Balochistan Population and Welfare Minister Muhammad Khan Utman Khail on Saturday paid tribute to Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU) for disseminating quality education from grassroots level to doctoral level in the far-flung and backward parts of the province.
At a meeting during his visit to the AIOU, he pledged the Balochistan government would do all within its means to help the varsity at every stage for disseminating education in the far-flung areas of the province. The meeting was presided over by AIOU Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Nazir Ahmed Sangi. All the deans and a large number of academicians and officers of the university were present. He urged the need to give due importance to education in the far-flung areas of Balochistan.
He said the AIOU was established to combat illiteracy, extend educational opportunities to women and underprivileged youth at their doorsteps, adding the varsity was making efforts to achieve the set targets under the dynamic headship of Prof Dr Nazir Ahmed Sangi, following the vision and mission of Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in letter and spirit.
The provincial minister said a piece of land measuring 60 acres provided to AIOU by the Balochistan government in Lora Lai for the construction of the university building was inadequate, so the government would not only enlarge the piece of this land, but also more sites would be donated to AIOU in each main areas of the province. Utman Khail also announced a donation of Rs 5 million rupees to the AIOU for the establishment of a campus at Lora Lai.
Speaking on the occasion, Sangi said that Population Welfare Education Chair would be set up soon at the AIOU with the collaboration of the Balochistan Population Welfare Department. He said that there were 70 percent female students enrolled from Dera Ghazi Khan, Jacobabad, Mianwali, Rahim Yar Khan and adjoining areas of Balochistan. He added that a large number of female students got education after acquiring dwelling in the hostels of AIOU for the varsity was constructing girls’ hostels in DG Khan and other far-flung areas of the country.
Dr Sangi said that an endowment fund would also be set up for enriching education in Balochistan. He added that the AIOU’s study books on Population Welfare Education would be translated in Brohi and Balochi languages. He remarked that universities were the places where knowledge was born, nurtured and passed on to the next generations as a tool for leading a better life and that no stone would be left unturned to meet the AIOU objective, ‘Education for all’.
Physics Department Chairman Dr Zafar Ilyas and Gender and Women Studies Department Head Dr Rifat Haq also expressed their views.
