KARACHI: Over 300 students of BS and Masters programme in five different faculties received their degrees at the first convocation of Benazir Bhutto Shaheed University Lyari (BBSUL) held at the Expo Centre on Monday.
Thirty students who secured the first class position also received gold medals in four different batches. Two students of the MPhil English programme also received their degrees.
Speaking on the occasion, BBSUL’s Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Akhtar Baloch informed that the act of BBSUL was passed by the Provincial Assembly of Sindh in 2010 and academic activities started in 2012. “This university is based on the vision of Benazir Bhutto Shaheed; she wanted there to be quality education for the less privileged people of Karachi, particularly of Lyari,” he said.
“BBSUL is the only university that caters to students who financially can’t afford higher education,” he said, while adding that managing a university in Lyari is a huge challenge.
“The people of Lyari are peace-loving and very tolerant but they are portrayed negatively by the media. The positive aspect of Lyari is hardly discussed,” he said.
“But we are proud Lyarians and representing the true image of Lyari. This is called real change. From today onward Lyari will be identified with BBSUL and this convocation will determine the future of this locality. Education, only education, can bring a social and economic transformation for the people,” he added.
The VC also said that there were serious problems faced by the university. “Presently, BBSUL is located in the Government Lyari Degree College, a college that was built by Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in 1974. As peace was restored in Lyari the number of students has also increased. Currently there are more than 2,500 students and 19 different degree programmes here,” he said.
“We need a new campus and the Sindh government has promised to provide 200 acres of land for a new campus. We hope that we will get the land soon and be able to construct a state of the art campus that can equally match the stature and name of Shaheed Benazir Bhutto,” he said.
He also congratulated the graduating students and their parents and reminded the students that they are true ambassadors of BBSUL.
Published in Dawn, May 15th, 2018