SUKKUR: The project for Sukkur campus of the Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU), aimed at providing distance learning to students, especially girls, in remote areas and villages where they could get education without having to leave their homes, was inaugurated on Monday.

AIOU Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Zia Ul-Qayyum said at the inauguration ceremony that besides Sukkur, the university was opening campuses in Mithi, Dadu, Shahdadkot, Moro, Kashmore, Larkana, and other towns of the province as well.

He said that AIOU was spending Rs1.75 billion from its funds on the ambitious project and thanked the Sindh government for its role in promotion of education and construction of campuses throughout the province.

University will establish seven more campuses in the interior of Sindh, says VC

He said that the university’s mission was to promote education, especially higher education, in remote areas so that all youths could get education.

A programme was being launched for girls so that they could attain matriculation and intermediate level education at their homes, he said.

He urged local people to own the educational institutions and take maximum advantage of them.

Shaikh Ayaz University Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Raza Bhatti said that there was greater need of establishing “friendly atmosphere between educational institutions and education”.

He welcomed the opening of the AIOU campus in Sukkur and said the university would impart education and training to youths according to requirements of international market and enable them to broaden their chances of getting better jobs.

Sukkur Commissioner Shafiq Ahmed Mahesar said that the era of traditional education was now coming to an end and it was the need of the hour to shift focus to technical education.

He advised the AIOU administration to introduce courses in Sindhi besides other languages because Sindhi had a great history. Old records of revenue showed that Sindhi had been used as language of bureaucracy even during colonial rule, he said.

He said that establishment of seven campuses by the university was a gift for the people of Sindh because percentage of youth who acquired higher education was very low in the province.

He said that Sukkur had presently been made into an educational city where a medical college, a women’s university, a college for art and design and other educational institutions were imparting education and playing their part in the development of the country.

A representative of the construction company which is to build the campus briefed the gathering about the project and said that Rs152 million would be spent on building the campus and the project would be completed in about six months.

Director general services Inamullah Shaikh, regional director AIOU Sukkur region Atta Hussain Musavi and others also spoke at the ceremony.

Earlier, the guests were presented traditional Sindhi gifts of caps and ajraks.

Published in Dawn, December 22nd, 2020