Mubashar Naqvi
MUZAFFARABAD: The AJK President Sardar Masood Khan has stressed the need to promote quality and purposeful education in the state to counter future challenges of poverty and unemployment.
Addressing the 18th convocation of the University of Azad Jammu and Kashmir here on Friday, he advised the students to use their knowledge for the welfare, progress and development of the country.
The prestigious convocation ceremony held at the King Abdullah Campus of the University located at Chattar Kalass, in the outskirt of the capital city Muzaffarabad was presided over by the President of Azad Kashmir and Chancellor of the University, Sardar Masood Khan, faculty members, senior officials of government, a large number of students and their parents.
The President decorated 48 students with gold medals for showing outstanding performance in different disciplines besides conferring degrees on more than 1,000 students including 126 M.Phil and 25 PhD students.
The state President who is also the chancellor of the university noted that the literacy rate in Azad Kashmir is far high, and the boys and girls students of the liberated territory have
equal opportunities to get education.
Congratulating the graduating students on their brilliant success, President said it is a a watershed moment for them as they, on the one hand, are getting the fruits of their hard work in the form of degrees and on the other hand their parents present in the convocation hall are watching their dreams come true.
“This is a watershed moment and a turning point in your lives. The journey you have started some years back has taken you today to your destination. But this is not your ultimate destination, the ultimate destination is destiny. You have to go far and you have to demonstrate your ability in various fields,” he emphasized.
He expressed the pleasure that the girl students were overtaking their male counterparts in the field of education and said that we can not only turn Azad Kashmir into a cradle of knowledge but also can transform the territory into an engine of growth for Pakistan.
Addressing the convocation, Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr. Kaleem Abbasi said the University of Azad Jammu and Kashmir in its 18th Convocation set a new record in its academic history by conferring degrees on more than a thousand students graduating from various departments of the university.
He said that the university is a model of higher education in the State providing education in a comprehensive multidisciplinary range of academic domains, ranging from Engineering to Medical Sciences – and from Social to Basic and Applied Sciences. The University is offering 76-degree programs in 28 disciplines under its four faculties.
He said that in spite of this CIVID-19 crisis during the year 2020, a new state-of-the-art King Abdullah campus at Chattar Klass has been completed and handed over to the University, and today we all are celebrating this convocation in this beautiful campus.
Dr. Kaleem went to say that the new campus of the university will sustain more than 6000 students of 14 academic departments and institutes. Additionally, there are 06 student hostels for the students to get have residence.
The Vice-Chancellor said that the absence of the university campus had been a great issue, but by the grace of Allah, efforts of the state president Sardar Masood Khan and generous cooperation of the Saudi government, King Abdullah Campus of the university had been constructed where 15 departments of the university had been shifted beside the construction of six hostels and other facilities.
Dr. Kaleem said that the impact factor of the university had also improved manifold and the number of university faculty had also been raised by 100 times. Keeping in the market demand and meeting the future needs of the liberated territory, the University of Azad Kashmir has decided to launch various programs shortly.
Registrar UAJ&K Professor Dr. Ayesha Sohail and others also addressed the convocation.