Lahore – Government College University Lahore Welfare Society organised a three-week fund-raising and awareness campaign titled ‘Help the Helpless’. The campaign initiated in collaboration with GCU Endowment Fund Trust. The students raised funds of Rs 1.5 million through the campaign to support the needy students. This campaign was appreciated by Iqbal Z. Ahmed, industrialist and GCU Endowment Fund executive committee president, who made a Rs 200,000 donation to the campaign.
The Higher Education Commission of Pakistan ranked GCU as the best university of Lahore and 2nd best in Punjab for producing 282 research papers in top journals in a year. GCU in 2010 set new record by winning 115 oratory awards, while GCU Professor of Botany Dr Zaheer-ud-din Khan also won the HEC Best Teacher Award.
The university provides financial aid to poor students every year. Last year, the university gave away scholarships of Rs 11 million and raised Rs 23.95 million. GCU through its Welfare Society and Endowment Fund caters to a number of deserving and needy students to pursue their academic careers.
At the Lahore Board Intermediate Examination, GCU was declared the best institution for the 19th year in a row. GCU won 10 positions in various academic groups. In 2010, GCU awarded 31 PhD degrees and 841 degrees of MPhil/MS, MA/MSc, MBA, BSCS and BA/BSc (Honours). In 2010, GCU also arranged 196 conferences, workshops, seminars and invited lectures including international conference on 100th death anniversary of Maulana Muhammad Hussain Azad.
In co-curricular activities, GCU won 115 awards which included 26 team trophies, 6 runner-up trophies, 31 best speaker awards, 38 second positions, 11 third positions and 3 consolation prizes. Most significant among these were 19 distinctions at the Chief Minister Punjab’s Speech and Essay Contest, 8th team trophy at PAF Academy Risalpur and 4th consecutive Parliamentary Debate trophy at Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute.
In sports, GCU won 28 awards in various games at national and provincial level tournaments. The Nazir Ahmad Music Society won the All Pakistan Music Conference trophy for the third consecutive year. GCU Dramatics Club performed the Urdu translation of Pedrolo’s play The Room. The university students also won a large of awards at fine arts, quiz and computing competitions.
The GCU Public Relations Officer used these statistics to tell Pakistan Today that it was unfortunate how the fund raising event was misrepresented in some press. He said the registrar hadn’t danced at all, least of all while actress Deedar was performing.
