Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor, Barrister Masood Kausar has said that we as the nation are facing with many challenges in various disciplines and fields of life and it is the educational institutions which must provide soul search process based wisdom in true sense to overcome them.
There is a need to correct priorities in accordance with the present day needs as well and the promotion of education especially the higher knowledge is the best option not only in covering up the shortcomings but also to make a successful headway for future too, he said.
Addressing the 16th Convocation of the Ghulam Ishaque Khan Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology at Topi in District Swabi on Tuesday, the Governor said, it is not mere the energy sector rather there exists hosts of issues confronted to the nation which require fullest attention of thinkers, researchers and educationists to ponder upon and come out with solutions to them.
Engineer Hassan Aftab Kapasai clinched the Quaid-e-Azam Medal; the coveted award of the Institute for over all best performance while Amaid Zia was honoured with Ghulam Ishaque Khan Medal for best academic performances in the Bachelor of Science program. Besides, Muneeb Ali, Muhammad Haris Mughees, Amaid Zia, Owais Manzoor Malik and Muhammad Saad Khalid also bagged gold medals for achieving distinctive positions in their respective disciplines. In all 276 graduates, seven got PhD; 21 M.S and 248 bachelor degrees in various disciplines on this occasion.
The Governor said that promotion of education and higher knowledge is in itself a great challenge and to ensure a rapid advancement, we need to accelerate our efforts in this connection. In fact, he said, mere acquisition of knowledge is not enough, rather the universities also have to turn information into knowledge; transform knowledge into wisdom; lead the nation to achieve the goals set for themselves and expressed the confidence that this Institute would continue to act as the role model for rest of the institutions not only within the province but at the national level too. He also appreciated the Society for the Promotion of Engineering Sciences and Technology in Pakistan (SOPREST) especially its President, Eng. Shamasul Mulk for carrying forward the sagacious mission of the founders of the institution.
Congratulating the graduates, the Governor said education means to open minds; free the knowledge seekers from all superstitions and falsehoods; liberates human minds from basal instincts and creates in men and women an urge to attain higher intellectual, moral and spiritual status and wished them success in materialising the dreams they carried in this respect.
Professor Dr Fazal Ahmad Khalid, Pro-Rector of the Institute, earlier presenting the annual report of the Institute highlighted their achievements and said that their institution has produced 35 PhD and 200 MS scholars besides more than 3000 bachelor graduates up-till now.
The Higher Education Commission in its recent rankings, he added, has placed the Institute 3rd at the national and 1st in the province amongst all the engineering institutions. He further stated that the Institute being quite conscious of the challenges of the 21st Century is successfully heading forward in its mission to promote engineering sciences and technologies even in the latest disciplines including the Nano technology.
He also thanked the Governor for his keen interest in the working of the institute and pointed out that the provincial government has already increased the number of scholarships from 10 to 20 as per his announcement of the last convocation of the institute. He also requested to continue help and support to the institute.