering (SSE). Offering undergraduate degrees in Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics, Physics, Computer Science, and Electrical Engineering,  and graduate degrees in Computer Science and Mathematics, LUMS SSE had much grander plans than most Pakistani universities. Indeed, SSE envisions to be not just a “successful research university”, but “perhaps an MIT, Stanford or a Caltech for Pakistan.” To realize this vision, SSE was able to raise a significant amount of money Read the rest of this entry »

In collaboration with IEEE-LUMS and IEEE-NUCES as part of IEEE-week, STEP has organized talks by Saad Fazil and Kellee Santiago on February 7th, 2010. The talks will be streamed live and a brief Q&A session will follow each talk.

The talks will be aimed at a general audience. Undergraduate and graduate students with non-engineering backgrounds are also encouraged to attend.

Title: Technology Blogging and Entrepreneurship

Where: LUMS Department of Computer Science, Saeed  Saigol Auditorium .
When: Sunday, February 7, 8:00am Pakistan Standard Time

Abstract:

Whether you want to blog as a professional, grow in your current job, start a technology company, or even influence policy — effective blogging and know-how about blogosphere can play a critical role in your success. This talk will primarily look at blogging as a career and blogging as a means to entrepreneurship. I will discuss what you need to do to be a successful technology blogger and how you can use blogging to start and sell your business

Bio:

Saad Fazil does freelance writing for VentureBeat, where he focuses on deep analysis of emerging trends in the industry. He is the founder of Whizner Consulting, a technology strategy consulting firm. Prior to consulting, he held business analyst, product management, and sales consultant positions at Kayak.com, Oracle, and Alcatel. He received his MBA from MIT Sloan School of Management. He blogs at IT Valley and tweets at @sfrocks.

Where: LUMS Department of Computer Science,  Saeed Saigol Auditorium.
When: Sunday, February 7, 9:00am Pakistan Standard Time

Abstract: 

Games will be the most prevalent medium of the 21st Century – more than radio, film, and television combined in the 20th. So as leaders in this medium, what do you hope to accomplish, and how can you get there?  In this talk, Kellee Santiago (President & Co-Founder) will discuss thatgamecompany‘s approach to developing innovative games, and will explain why they hope that all of you will join them in doing so. She will walk through TGC’s process from first approaching a concept through prototyping and execution, taking examples from their previous PSN release, “Flower.”

Bio:

Kellee Santiago is President and Co-Founder of thatgamecompany (TGC). TGC’s goal is to make video games that communicate different emotional experiences, and expand the communicative possibilities of games. Kellee graduated from the MFA Interactive Media program at the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts where her research focused on game design, interactive narrative, and physical and gestural interfaces for digital media. While at USC she teamed up with fellow student Jenova Chen to develop the student-created game, “Cloud.” The game went on to become critically acclaimed, after which the two decided to found their own studio, thatgamecompany, and landed a three game deal with Sony Computer Entertainment America, Inc. to develop downloadable games for Playstation Network. Their first two commercial releases, “flOw”, and “Flower,” went on to become award-winning and two of the top downloaded games on PSN.

Kellee is also a TED2010 Fellow.

“Kabhi kabhi to humaray zayhen main aisay khayal aata hay keh agar Zardari ki baytee Swat main parhti to shaid school bund hee nahein hotay”. Read the rest of this entry »

A 1997 study of data from the University of Delaware found that across a wide range of universities in the US “education programs were funded below the institutional average for all disciplines” and at the more prestigious research universities “education programs were less well-funded than other professional programs, with the exception of social work and accounting”. The idea that quality teachers cannot be prepared “on the cheap” is getting a renewed look and gaining significant traction in the US and there might be important lessons for Pakistan to learn from this discussion.  Read the rest of this entry »

LUMS has been shut down for a week. And as I said to a friend, maybe it’s a good thing. Because we, the ones at LUMS, are so disconnected from Pakistan, that it had to take the death of seven students, seven of our people, to make us pause our movies and type google news instead of facebook in our urls. Because with the divide between classes here, it’s as if Pakistan is two countries; one where all the news comes from, bombs, stampedes at ration lines, acid attacks, rapes and one where LUMS is, where people (even a few crazy women) can walk the clean quiet streets of defence and cantt, where people dine in every increasing style, where the only effects of terrorism are a few tiresome roadblocks and the echos of blasts far far away. Terrorism has reached our country now and we are slightly disturbed at it.

So finally the budding intellectuals of Pakistan have turned their attention to this problem that they had heard about but never really experienced before this. But this turned out to be a problematic exercise for me. Ask me what I want to see in this country. And I can flood your ears with concepts such as pluralism, freedom, justice, democracy, even anarchism in the style of Noam Chomsky. But ask me, “how do you get to there, from here?” And I am mute. And my hands drop uselessly to my sides. Or rather, they go up and cover my eyes because there is no point of sight when you can’t move.

My philosophy won’t work here because I know what I want but I have no way to make it happen.

I want these killings to end. I want the discourse to become more nuanced than “Islamic terrorism”. I want people to realize that all Muslims aren’t killers and that to say so, even as a joke, is to open the door to a dangerous generalization. I want Muslims to be able to criticize Israel on it’s war crimes without being attacked as fundamentalists. I want Muslims to stop defending what’s happening in our country and stop using conspiracy theories to deflect blame onto the US and its cronies. I want things to become less simplistic. But it can’t happen. Because there are certain interests for USA in creating the image of a Muslim terrorist. Because there is a certain complacency in the Muslim attribution of blame to the west. We all want to blame someone because then the responsibility to fix the problem is placed on whoever is blamed. And man is inherently lazy.

I want the people of Pakistan to be united. But for so many groups with so many nationalist claims to unite under one banner or one leader or even one party is impossible.

I want Pakistan to be partitioned into it’s four provinces. But for that to take place without bloodshed is a myth unheard of in our part of the World. And then there is the problem of our geographical location. A problem that we refer to with a mixture of pride and sorrow. The problem is that we are essential to too many interests. We are a troublesome neighbor to far too many important countries for those interests to allow us to divide for internal peace. Better a war ridden Pakistan than four small states who don’t border all those territories that actually matter to the World.

I want us to not think in terms of nationalism and patriotism. Because what use are these constructs? Why is a fellow Pakistani worth anymore than someone who just happens to be born in Iran or India? Why can’t we cherish human life and human development regardless of which boundary it occurs in? We cannot because such trajectories of thinking have never been offered to us. We cannot because if every Pakistani began to think of him or herself as an individual and began to work for their own benefit, all Pakistan would get is a slap from the invisible hand. Individualism abroad means greater progress because there are structures in which that individualism is exercised. Here, individualism is destruction. It is individualism that makes so many LUMS students rejoice that our university has closed in the middle of exams, because they hadn’t studied and would have scored “below the mean” in a course. Yes, there are Pakistanis who are rejoicing in this moment.

I want such Pakistanis, all Pakistanis to realize what it means to be at war. I want us to work. Ceaselessly. Because work alone can produce results and yes, it might be a Western concept to cherish work oh-so-much instead of sipping tea with the family but I want us to realize that tea and drawing room chats won’t do anything for us. But we can’t. Because when we go to school we die; when we talk out loud, we disappear; when we write, they write back threats. And why should we work? Why should we bother, sitting in our generator powered homes, surfing the net on our shiny laptops, going to cafes and stealing kisses on campus? Of course the greatest issue for LUMS to consider is kissing on campus. Of course. Because what effect does Pakistan’s appalling Gender Equity Index ratings have on a campus where women make up nearly half the student body? What effect do rising food prices have for us, with our regulated cafeteria prices?

So maybe it is good that LUMS has shut down for a week. But will this week change anything, I wonder? An essay here, a comment there. And this week will pass. And the rat race within LUMS will begin again. And you and I, as rational actors, will realize that nothing we do can help Pakistan and we should simply help ourselves by burying our heads in our imported traditions, getting the grades and rushing abroad the first chance we get.

I want things to change. But they won’t. Because we are stuck, you and I and scores like us. And I don’t know how we can get unstuck.

On Funding Projects from the Industry

STEP: Till now, mostly you were funding projects in the academia. Would you be looking at funding projects that are directly initiated by the industry?

QS: We are supposed to fund projects submitted by the industry. Our proposal can be initiated by even an individual. But, being an entity that funds public money, the longevity of the institution to which we are giving money is very important to us. An individual can take the money (from us), work for a little while, and then disappear. What do we do then? Universities don’t disappear. They can provide longevity and credibility to the project. And, it is not (just) longevity for the length of that project but even after that. Read the rest of this entry »

On the History of the Fund

STEP Editors: Let’s start with the history of the Fund, if you can tell us a little bit about it. We understand that it was in a dormant state before it was revitalized.

Dr. Qasim Shaikh, CEO, National ICT R&D Fund:

Yes, it was in a dormant state but, as I tell my team, I don’t think that we are the opening batsmen of this team.  Actually, the Fund was created when PTCL was the only telecom operator (in the country). I think, and somebody has to correct me, that the key person who pushed (that) some of the PCTL’s earnings should go into research and development in Pakistan, like Bell Labs at ATT, was Dr. Atta-ur-Rahman. Then the Deregulation Act was passed and in the Deregulation Act it was mandatory that every telecom operator will have to contribute 0.5% of their revenue to the Fund. That included internet service providers as well, not just the large service providers. Since there were more contributors to the Fund than just PTCL, it didn’t make sense for it to stay within PTCL. So, it was taken out of PTCL and created as National ICT R&D Fund.

Read the rest of this entry »

President Asif Ali Zardari has proposed setting up a high-level National Literacy Council “to ensure the launching of a well-coordinated and effective literacy drive throughout the country”, APP is reporting. Read the rest of this entry »

Happy 63rd Independence Day to all our readers.

“Remember that your Government is like your garden. Your garden flourishes by the way you look after it and the efforts that you put towards its improvement. Similarly, your Government can only flourish by your patriotic, honest and constructive efforts to improve it.” — Founder of Pakistan, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, speaking at Islamia College, Peshawar, April 12, 1948.

Text of the complete speech, titled “Responsibilities of the Youth”, is available at HumSafar.info.

Read the rest of this entry »