PTA continues support research in telecom: Chairman PTA
By Ali Imran

ISLAMABAD—Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has reduced royalties and issued a number of determinations to address challenges faced by the telecom sector to give impetus to the telecom growth in the country, said Chairman PTA, Maj. Gen. (R) Shahzada Alam Malik.
Pakistan is heading fast towards the convergence of IT, telecom and other services and these have great importance for the country, he said while speaking at the concluding session of 4th International Workshop on Frontiers of Information Technology organized by COMSATS Institute of Technology here Thursday. The Chairman while pledging support to the research activities in telecom and IT sectors said the regulator will continue to provide enabling environment for their growth.
He said Pakistan has shown excellent growth trends in telecom sector during the recent years, adding that presently Pakistan has 30 percent mobile phone density while India has just 15 percent. Shahzada Alam Malik said PTA will facilitate research activities being carried out by educational institutions.
He announced reward of Rs.50000, 30000 and 20000 for the first, second and third projects prepared by the students on IT and telecom subjects. He also appreciated the quality of these projects. Rector COMSATS, Dr.S.M Junaid Zaidi and other participants also spoke on the occasion. The workshop was attended by speakers from America and other countries.
USAID awarded certificates to 65 Parents Teachers Associations for successful completion of school improvement projects under its Education Sector Reform Assistance Programme (ESRA) here on Thursday. The ceremony was held in collaboration with Federal Directorate of Education. Director General Federal Directorate of Education Brig. (r) Maqsood ul Hasan appreciated the efforts of USAID and said the project had been a tremendous success in establishing the effectiveness of Parent-Teacher Associations.
He said the project should be extended to other parts of the country to benefit the people from this model. Earlier Chief of Party ESRA Richard F. Cartier said that USAID was going to provide the third tranche of School Improvement Grants (SIGs) to the best performing PTAs. He said that 32 PTAs were eligible to participate in the competition in this phase.
Giving details about the criteria for these grants, Mr Cartier said that winners of the innovation grants would be selected on the basis of timely completion of previous projects, level of community participation including attendance in meetings and percentage of cost-share by the community, Percentage increase in school enrolment conduciveness of teaching and learning environment and impact on girls education in the area besides other factors.
He said that an independent committee, comprising of representatives from Federal Directorate of Education, Area Education officer (AEO), USAIDESRA Plus, PTAs and the community would review the completed projects and decide about the winners of these grants. Randy Hatfield Education Officer USAID) said that USAID had been supporting community action for education improvement and dedicated to continue its support in the future.