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KARACHI, March 17: The vice-chancellor of the University of Karachi, Dr Pirzada Qasim Raza Siddiqui, has stressed the need for inculcating reading habit in society.
He was speaking as chief guest at the inauguration of a book fair on Monday organised at the campus.
The vice-chancellor said that the coming government should pay more attention to the improvement of higher education and the budget for this vital sector should also be substantially enhanced.
Dr Pirzada stressed the need for practical steps must be taken to ensure an effective medium of instruction and for the promotion of the national and provincial languages.
The Naib Amir of the Jamaat-i-Islami Pakistan, Prof Ghafoor Ahmed, urged the students to fully concentrate on their studies. He hoped that the new parliament would enhance the budgetary allocations for the education sector.
The JI leader deplored that the education sector had never remained a priority of the rulers of the country.
He stressed the need for the implementation of a uniform educational system throughout the country.
Prof Ghafoor was critical of frequent load-shedding in the metropolis and urged that the University of Karachi should be spared from this so that the academic process could continue without any interruption.
A former MPA, Younus Barai, KU Students Adviser Dr Nusrat Idrees, and Furqan Ansari also spoke.
The three-day event has been organised at the gymnasium of the Karachi University under the auspices of the Islami Jamiat Talaba.
A number of publishers have established their stalls and more than 6,000 students visited the fair on the first day.
The Department of Statistics, University of Karachi, organised a seminar titled “Statistics produced by the State Bank of Pakistan”.
The dean of the KU’s faculty of Management and Administrative Sciences, Dr Abuzar Wajidi, described the statistics compiled by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) as of great value for the economy and policies of the country.
Appreciating the cooperation extended by the SBP in the enhancement of interaction between the bank and educational institutions, he hoped that the process would continue consistently for the benefit of students and researchers in the field.
The director of the Statistics and Data Warehouse Department of the State Bank of Pakistan, Dr Azizullah Khattak, informed the audience about the objectives of his department with the help of multi-media presentations.
He said that the department was striving to strengthen the link between the academia, policymakers, data-compiling agencies and the users, besides harmonisation of data production with the users’ demands.
Dr Ansari of the State Bank of Pakistan said that the statistics department of the SBP aimed at improving the quality of data through feedback and also at bridging the gap between the knowledge offered and the needs of the market.
The chairman of the Department of Statistics, University of Karachi, Dr Junaid Sagheer Siddiqui, also spoke.
The University of Karachi announced that theory papers of Diploma in Clinical Neurology, Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, annual examination 2007 would be held on March 25. Paper-I will be held on Tuesday from 11am to 1pm and Paper-II from 2pm to 4pm on the same day at the faculty of Islamic Studies, University of Karachi.—Agencies
