IT students told to be careful in selecting institutions
By Our Correspondent
PESHAWAR, April 13: Speakers at a seminar on the concluding day of a funfair here urged students to choose right courses if they want to excel in the field of information technology and find attractive jobs.
The fair was organised by the Institute of Computer and Manage-ment Sciences (ICMS) at the Hayatabad township on Thursday to help students, parents, professionals and general public in the IT field.
IT experts from reputed firms dwelt at length on the importance and usefulness of computer knowledge.
Director Operations of the ICMS Malik Tajamul Hayat Khan said the institute was working to promote IT education in the Frontier for several years. During this period, he said, they had computerised the functioning of the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education, Peshawar, Swat, Bannu and Abbottabad, besides dozens of public and private sector organisations.
He said they were in contact with the government to instal computer network in other government departments which, he said, would help the government in maintenance of records of various departments.
According to him, they were imparting IT education to students through highly professional and trained teachers due to which his institute had produced a large number of IT professionals who were presently working in different government and semi-government and private organisations.
Dr Yar Mohammad Khan, former vice-chancellor of NWFP Agricultural University, said there were a lot of IT outlets claiming to provide education to students but urged the aspirants to select the right institutions for their studies so that they could become thoroughly professionals after completion of their courses.
He was of the view that the computerisation of the departments had greatly helped the government and the people.
He said the computerisation of examination system of the secondary boards had eliminated corruption and tampering of records to a great extent. After the computerisation, the admission, examination and compilation of results had registered a remarkable improvement. Not this but it had also saved time he said, adding that the manual system of examination was faulty as well as time consuming.
On the occasion, about 42 stalls were established that offered books and computer accessories to the students on discounted rates.
BURNS UNIT: A UK-based charity organisation is establishing the first-ever burns unit of the province in the city.
Director of the organisation “Bridging Frontiers”, Dr Tahir Hasan, said that he had held meetings with officials in the health department in this regard and hoped that they would soon be able to make operational a 15-bed burn care unit at the city’s Lady Reading Hospital (LRH).
Dr Hasan, who retired as plastic surgeon from the LRH a few years ago, established the charity in Scotland, UK, where he is based now, says that it was in November last year that he visited the quake zone of the NWFP and saw that the people needed reconstructive surgeries.
“We carried out operations of dozens of quake victims in CMH Abbottabad. We also distributed medicines worth Rs10 million among the people,” he said.
However, he said that there was a need to put in place facilities for burn patients on permanent basis, so that the people could be treated free of cost.
The NWFP has no burn unit so far due to which the patients were shifted to Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi. The only 12-bed unit at the Khyber Teaching Hospital has no specialist and subsequently it was run by general surgeons.
“We have collected equipment and medicines worth Rs 15 million that would be shifted to Peshawar for the burn unit,” he said, adding that besides several UK-based friends, he was supported by his wife, Helen Tahir, who is a senior nurse. He said that a UK- based hospital was being closed and the owners have pledged to donate the equipments to the Bridging Frontiers.