GUJAR KHAN: Academic activities at the Potohar campus of Punjab University (PU) in Gujar Khan would start in the ongoing year.

This was stated by Speaker National Assembly Raja Pervaiz Ashraf while addressing a ceremony at Government Women’s College Manghot on Saturday.

During the ceremony, the speaker donated a bus and two high-roof vans for the college to solve the travel issues of students. Mr Ashraf said under the unprecedented inflation it had become unaffordable for parents to use private transport to send their daughters to the college. He said the transport facility in the college would help parents bear the educational expenses of their daughters.

The speaker noted that educating girls was inevitable for the bright future of the country, adding education was the only key to empowering women.

He said Rs4 billion had been approved for the establishment of the Potohar campus of PU in Gujar Khan to provide higher education to boys and girls at their doorsteps.

He said many girls from rural areas could not get admission to universities in big cities either due to financial constraints or family restrictions, adding the sub-campus of PU in Gujar Khan would promote the literacy rate in the region as more students from humble families would be able to get higher education. He added that establishing a university in the tehsil was his ambition since he began his career in politics.

Mr Ashraf said that solving the problems of the area had been his top priority and his infrastructure projects had brought an economic boom. He said the establishment of Mandra-Chakwal and Sohawa-Chakwal dual carriageways had uplifted people linked with agriculture. He said a network of Sui gas pipelines across the tehsil had also improved the standard of living in the rural areas and also decreased deforestation.

The speaker said that a project to establish a hospital comprising 200 beds on Mandra-Chakwal Road was also in the pipeline, adding that it would be a respite for residents of far-flung villages who had to travel long distances to reach THQ Gujar Khan or hospitals in Rawalpindi.

Meanwhile, the staff of Mangot College, students and locals of the area praised the initiative of Mr Raja to resolve the travel woes of girl students.

Director Colleges Rawalpindi Division Professor Sher Ahmed Satti also expressed gratitude to the speaker.

Published in Dawn, September 3rd, 2023