PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Sardar Mahtab Ahmad Khan has said educated women play a pivotal role in the prosperity and development of societies.

He was addressing the Second Convocation of the Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Women University Peshawar at the Convocation Hall of the University of Peshawar here on Tuesday.

The governor said the government was determined to promoting higher education and had increased budget for education sector.

He said steps were being taken to provide better and higher education facilities to the students of Fata and the province.

The governor said education quota for the female students from Fata in the public sector universities has been increased two times in order to provide them opportunities of higher education.

He said education authorities should raise the standard of education and research at Pakistani universities to bring it on par with international standards.

Sardar Mahtab gives away degrees during Women University’s convocation

The governor, who is also the chancellor of the public sector universities in the province, said students should play due effective role through education and knowledge right from religious, political and economic ideology of Pakistan to the service of humanity at large.

He urged them to play due role, both in individual and collective capacities with utmost honesty and to the best of their abilities.

The governor said the female students should implement the acquired higher education for the uplift of women and their social recognition in society.

He said the female students’ objectives should be creating awareness for understanding the rights of women and the extent to which they enjoy their rights in the society and creating awareness for understanding the importance of self-reliance through entrepreneurship. The governor asked the university administration and faculty to particularly focus on the quality research, publication and academic development.

He said universities everywhere are the forums of innovation and creativity through which the societies and states benefit and that universities were the real launching pads for learning, research and development for any nation.

He said the government was focusing on the improvement of education sector.

The governor said the federal government had given the required budget to the Higher Education Commission to help public sector universities of Pakistan become financially stable.

The ceremony was also addressed by Vice Chancellor of the university Professor Dr. Razia Sultana.

Registrar of the university, faculty members of the university, large number of graduating students and their parents were also in attendance.

The governor conferred 471 degrees on the occasion, while 59 outstanding students were given gold medals for standing first in their sections.

The first PhD degree of the university was awarded to Romana Zeb.

The vice chancellor also presented the annual performance report and highlighted the educational and research activities of the university as well as its future programmes.

Published in Dawn, December 9th, 2015