Punjab Study

LAHORE:September 24:THERE is a dire need of capitalising on the youth of the country in order to turn them into a productive asset if we really want to make the future of Pakistan secure and bright, said speakers at a function organised by the Mir Khalil-ur-Rahman Memorial Society in collaboration with the Mustaqbil Pakistan Party (MPP).
The participants of the seminar held at a local hotel discussed various ways and means for providing employment opportunities to youth, terming it a basic pillar of future national economic policy of Pakistan. Wasif Nagi, Editor Health and Education Jang, was the moderator of the seminar.
Speaking on the occasion, Nadeem Mumtaz Qureshi, Chairman MPP, who presided over the function, said the unemployment had become one of the biggest issues of today’s Pakistan. The youth of the country has been disillusioned due to this complicated problem. There is no magic wand for resolving this chronic problem, they said. We need to take multi-disciplinary integrated approach for dealing with this situation, he said and added that the youth should be trained keeping in view the requirement of the market. We should also give preference to the technical and vocational training besides improving conventional education system. Students should be given the chance to choose from these two separate streams, he observed. The professional and technical education should be given equal value and remuneration, he added.
Qureshi, who is an alumni of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), made it clear that stereotype politicians could not do anything good for masses and they had no solution to the problems of the youth. These so-called politicians are not able and they also lack integrity, he maintained. In this situation, we have to take a decision of launching our own political party, he resolved.
Suhail Warraich, a leading journalist, expressed his pragmatism over programme announced by founder of Mustaqbil Pakistan Party (MPP). He said such thinking was good for the progress and prosperity of the country. He added that there had been no career counseling in the country, leaving youth in a helpless situation. He said he also had been a victim of wrong decision about choosing discipline in education. I can understand the importance of this topic very well, he observed.
Instead of continuing with separate political party, he however advised the chairman MPP to become a part of any big mainstream political party in order to materialise his plan of focusing on youth of the country.
Syed Irshad Ahmad Arif, noted journalist, said Pakistan had been blessed with the power of youth being predominant part of the population. He stressed the need for giving student right of getting employment during the education that could help them polish their abilities as well as earn some money. He also lamented the role of what he called unguided youth on the eve of the day commemorated for the love of Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him).
Prof Dr Ehsan Malik, Chairman IBA, Punjab University, underlined the need to give a preference to the basic sectors of agriculture and natural resources of the country with a view to accelerating the growth.

Dr Sultan Mehmood, a nutritionist, also stressed the need for giving the topmost priority to the agriculture sector. He said the urbanisation was not in the interest of the country, saying this process needed to be reversed or at least frozen at the present level.

Dr Amir Bandesha, a leader of Young Doctors Association (YDA), said the governmental policies had rendered medical profession an unattractive discipline for masses. He said the provincial government should have taken steps for improving the service structure of doctors. He also pointed out that there were several specialised disciplines in medical profession where youth should concentrate.

Prof Saima Kausar of Queen Mary College highlighted the importance of parents, media and educationists in evolving the character of the youth.
Dr Salman Ahmed of University of Central Punjab floated the idea of introducing a compulsory primary education involving the educated but unemployed youth of the country.
Irfan Qaiser Sheikh, President Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said we had not been able to effectively use the youth of the country in order to make them a productive part of the national economy. He also expressed the optimism over liberalising the trade with neighboring India, saying tremendous investment opportunities were there that could boost the trade between the two countries. Such promising prospect indeed opens new vistas for the youth of the country, he said. He observed that dynamic leadership could take advantage of such prospects.

Sheikh too advised the relevant quarters to give more attention to the technical and vocational training of the youth besides giving prominence to the information technology sector.

Zafar Iqbal of Zarai Taraqiati Bank Ltd said effective linking of education with industry could help in materialising the concept of providing hands-on experience to the youth of the country. He said such an arrangement would guarantee the job opportunities for graduates. We must especially network small and medium industry with the educational institutions in order to get good results as far as giving suitable employment opportunities to students, he opined.

Kashif Ahmad was of the view that equal opportunities should be given to handicapped persons in education. He also demanded the government increase quota for the disabled from two percent to five percent.

Waqar Haider Bokhari, Advisor COMSATS, stressed to increase the share of manufacturing sector. He added that there had been wonderful talent in the country and we must give full opportunity to those youth. He termed indigenisation a panacea for the national economy. We need to enhance the value addition capabilities in order to extend footprints of the local industry.

Prof Dr Arifa Syed said avenues between India and Pakistan were not an equal opportunity for the latter as we were too small if compared with the neighboring country. She also expressed dismay over the preparedness of the youth for meeting the contemporary challenges. We must provide best options to the youth for accomplishing their education, she added. We should also make our education system uniform for all strata of the society.
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Allama Iqbal Open University workshops

Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU),Islamabad news,

Islamabad:September 24: The Department of Gender and Women Studies, Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU) will hold workshops for the students of PGD/M.Sc Gender and Women Studies programme for the Second Semester Spring from today (Monday).
The workshop courses include 4645-Research Methods in Gender Studies, 4646-Applied Statistics in Gender Studies, 4647-Feminist Debates on Gender Inequalities, 4648-Feminism in Islam, 4682-Sociological Theory-I and 4685-Sociology of Gender Issues: Theoretical Background. The workshops, to be held from 8:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. daily, will continue till September 29.