'Creation of knowledge most effective and useful weapon'

Punjab University vice-chancellor Professor Dr Mujhaid Kamran has stated that creation of knowledge is the most effective and useful weapon for leading an honourable life and successfully facing any challenge in the modern world. He was addressing the inaugural session of a three-day conference on "General Relativity and Gravitation" at New Campus, here on Thursday.
The vice-chancellor said the varsity was desperately endeavouring to enhance the strength of highly qualified and trained PhD faculty members to provide high quality knowledge of latest scientific and technological subjects to students, to brighten up their creative and research capabilities.
Presently, he said, only 32 percent of the varsity faculty members comprising of 634 teachers have done PhD, while their number had never been more than 100 in a single year during the last 17 years. As against this, he informed, for the first time in the varsity's history, as many as 106 and 125 faculty members have completed their PhD during the year 2008 and 2009 respectively.
Professor Dr Kamran said as compared to the allocation of Rs 4 corore earmarked for the "Faculty Development Programme" last year, Rs 650 millions would be spent during the current fiscal year while this amount would be raised to Rs 100 millions in the years ahead. He lamented that due to the neglect shown to education sector in the past, despite passage of 62 years, we are still faced with a grave situation in this vitally important segment of national development, while Pakistan is ranked amongst the most backward countries with regard to the literacy rate.
The VC said the varsity is regularly organising academic conferences, seminars and workshops on scientific and technological subjects to upgrade the knowledge of the student community, he added. "There is no dearth of talent amongst the younger generation who can prove their metal at the global level, provided they are encouraged and guided in a sustained manner. There is no concept of pure science because every knowledge or scientific development ultimately is put to some useful application for the betterment of human society," he added.
The Pro VC Dr Jamil Anwar observed that Einstein's theory of general relativity had made huge impact on physics, mathematics and even chemistry. Mathematics is the mother of all scientific subjects and nobody can achieve a legendary status in science without first attaining a grasp over mathematics.
He regretted that the younger generation is laying more emphasis on market-oriented disciplines than mathematics, physics and other basic science subjects. Chairman Mathematics Department Professor Dr Shahid Siddiqi remarked that mathematics enjoyed fundamental importance in scientific and technological research activities being conducted in various varsity Departments.
Professor Dr Muhammad Sharif, in his speech, stated the main purpose of getting together the experts carrying out research on relativity in Pakistan, is to apprise the university students with the emerging developments and to enable them to benefit from the same in their research endeavours. Professor Dr Asghar Qadir paid glowing tributes to the Chairman and faculty of Mathematics Department on their successful teaching and research activities.