KARACHI, Feb 27: The convocation of the Karachi Institute of Information Technology (KIIT) was held at a local hotel here on Sunday. The former Speaker of the National Assembly, Illahi Bukhsh Soomro, was the chief guest on the occasion.

He conferred degrees on 160 students of BSc and 10 MSc students who graduated during the years 2003 and 2004. Mr Soomro also awarded gold medals and shields to the graduating students.

Mohammad Bilal Sheikh and Atif Rafeeq who secured first positions in the years 2003 and 2004 respectively received gold medals. Ms Asma Yahya and Ms Raveeha Tariq Memon who remained second and third respectively were given shields.

Agha Khurrum Shah, Mohammad Idrees Farooqui and Kashif Noor received shields for best final year projects. On the occasion, Mr Soomro highlighted the importance of information technology.

He praised the farsightedness of the founder of the said institute, late Syed Mazhar Ali. Mr Soomro lauding the efforts of the institute announced to extend his full support to the KIIT.

He also congratulated the graduating students and exhorted them to continue to acquire knowledge in order to keep themselves abreast of the latest developments in their respective fields.

Federal Minister for Information technology and Telecommunication Awais Ahmed Khan Leghari was to be the chief guest on the occasion but could not come owing to his pressing engagements.

In his message read out on the occasion, Mr Leghari congratulated the students. The Minister was of the view that the academic institutions in the country, by and large, were passing through a difficult time.

He pointed out that the public sector over the years had contributed much to cope with this state of affairs. However, it should be acknowledged that the private sector had joined hands with the public sector in this noble task.

Universities and institutes like FAST, GIKI, LUMS, NUST and KIIT which offer state of the art of the art curriculum, excellent facilities, highly qualified faculty and an environment conducive to higher education, were also doing a service to the nation.

The minister in his message said that as a nation we should be encouraging more and more students to go into this field. We should avoid making the mistakes that we made in 1960s of ignoring the IT education. -APP