TAXILA: A state-of-the-art building for Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU) regional campus spreading over four kanals would be established in Attock.

Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Climate Change Malik Amin Aslam along with AIOU Vice Chancellor Dr Ziaul Qayyum, Deputy Commissioner Ali Anan Qammar, Regional Director Amanullah Malik and other officers visited the proposed site and announced that it would be handed over to the university administration for initiating the project.

Malik Amin Aslam said the regional campus would facilitate more than 14,000 students from matric to PhD level. He said civil work on the project would be initiated during the current fiscal year.

He lauded the role of the AIOU in the educational sector and hoped that it would further extend the academic network to serve the marginalised section of society.

The vice chancellor while giving details about the campus site said the regional campus will have a state-of-the-art building where students will have all types of facilities. He said soon the university will release funds for the campus and within the next few months its construction will be started.

He said that AIOU is providing education to 1.4 million students through distance learning across the country.

Responding to a question, he said the AIOU Attock region was established in 2013 after bifurcation of the Rawalpindi region into two parts — Attock and Rawalpindi.

The Attock region comprised the district Attock including the six tehsils of Attock, Fatehjang, Jand, Pindigheb, Hazro and Hassanabdal.

Responding to another question, he said 42 regional campuses of the university were working across the country.

Published in Dawn, August 23rd, 2020