LAHORE: Special Assistant to the Chief Minister on Information Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan has stressed the need for engaging educated women and empower them for the country’s economic development, arguing that half of the educated people of the country are sitting at home and no state can afford wastage of such great human resource.

She was addressing the first international conference on social work, titled ‘Contemporary Social Work Education & Practices: Challenges & Prospects’, organised by Punjab University (PU) Department of Social Work on Tuesday.

Punjab Minister for Human Rights Ejaz Alam Augustine, PU Vice Chancellor (VC) Prof Niaz Ahmad, Pro-Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Saleem Mazhar, Department of Social Work Chairperson Prof Dr Syeda Mahnaz Hasan, faculty members and teachers participated in the event. Eminent scientists in the field of social work from the US, Canada, Japan, Malaysia, Bangladesh and other countries participated in the conference virtually.

Dr Awan said gone were the days when wars were fought on the borders and now this was the era of wars on economic and technological fronts. Therefore, women should be encouraged and their full potential utilised for the development of the national economy. Pakistan could not prosper until it converted its challenges into opportunities, she stressed.

The special assistant said Islam was the first to present a comprehensive charter of human rights and Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) had introduced human rights to the world. She said social work was aimed at serving humanity, irrespective of religion, caste, beliefs, colour, gender etc.

She said social workers could create awareness among the masses on various important issues and announced full support to the idea of establishment of a Council of Social Work.

Minister Augustine said social work meant serving the ailing humanity and it played an important role in strengthening human relationships, adding that social work taught people to respect human beings and bring about a social change. The Punjab government had taken several initiatives to improve the living standards of people, he added.

VC Prof Ahmad said people should play their role for the betterment of the humanity, society and individuals. Only those people were successful who committed good deeds, and the religion also taught people to take care of the mankind and help each other in difficult times.

He also said that justice and human rights were the basic elements of social work.

Prof Hasan said the scope of social workers had enhanced manifold in the world and demanded teaching social work as a subject at intermediate and school level. She announced the establishment of the Council of Social Work keeping in view the requirements of society.

She further said the conference had been organised to share modern research and knowledge in the field of social work. It was a good opportunity for students to benefit from scholars from various parts of the world as well as the country and network with them.

Published in Dawn, February 3rd, 2021