MIANWALI – Sixty engineering students were awarded BSc degrees by Namal College during the institution’s first convocation ceremony, chaired by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan.
Speaking on the occasion, Imran Khan stressed the need to provide equal opportunities in education to all citizens, saying a double standard of providing a high quality of education in English to children of the wealthy and a lower quality of instruction in Urdu to poorer children is prevalent in the country.
Imran Khan serves as chairman of the board of governors of the Namal Education Foundation which is the sponsoring body of Namal College, Mianwali. Since the college is affiliated with the University of Bradford, London, the students get this university’s degree.
He emphasised that the college, inaugurated in 2008 following a two-year construction period, was not a political project, but a personal one, and thanked the Punjab government for allotting the institution’s land to him, despite his position as a political rival. Namal College is spread over a 40-canal piece of land bordering a lake beside the Dhak mountain range.
Imran Khan was addressing a convocation event of Mianwali’s NAMAL University, an associate college of University of Bradford – UK.
Imran Khan said the standard of education offered at the college rivalled that of British universities and the degrees awarded met international standards. He said a school would soon be set up in the area which would be developed as Namal Knowledge City.
“Pakistan is among the five countries of the world where people generously contribute to good causes for Allah’s pleasure and, as a result of this practice, 90 % of students get a good education free of cost,” he added.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan on Sunday said that politics was like jihad for him while educating persons was the most noble deed world.
Imran said he has dreamed for making a varsity in Mianwali bigger than Oxford University as educating people the most noble cause in the world.
Emotional scenes were witnessed during Namal College’s convocation on Sunday when a mother approached the stage to thank Imran Khan for quality education. In a video posted on Imran Khan’s official facebook account, the woman comes on stage with her son and throws petals on Imran Khan and the Namal College team who made the ‘Dream come True’ for her son.
On this occasion, he said that the provincial government is in contact with the authorities, seeking additional land for the construction of stadium outside the university. He further advised the youngsters to work for making their dreams true instead of only focusing on doing jobs. He said that we should refrain from egoism.
Imran Khan devoted the students to play role in revolution and better future of Pakistan. He said that serving the nation should be the main aim of every citizen.
Namal College is an associate college of the University of Bradford in Punjab’s district of Mianwali. The college is on Talagang Mianwali Road very near to Namal Lake.
The Namal Education Foundation (NEF) owns 1000 acres of land and is all set for building a knowledge city in Pakistan.
More than 300 students are studying at the college, which offers a two-year and a four-year honours degree and BSc programmes in Computer Sciences and BE (electrical and electronics).
