MANSEHRA: The students of Cadet College Hassan Abdal and Cadet College Sanghar, Sindh clinched top positions in 10th All Pakistan Bilingual Declamation Contest held at Pakistan Scout Cadet College Batrassi on Thursday.

The students of Cadet College Sanghar, Fazlehaq College Mardan, Garrison Cadet College Kohat, Government College Lahore, PAF Public School Lower Topa, Sadiq Public School Bahawalpur, Capt Colonel Sher Khan Cadet College Swabi, Cadet College Larkana, Cadet College Hassan Abdal, Forman Christian College Lahore and Army Bura Hall College, Abbottabad took part in the competition.

The participants of the competition spoke about the current issues and challenges, faced by the country. They said that nation should unite on a single platform to address core issues like terrorism, unemployment, corruption and sectarianism, which plagued the country.

Although a student of Cadet College Batrassi also delivered a speech on the occasion but according to rules the hosting institution couldn’t take part in the competition.

The principal of Cadet College Batrassi, retired Brig Abdul Hafiz and principal of Poonch Medical College Rawlakot Dr Ziaur Rehman also spoke on the occasion.

Anis Khan, a student of Cadet College Hassan Abdal, clinched top position in the English language completion. He was followed by Shabeer Khan, a student of PAF Public School Lower Topa, and Sami Tanveer of Sadiq Public school Bahawalpur stood third in the competition.

In Urdu language competition, Khizar Khan of Cadet College Sanghar got first position. Hamza Tariq, a student of Captain Sher Khan College, stood second and Shehryar of Garrison College Kohat got third position in the Urdu declamation contest.

PAF Public School Lower Topa bagged fist position in overall performance among the colleges and Garrison Cadet College Kohat stood second while Sadiq Pubic School Bahawalpur remained third. In his welcome address, Mr Hafiz said that the country was passing through a critical juncture of its history but the nation should never be disappointed as its students were sincere and patriotic.

“Time is not far when we would get back our past glory,” he said. He added that the bilingual speech competition had been held regularly every year for the last one decade.

Published in Dawn, September 19th, 2014