HYDERABAD, April 12: Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ibad has said that if Pakistan has to move rapidly on the road to progress and prosperity, "we have to make concerted efforts to produce skilled and trained manpower equipped with sound character."

He said this while addressing faculty members, senior staff officers and cadets of the Petaro Cadet College on his first ever visit to the college on Monday.

The governor said: "we had to keep pace with rapidly changing and developing world of today." He stressed the need for producing educated and enlightened people to excel in scientific and technical fields especially in information technology.

The governor said the Petaro Cadet College could rightly be proud of the reputation, it had earned as one of the premier institutions of the country. He said the true reflection of the standard of an academic institution was the calibre of men it produced to serve the country.

He said the college had produced men of high calibre, who had achieved eminent positions in many fields, such as the armed forces, civil services, police, engineering, medicines, business, politics and many other disciplines.

He expressed the hope that the college would continue to maintain high standards of moral, mental and physical excellence which was the hallmark of this institution.

He complimented the principal, the staff and cadets for their hard work, selfless devotion and sincerity of purpose. Referring to the report of the principal, he said it was a singular achievement for the college that seven top positions in matriculation and intermediate examinations 2003 had been won by the cadets of this college.

The governor was pleased to note that the college had not only maintained its past achievements but had improved upon them every successive year. He said it was important that the cadets should also be thoroughly familiarized with the teachings and principles of Islam so that they might learn to understand and appreciate Islamic values in their true perspective.

He said only those institutions succeed in the long run where a healthy and peaceful atmosphere conducive to learning and developing young minds prevails and where equal importance was given to curricular and co-curricular activities.

Referring to the problems raised by the principal of the college in his speech, the governor said he was duty bound to extend every possible help to get them resolved at the earliest.

He assured it would be his earnest desire to increase and release the annual grant-in-aid. He commended the idea of making the area a scholastic village which would increase the literacy rate in the far-flung area of Sindh.

He called upon the cadets to abide by the principles propounded by Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah. The governor announced 25 computers for the computer lab, Rs500,000 for the college welfare fund and a cash award of Rs15,000 each for the students who had secured first and second positions in the board examinations.

Earlier, on his arrival, he planted a sapling on the college premises and visited English and software labs, I.T department, library, laboratories and the conference room.

He asked the principal of the college to establish Quaid-e- Azam corner and collect books and material on the life and struggle of the founder of the nation. He also unveiled the plaque of the under construction quarters for the low paid staff of the college.

PRINCIPAL: The principal of the college, Commodore Mohammad Abid Saleem, underlined the financial problems faced by the college. He informed that during the year 2003, 23 cadets had joined the armed forces which he said was the primary purpose of the college.