KARACHI, Feb 27: The vice-chancellor of Karachi University, Dr Pirzada Qasim Raza Siddiqui, urged philanthropists, traders and industrialists to come forward and play their role in providing basic education to the poor children.

"In a society where over 40 million children cannot afford school education, it is incumbent upon philanthropists and well- to-do of society to provide financial assistance to the needy and deserving children for acquiring school education," he said while speaking at a cash award distribution ceremony at arts auditorium, KU.

The ceremony was jointly organized by Political Science Department of KU and the Salahuddin Educational Trust to give away cash prize of Rs10,000 to position-holder students of various departments of the varsity.

Lauding the services and efforts of SWT trustees for providing financial assistance to hundreds of the needy and deserving students for education, the vice-chancellor maintained that in addition to government, private sector should also accept the responsibility for promoting literacy in the country.

Dr Pirzada felicitated all those students, who received cash awards for performing extraordinarily at their respective departments and asked other students of the varsity to work hard and prove themselves of worthy of various distinctions, offered in the field of education.

Later, the vice-chancellor distributed cash awards of Rs10,000 each among the students. Dr Manzooruddin Ahmed; Dr Abuzar Wajidi; Prof Zakarriya Sajid, Prof Tahir Masood, Prof Saleem Memon and Prof Tanveer Khalid also spoke on the occasion. -PPI