TIMERGA RA: Chairman Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (BISE), Malakand Chakdara, Prof Shaukat Ali on Sunday stressed that teachers, parents and educational institutions should focus on character building of students rather than producing degree holders.

He was addressing the inauguration ceremony of a private college at Talash here. The college`s managing directorHajiShahZaman,Timergara Tehsil Nazim Riaz Mohammad, social activist Syed H assan Khan Advocate, Principal Aftab Alam, and others also spoke on the occasion.

Prof Ali said youth had forgotten the values and norms Islam taught to its followers which was not a good omen for the nation.

The college`s managing director said there had been no government or private college in the valley andthe students had to travel to Timergara, Chakdara, Mingora or Batkhela to get higher education.

SOLAR PANELS: Parents have demanded of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government to install solar panels in government higher secondary schools in Lower Dir in the face of excessive electricity outages.

Talking to journalists, they said the government had installed solar panels in all the state-run primary, middle and high schools but excluded the higher secondary schools from the plan.

They said their children were forced to get education without electricity as duration of the power outages had increased with start of summer. They demanded of the government to announce specific funds for installation of solar panels in higher secondary schools in the upcoming budget. Correspondent