SUKKUR: US Consul Gen­e­ral Grace W. Shelton and provincial Minister for Education Jam Mahtab Dahar on Wednesday inaugurated a school established in a state-of-the-art building constructed in Rohri town with the funding provided by the United States Agency for International Develop­ment (USAID).

Named after Rohri-born multli-lingual prolific writers and poets popularly known as Bedil and Bekas (father and son) — Sindh’s most revered mystic figures after great sufi saints Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai and Sachal Sarmast — the Govt High School Bedil Bekas is the sixth one established and inaugurated within Sukkur division under the Sindh Basic Education Programme. The USAID has provided $155 million to build 106 schools with modern facilities for students across the province.The inauguration ceremony of the sixth school was attended by Minister for Transport Syed Nasir Hussain Shah, Sukkur Commissioner Moham­med Abbas Baloch, teachers, students along with their parents and elite of the town.

In her brief speech, Ms Shelton said that her country was extending all necessary support to Pakistan in the education sector and had set a precedent by providing more than 100 buildings with modern educational facilities to children of backward areas so that they could be imparted quality education in a better environment.Speaking at the ceremony, Education Minister Jam Dahar said that the Sindh government was making its best possible efforts to promote education and bring about a marked improvement in the educational system, besides ensuring high standards.

The government, he said, had recently imposed ‘education emergency’ to ensure maximum possible enrolment at schools and quality education at all public institutions so that students could compete at national and international levels.

He expressed gratitude on behalf of the provincial government to the US for its support and assistance in this regard. He said this would also help develop the province. He also appreciated establishment of the Education Management Organisation with the aim of improving the education system in the Sindh.

Jam Dahar said that his government had accorded top priority to education.

Transport Minister Syed Nasir Hussain Shah highlighted the measures being taken by the government for promoting education in Sindh, and noted that as many as 71 more such schools were under construction.

Sukkur Mayor Arsalan Shaikh, and principal of the school Yasmeen Qureshi also spoke.

Panel discussion at IBA

US Consul General Grace W. Shelton visited the Insti­tute of Business Administra­tion here on Wednesday and acted as moderator in a panel discussion on ‘Challenges and opportunities for entrepreneurship in Pakistan’.

In his opening remarks, Sukkur IBA Registrar Engi­neer Zahid Hussain Khand said that future of the nation depended its youths, who must acquire knowledge and develop their skills to meet the challenges of the 21st century.

The experts who took part in the discussion highlighted various aspects of entrepreneurship and the challenges to be faced by students of business and administration.

The idea behind the discussion was to provide a clear picture to the students about entrepreneurship and encourage them to contribute to the nation-building through their new ideas and give them a practical shape.

The discussion was followed by a question-answer session among students and the IBA faculty.

Published in Dawn, November 17th, 2016