All political forces should evolve national agenda: governor

All political forces should evolve national agenda: governor
APP55-19 FAISALABAD: December 19 - Governor Punjab Malik Rafique Rajwana addressing during 7th Convocation of Government College University Faisalabad at New Campus, Jhang Road. APP photo by Tasawar Abbas

FAISALABAD, Dec 19 (APP): Punjab Governor Malik Rafique Rajwana here on Monday said that all political forces should evolve a national development agenda with special focus on education to ensure its implementation irrespective of any change of government.
He was addressing the 7th convocation of Government College University Faisalabad (GCUF) here on Monday.
He said that federal as well as Punjab governments were fully aware of importance of education and it was in this respect that on special directives of Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif and Chief Minister Punjab Shehbaz Sharif, maximum education related projects had been launched including Endowment Fund, Skill Development, free education for children of kiln workers.
The Punjab government has also taken a bold initiative to provide free education to students of Balochistan, he said and added that it will not only root out obscurantism from the province of Balochistan but also play a major role in bringing people of this backward province into national mainstream.
He said that despite financial constraints, the government is providing education to all at the highest level. He said that thousands of students had applied for admission to GCUF. Out of which, 7,000 were accommodated in this university.
He said that we are making arrangements to accommodate the leftover applicants so that they could also get education and play their role in national development.
He further said that every year thousands of students apply for admission to MBBS and majority of them failed to get admission to public as well as private sector. He said the government is actually considering setting up a Paramedical Institute for these leftover applicants. It will not only accommodate thousands of students but also help government to provide health facilities to the needy segments of society.
Continuing, the governor said that the process of development,
progress and prosperity is in full swing. The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and related energy projects had been initiated which will accommodate our educated youth in these projects.
He termed educated youth an asset and said that the government
was also trying to involve them in national development and hoped that their participation will accelerate the pace of development in the country.
He announced that many universities were being established in southern Punjab.
The Punjab governor said that provision of basic amenities was a constitutional obligation of every government and the incumbent government is trying its best to fulfil this responsibility.
He said that the constitution bounds the government to provide education, health, potable water and justice to all segments of society.
He said that in far-flung areas of Muzaffargarh and Dera Ghazi Khan, the potable water is not available. The Punjab government has established ‘Saaf Pani Company’ to provide potable water to all and sundry.
He was appreciative of the progress made in the education sector in
Punjab and said that now our focus is to improve the quality of education so that our graduates could compete in the international markets.
He also expressed satisfaction over excellent performance of female
students and said that it is very encouraging that they are performing better than boys. He said that the government was also trying its best to provide them maximum facilities for their education.
He said that the GCUF was still in its infancy, but it is encouraging
that it is picking up and improvement in its ranking is very satisfactory.
He thanked the local philanthropists who donated Rs 120 million for the
construction of a mosque at the GCUF. Similarly, they should also donate generously for the education of students belonging to the poor strata of society.
Later, the governor also conferred degrees on the graduates in addition to awarding medals to the outstanding male and female students.
He also inaugurated a girls hostel at GCU Faisalabad.
Earlier, in his welcome address, Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Muhammad Ali
said that the GCUF was making progress by leaps and bounds and it has attained the second position in the public sector universities of the country.
He said that GCUF had 47,263 on-campus students and we are striving hard to provide them quality education. He said that the GCUF had developed linkages with 32 industries to provide technical education to students.
He said that two academic blocks and two girls’ hostels have been
constructed in new campus GCUF with an estimated cost of Rs 800 million while the federal government has provided Rs 780 million to the GCUF for its research projects.
He said that the university administration had earmarked Rs 300 million
for pension fund and Rs 65 million for endowment fund to provide scholarships to the poor and talented students.
He said that entire electricity system of new campus GCUF had been
linked with solar system whereas advance technologies are being used
to run the affairs of the university in addition to providing online admission facility to students.
He said that 20,653 passing-out students including 9,079 students of
various courses, 2,887 graduates of BS (Honors), 1,786 students of BEd/MEd, 6,401 students of MA/MSc, 469 students of MPhil and 31 scholars of PhD have been declared eligible to get their degrees and certificates at the 7th convocation.

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