KARACHI: Pakistan is one of the most philanthropic nations in the world but, ironically, it is lagging far behind other countries as far as funding and supporting higher education is concerned. The donors in the country as well as from the Pakistani diaspora should donate funds for the higher education sector so that the needy can benefit and become givers of tomorrow.

This was said by the speakers at a lecture organised by the Habib University here on Wednesday.

Author, medical researcher, and social activist Dr Hasnain Walji delivered the lecture, ‘Beyond Academics: Universities as Nurseries of Ethical Leadership and Social Responsibility for the Advancement of Muslim Societies’.

A documentary was also screened before the lecture, showing Islamic scholars and academics stressing the importance of zakat and the role such donation played in establishing higher education institutions in the early Muslim period and providing free-of-cost education for the underprivileged.

Dr Walji said universities had a crucial role in transforming society and producing future leaders. The philanthropists, he said, particularly from the Pakistani diaspora, should fund and donate for the higher education in the country to help those institutions give scholarships to the deserving and needy students who were unable to afford the cost of higher learning on their own.

He said that giving zakat and other charities was like a social entrepreneurship as it would empower the deserving students in acquiring quality education at the higher level and foster their personal growth and global development. And they would then go on to become leaders and givers of tomorrow, he added.

Associate professor of Comparative Humanities at Habib University Dr Nauman Naqvi said Pakistan was one of the most philanthropic nations in the world but lagged far behind other countries in funding and supporting the higher education. He said only a little amount of zakat and other donations by philanthropists was given for the higher education due to which only a limited number of needy students were able to get scholarships.

Sharing principles which could provide a nurturing environment for knowledge and ethical leadership, Dr Walji said empathy, compassion and integrity were such values which, if established, would make the world a better place. And those, he added, should be the core of the education sector.

“But we have an empathy deficit, compassion deficit and integrity deficit in this world,” he said, adding that it was the absence of those qualities in people, particularly, those at higher positions that the world was in a condition as it was.

Therefore, if the philanthropists participate in that and donate for the higher education, the future would be bright, he added.

Published in Dawn, January 18th, 2024