Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani has said that the National College of Arts (NCA) will stay with the federal government even after devolution of the Ministry of Education under the 18th Amendment.
Addressing the 12th Convocation of the NCA at Expo Centre here on Sunday, he elaborated that decision to this effect has been taken since the college draws students from all four provinces, Gilgit Baltistan, Azad Kashmir and Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). Punjab Governor Sardar Latif Khosa, NCA Principal Prof Bashir Ahmed, faculty members and a large number of renowned artists were also present on the occasion.
Prime Minister Gilani said that in recognition of the immense contribution made by NCA to arts and art education, it has been decided to elevate the college to the status of a university. “I am pleased to witness a new generation of men and women steeped in the finest traditions of enlightened learning, who,undoubtedly, will make our country proud in times to come,” he said, adding that the NCA graduates would live up to the tradition of excellence in their respective fields and earn name at home and abroad.
The Prime Minister said the since 1970s, when the NCA was granted federal status by the government of Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, it has establised itself as a fine example of the working of this egalitarian idea. He added that the NCA represents the finest expression of the values espoused by the Pakistan People’s Party(PPP) and “we have always struggled and raised our voice against tyranny, dictatorship and oppression.”
Quaid-i-Awam Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto believed that political empowerment of the poeple is not possible without the environment that allows the flowering of art and culture, he said.
Gilani said, Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Shaheed used her two terms in office of Prime Minister to reclaim cultural space, liberalise the media, and offer renewed hope for creative expression in Pakistan. Given this history, Pakistan’s democratic government is committed to supporting the development of the arts in the country, he maintained.
The Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani expressed his pleasure over the NCA’s achievements in the fine arts including contemporary miniature painting, visual arts, musicology, multi-media, architecture and design, citing, the people associated with the NCA have dominated in their respective fields. He hoped that the NCA’s Film and Television Department would help revive Pakistan’s film industry.
Gilani said, “It is heartening to learn that NCA has established link programmes for exchange of students and faculty with world’s leading institutions such as the Ecole des Beaux Arts, France, and the Princes School of Arts, UK.”
He said, the President of Pakistan on his state visit to Sri Lanka in November 2010 had signed an agreement of cooperation between NCA and the University of Visual and Performing Arts Sri Lanka in the field of Art and Creative Studios, asserting, such linkages promote further excellence in research and promotion of art education.
The Prime Minister said, PPP government’s policy is to regularised the services of ad hoc and contract employees, and “it gives me great pleasure to announce that the services of all the contractual employees of the college, according to a policy decision of the government, have been regularized.”
Gilani said, “It has been decided that ban imposed on recruitment of jobs be specifically relaxed for the NCA so that it can carry forward its recruitment without suffering any more on academic score, while additional posts would be sanctioned both in the teaching and non-teaching positions. The NCA Allowance to the highly qualified faculty of the college has now been restored,” he added.
Since the college was facing financial difficulties to meeting pension liabilities, the Prime Minister said that seed money of Rs 10 million has been allocated for setting up of Pension Fund for the college, asserting, it would help in releasing a substantial chunk for NCA’s academic programmes.
The Prime Minister also announced the provision of Rs 10 million to be added in the Rs 244 million NCA Endowment Fund, specifically for the award of scholarship to students on need/merit basis for Rawalpindi and Lahore campuses.
