HYDERABAD: Mehran University of Engineering and Technology (MUET) vice chancellor has said that society as a whole will have to change its habits and lifestyle and maintain pace with modern world otherwise it is bound to lose battle of survival.

VC Prof Mohammad Aslam Uqaili was speaking at inauguration ceremony of the three-day Model United Nations (MUN) that got under way at MUET in Jamshoro the other day. Representatives of different countries and MUET campuses were participating in the programme.

He said that holding six sessions of MUN-2020 at the university was itself a big achievement. The UN had set for the world 17 sustainable development goals, he said.

He said quoting a verse of the Holy Quran that God had also stressed the need for ‘use’ of resources and prohibited their ‘abuse’ which was sadly being seen nowadays. “As a nation we have also forgotten the message of brotherhood ‘akhuwwat’ as reflected in Pakistan’s national anthem,” he said.

Three-day Model United Nations gets under way at MUET

He said that universities must focus on producing good human beings for society in addition to preparing competent professionals. The engineers passing out of the university would be future ambassadors of the country, he said.

He said that Pakistan had the highest number of youth population in the world and that was why job opportunities had become a major challenge for the governments and joblessness was increasing day by day.

He said that pollution was another big challenge after unemployment. Be it natural resources or pollution they faced the issues of ‘misuse’ or ‘abuse’.

“For example, water is life but we as a society on the whole have failed to check misuse of this precious natural resource,” he said.

He said that today’s assets and resources would be inherited by future generations and “if we did not learn to make efficient use of these resources future generations will have to pay its price. We will have to change our habits and living style and maintain pace with modern world otherwise we are bound to lose the battle of survival”.

The university’s pro-vice chancellor Dr Tuaha Hussain said that MUET had laid foundation of the first MUN and this concept was borrowed from American educational institutions. Around 500 delegations were participating in the conference which was a big achievement, he said.

Published in Dawn, January 26th, 2020