LAHORE: Punjab University Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Mujahid Kamran says the government must allocate at least four per cent of the GDP to education to eradicate illiteracy from the country.

This he said while addressing a seminar jointly organised by the Punjab University and Rotary Club of Lahore Canal to mark the World Literacy Day here on Thursday.

The VC said the Muslims throughout the world were facing problems because of ignorance.

“We have not realised that 750 verses of the Holy Quran, which is 1/8th part of the Holy Book, stress to focus on resolving mysteries of the universe,” he said.

“America’s GDP is around 18 trillion and it spends 2 to 2.7pc ($360 to $540 billion) on research and development per year while Pakistan has the GDP of around $250 billion and it spends only 0.1 to 0.2pc on research and development per year,” he said.

Director-General (Libraries) Dr Zaheeruddin Babar said visitors to public libraries in Punjab were increasing by the day and now around 600-650 persons visited each public library every day.

Rotary International Pakistan’s Literacy Chair chairman Saeed Shamsi said that four friends had founded the Rotary International in 1905 for the welfare and development of society and now it had 1.2 million members in 200 countries.

He said that polio could not be eradicated from the country because of ignorance and illiteracy.

He said the Rotary International had adopted several public and private sector schools. “We have launched Teach campaign which includes training of teachers, e-learning, development of children and happy schools programmes,” he said.

Meanwhile, a meeting of the PU Advanced Studies and Research Board (AS&RB) was held under the chairmanship of the vice-chancellor on Thursday.

The meeting approved seven PhD synopses, four evaluation reports, six panel of examiners, nine extension cases and one miscellaneous case.

Prof Dr Shahid Kamal, Prof Dr Tahira Basharat, Prof Dr Muhammad Fakharul Haq Noori, Prof Dr Nasira Jabeen, Prof Dr Muhammad Iqbal Chawla, Prof Dr Hassan Mobeen Alam, Prof Dr Javed Iqbal Qazi, Prof Dr Khalid Hussain, DPCC chairperson Prof Dr Kanwal Ameen and registrar Prof Dr Liaquat Ali attended the meeting.

DONATION: A private bank has donated Rs5 million to the Government College University’s Lahore Endowment Fund Trust for initiating scholarships for varsity’s financially-challenged students.

HBL president Nauman K. Dar handed over the donation cheque to GCU-EFT’s executive committee secretary Prof Dr Khalid Manzoor Butt in a ceremony held at the GCU Syndicate Committee Room on Thursday, according to a spokesman.

GCU Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Hassan Amir Shah expressed gratitude to the bank management for the donation, saying that leading banks in Pakistan had a realization towards their social responsibility.

UVAS: The central library of the University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Lahore, organized a lecture on “Engage, Enrich, Empower: New roles of university library in the age of digital information” here on Thursday.

Forman Christian College’s chief librarian and associate professor Bushra Almas Jaswal delivered a lecture on the topic.

Prof Dr Asim Aslam, Prof Dr Kamran Ashraf, Librarian Muhammad Aslam and a large number of postgraduate students and faculty members were also present.

Published in Dawn, September 9th, 2016