KARACHI, Dec 17: The Sindh Education Minister, Dr Hamida Khuhro, has urged the private sector to dedicate their resources for the betterment of school education as well.

Speaking as chief guest at the 8th convocation of Institute of Business Management (IoBM) on Saturday the minister said that improvement at an accelerated pace in the education sector was possible only through a coalition of efforts by the government and the private sector.

She observed that private educational sector had been quite active lately and a large number of institutes had emerged offering graduate and postgraduate programmes of study.

Deploring the inadequate development in the fields of middle and high school education, she added that the lacunae had to be made up by increasing the number of high schools imparting quality education.

As many as 411 graduates were conferred degrees of BBA, MBA, BCS, MCS, and MPhil during the convocation. Those who received degrees in person from the chief guest numbered 349, including 149 of BBA (Hons), 10 of BBA (4-year), 17 of BCS, 10 of MCS, 68 of MBA (One-year), 47 of MBA (regular), 39 of MBA (Executive), 2 MPhil, one each in economic policy making and pharmaceutical administration, and 7 of MBA (health management) programmes.

IoBM President Shajehan S. Karim congratulated the graduates and mentioned that no effort had been spared in providing the students the best education and enabling them to be successful and dedicated professionals.

In view of the large number of private TV channels in the offing, we now offer an MBA degree in media management and an MBA in advertising and communication management, he added saying that the later was being offered in collaboration with the Marketing Association of Pakistan.

In his keynote address, the president of the National Bank of Pakistan, Syed Ali Raza, said that strong academics were necessary to get sufficient insight of the problems and the solutions of the professional world.

Ashraf Tabani, Chancellor of the IoBM said that ever since its inception the IoBM readily had embraced challenges and new ideas.

Salman Abdullah Gora of MBA (Regular) programme made the valedictory speech.

The students who were awarded gold medals for highest GPA are: Laila Abbas Virani, Midhat Abbasi, Mohammad Aslam Mahar, Mohammad Noman Ilyas, Nida Anis, Rizwan Hussain, Salman Abdullah Gora, Sana Rehman, Sohail Sultan Ali and Yasir Ahmad Qureshi.

Those who were awarded certificates of merit are: Asima Manzur, Erum Zia, Jumana Iqbal, Haider Ali Taj, Henna Arfeen, Hira Sajid, Huzefa Mansoor, Mahira Javed Chishti, Nitasha Zaffar, Sadiq Salim Panjwani, Shaheen Shaban Ali Jaffer, Sumera Zia, Syed Wajiha Fatima Rizvi, Tanveer Mehmood Godil, Zahara Malik and Zehra Suleman Noorani.