Sitara Brooj Akbar Pakistan’s 11 Year old girl sets world record in O-level

Sitara Brooj Akbar, at the age of 11, passed six O’level subjects including Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry and Biology.

In addition to this honour, Sitara also holds the title of being the youngest Pakistani candidate of the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) and successfully attained seven bands out of nine, scoring 7.5 in the testing system.

The little genius from Chiniot (Punjab) has been making headlines across local media but is yet to receive any recognition from the Government of Pakistan.

 This is not the first time that the eleven-year-old girl from Chanab area of Chiniot had dazzled the world with her brilliance. She had passed O-level Chemistry in nine years of age, hitting a record in Pakistan.

Sitara then went ahead and succeeded in setting her first world record after passing O-level Biology at the age of 10.

Sitara Akbar recently pushed the bar up for the world by hitting a new record by passing English, Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry and Biology in O-level.

She obtained 7 out of 9 bands in International English Language Test System (IELTS) which is a requirement to get admission for post-graduate education in many colleges abroad.

Sitara’s father lamented that she had once been expelled from an elementary school on grounds that she asked many questions in the class.

11 eleven years old Sitara Akbar set new world record in O levels and also holds the title of the youngest Pakistani candidate in IELTS. – Photo courtesy of British Council of Pakistan.  

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Education is my power Pakistani Student!

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ICT R&D Scholarships Applications Deadline Extended Till March 16

National ICT R&D Fund fully funded scholarships for talented students is being offered and scholarship applications will be accepted till 5pm of March 16, 2012.

Students from urban and rural areas from all provinces could apply for scholarship program titled Prime Minister’s National ICT Scholarship Program (PM-NICTSP) for 4-year undergraduate program in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) related disciplines in the top ICT universities of Pakistan.

The Scholarship program is being extended to provide opportunity to students who could not benefit from it in Fall 2011 semester. For year 2011 (Extended Spring 2012) there will be no ICT Scholarship Award Test.

National ICT R&D Fund offers fully funded scholarships for talented students from rural/non-metropolitan areas of Pakistan with the objective to develop human resource capacity in ICT fields in Pakistan.

This program is run with the financial collaboration of Public Sector Development Program (PSDP) of Government of Pakistan.

Every year, the organization provide scholarship up to 600 students including all expenses that costs roughly Rs. 350 million to Rs. 400 million.

This year the modified scholarship program for the year 2011 will be conducted due to shortage of time. There will be no ICT Scholarship award test for the program of 2011. The aspiring students will apply for desiring universities of their choice, which is registered with ICT R&D.

Currently, following universities have provided their consent to participate in the National ICT Scholarship Program 2011.

• National University of Computer & Emerging Sciences (NU-FAST)
• University of Engineering & Technology, Lahore
• University of Engineering & Technology, Taxila
• University of Engineering & Technology, Peshawar
• Mehran University of Engineering & Technology, Jamshoro
• COMSATS Institute of Information Technology
• Institute of Business Administration, Karachi
• Institute of Business Administration, Sukkur
• International Islamic University, Islamabad
• Pakistan Institute of Engineering & Applied Sciences (PIEAS), Nilore, Islamabad
• Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan
• GC University, Lahore
• Hamdard University, Karachi
• The Islamia University of Bahawalpur
• GIK Institute of Science & Technology, Topi
• Balochistan University of IT, Engineering & Management Sciences
• Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS)
• Bahria University, Islamabad
• National University of Science & Technology (NUST)
• Punjab University College of Information Technology, Lahore

It is the responsibility of the interested students to stay informed about PM-NICTSP participating university selection criteria, entrance exam dates and take the entrance exams for selected universities on their own to be potentially eligible for the scholarship.

The application can be downloaded from this link http://www.ictrdf.org.pk/

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Ufone Offers SMS Backup Service

Ufone has launched a useful service that will let its customers to save/store/backup their text messages for indefinite time on a secure server remotely.

This service is available to all Ufone Prepaid and Postpaid subscribers

How Ufone SMS Backup Works?

Ufone SMS Backup is a simple and effective way to save your messages. Simply create an SMS Backup account by sending SUB 3838 or forwarding the SMS you want to save to 3838 for Rs. 0.01+Tax/SMS.

After subscribing you will get a password through which you can login to your SMS Backup account on http://smsbackup.ufone.com.

All your backed up SMS can be viewed on your web account.

Ufone also supports automatic sync for all text messages if you are using SyncML enabled Nokia phone. Here’s the list of supported phones. Click on this link to find out more about SyncML.

Service Commands:

Use following SMS keywords to use Ufone SMS Backup Service:

• SUB: To register with SMSBackup service
• SET: To auto detect your handset and download Sync setting
• HELP: To get help SMS about the service
• PASS: To retrieve your SMSBackup account password
• UNSUB: To unsubscribe your SMSBackup service

Backup & Restore

Use following SMS keywords to backup or to restore SMS messages:

• Backup SMS: Just forward the SMS to 3838 (Any message send to 3838 will be treated as SMS backup)
• Download saved SMS: Type GETSMS (space) First word or  First character of the SMS send to 3838 (Example: GETSMS Hello – It will retrieve all SMS starting with “Hello”
• Delete saved SMS: Type DELSMS (space) First word or First character of the SMS send to 3838 (Example: DELSMS Hello)

You can also retrieve your data by logging in your phone backup account and requesting online.

Charges:

• Prepaid users will be charged Rs.5+tax/week (Postpaid: Rs.20+tax/month)
• Each SMS to shortcode 3838 will be charged @ Rs.0.01(1 Paisa)+Tax/SMS

Note:

Upon subscription, if the service is not utilized or paid for within 30 days, the account will automatically be suspended. The SMS Backup will, thereafter, be kept in the database for 15 days within which period, if the service is not resumed, the said backup will be removed from the database. Users shall be solely responsible for maintaining the security of their password and account information.

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MIT to Offer Free Online Course ایم آئی ٹی کا مفت آن لائن کورس

World famous Massachusetts Institute of Technology or MIT has now announced the launch of an online course, which won’t only be free but will be accessible for anyone with internet availability.

Evaluation for this course will be arranged online while MIT will offer certificates for the candidates who will successfully complete the course.

Starting this March, an Electronics course offered online will be part of a pilot programme for online education, namely MITx with an aim to offer higher education to seekers throughout the world.

MITx will be interactive online course that will:

• organize and present course material to enable students to learn at their own pace
• feature interactivity, online laboratories and student-to-student communication
• allow for the individual assessment of any student’s work and allow students who demonstrate their mastery of subjects to earn a certificate of completion awarded byMITx
• operate on an open-source, scalable software infrastructure in order to make it continuously improving and readily available to other educational institutions.

Upon successful completion of this course, MIT plans to eventually host a virtual community of millions of learners around the world with more courses to be included in MITx project.

MIT says that it will make the MITx open learning software available free of cost.

Frequently asked questions about MITx are available here.

عالمی شہرت یافتہ امریکی تعلیمی ادارے میسا چیوسٹس انسٹی ٹیوٹ آف ٹیکنالوجی یا ایم آئی ٹی نے پہلی بار ایک ایسا کورس متعارف کرانے کا اعلان کیا ہے جو نہ صرف مفت ہوگا بلکہ پورے کا پورا کورس انٹرٹیٹ پر ہی پڑھا جاسکے گا اور اس کا امتحان بھی آن لائن ہی ہوگا۔

اس سال مارچ میں شروع ہونے والا الیکٹرانکس کا یہ کورس ایم آئی ٹی کے ایک نئے آن لائن آزمائشی منصوبے کا حصہ ہے جس کا نام ایم آئی ٹی ایکس ہے۔ایم آئی ٹی کے بقول وہ ایم آئی ٹی ایکس نامی اس منصوبے کے ذریعے اعلٰی تعلیم کے گرد کھڑی فصیلیں گرانا چاہتی ہے۔ ایم آئی ٹی نےکرسمس سے پہلے اس منصوبے کے آغاز کا اعلان کیا تھا۔

یہ کورس اس طرح مرتب کیا گیا ہے جس میں پڑھنے والے کی بھی بھرپور شرکت ہوگی اور کورس کے کامیاب اختتام پر ایم آئی ٹی کی جانب سے کامیابی کا سرٹیفیکیٹ بھی دیا جائے گا۔

ویسے تو دنیا بھر میں آن لائن ڈگری کورس کافی عرصے سے کرائے جارہے ہیں لیکن ایم آئی ٹی کا آزمائشی منصوبہ یوں منفرد ہے کہ نہ صرف اس میں شرکت کی کوئی فیس نہیں ہے بلکہ پوری دنیا سے کوئی بھی شخص بلا کسی پیشگی شرائط اہلیت ایم آئی ٹی جیسے تعلیمی ادارے کی سند کے لیے کورس میں شرکت کرسکتا ہے۔

دنیا کی صف اول کی کئی دوسری جامعات کے ساتھ ساتھ ایم آئی ٹی اپنے مختلف کورس کا مواد آن لائن بھی جاری کرتی ہے لیکن ایم آئی ٹی ایکس نے ایک قدم آگے بڑھتے ہوئے باقاعدہ ایک تسلیم شدہ کورس صرف آن لائن پڑھنے والوں کے لیے متعارف کرایا ہے جس میں تمام تعلیمی مواد اور کورس کی تکمیل پر امتحانی نتائج سب آن لائن ہی جاری ہوتے ہیں۔

یونیورسٹی نے جو کورس نمبر 6.002x سرکٹ اینڈ الیکٹرانکس ایم آئی ٹی ایکس کے تحت متعارف کرایا ہے وہ دراصل اسی طرح کے ایم آئی ٹی کےکیمپس میں کرائے جانے والے کورس کی نقل ہے اور ایم آئی ٹی کے ایک ترجمان کے مطابق آن لائن کورس کسی بھی طرح کیمپس میں پڑھائے جانے والے کورس سے کمتر نہیں ہے۔

فرق صرف یہ ہے کہ کورس میں آن لائن ضروریات کے مطابق تبدیلیاں کی گئی ہیں اور انٹرنیٹ پر ہی کتابیں، کلاس روم کے لیکچر کے متبادل کے طور پر مذاکرے اور ایک آن لائن تجربہ گاہ بھی ہے۔ کورس کی مدت دس گھنٹے فی ہفتہ ہے اور یہ اس برس جون تک جاری رہے گا۔

آزمائشی مرحلے میں کورس کا انحصار ایک آنر کوڈ یا ایماندارانہ وعدے پر رہے گا جو آن لائن پڑھنے والے طالبعلموں سے آغاز میں لیا جائے گا۔ لیکن آگے چل کر یونیورسٹی کا کہنا ہے کہ وہ آن لائن طالبعلموں کی شناخت اور ان کے کام کی صحت جانچنے کا نظام بھی وضع کرے گی۔

یونیورسٹی کے مطابق آن لائن کورس کے بعد جاری کی گئی ڈگری اور کیمپس میں باقاعدہ کلاسوں کے بعد حاصل کی جانے والی ڈگریوں میں فرق کیا جاسکے گا تاہم ایم آئی ٹی ایکس منصوبے کو مستقبل میں اس اہم سوال کا بھی جواب تلاش کرنا ہوگا کہ مفت آن لائن ڈگریوں اور ان ہی کے مساوی ان ڈگریوں میں کیا تعلق اور تفریق ہو جو پچاس ہزار ڈالر سالانہ خرچ کے بعد کیپس کی تعلیم کے بعد تفویض کی جاتی ہے۔

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Valentine’s day candy banned by Massachusetts’ school

Massachusetts: The students at Horace Mann School in Newton, Mass. might have to save their Valentines for after school, as the elementary school’s principal has suggested handing out origami instead of sugary treats, My Fox Boston reports.

According to the report, the school’s principal sent out a letter to parents asking them not to send candy with their children, as last year the overabundance of treats interfered with regular school day operations.

The letter also noted that Valentine’s Day candy violates the school’s food-sharing policy, as well as efforts to teach students healthy eating habits,WHDH TV reports.

Back in December, a Florida 10-year-old was arrested and charged with battery after allegedly attacking her teacher when the educator confiscated the student’s halloween candy

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