International Youth Day on August 12

International Youth Day to be celebrated on August 12
Islamabad, Aug 04: International Youth Day (IYD) will be celebrated across the world including Pakistan on August 12 to recognise the contribution of youth in society's development and engage them in more constructive activities. Following this year's theme 'Sustainability: Our Challenge. Our Future,' young people in every part of the world will be encouraged to adopt a global sense of social responsibility.

Youth day is an opportunity for governments and others to draw attention toward youth issues worldwide. Concerts, workshops, cultural events and meetings involving national and local government officials and youth organizations would take place around the world.

Other activities include seminars promoting the world's youth, as well as various sporting events, parades and mobile exhibitions that showcase young people's achievements.

IYD is aimed to recognize efforts of the world's youth in enhancing global society and promote ways to engage them in becoming more actively involved in making positive contributions to their communities. Nazoora, Programme Manager, World Population Foundation (WPF) told APP that the awareness programmes will be arranged across the country in connection with the celebrations of International Youth Day. However, a web based essay competition was launched today. The topic for the essay competition is "United for Peace towards Greater Sustainability." She said that the results of the competition will be announced on August 14. The first winner will get Rs5000 while second and third prize holder will receive Rs3000, and Rs2000 respectively.

WPF is arranging all these activities in collaboration with other civil society organizations including Rozan, Right to Play and Plan Pakistan, she informed. The plays, dramas and sports activities will also be arranged to promote peace message across the country.

However, the foundation is also planning to arrange a walk in the federal capital on the day. International Youth day was designated by the United Nations in 1999 by the adoption of resolution and celebrated for the first time in 2000.

The UN defines the worlds' youth as the age group between 15 and 24 years old, making up one-sixth of the human population.

The idea for International Youth Day was proposed in 1991 by young people who were gathered in Vienna, Austria, for the first session of the UN's World Youth Forum.

The forum recommended that an International Youth Day be declared, especially for fundraising and promotional purposes, to support the United Nations Youth Fund in partnership with youth organisations. The News

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8 students awarded UK scholarships
Islamabad: As many as eight students were awarded UK scholarships by Preparation For All (PFL) International Limited in a ceremony held Monday.

These eight students were selected out of 18 through a transparent process of balloting conducted by panel experts.

The scholarships were aimed to assist high achievers and help these students financially as reward for their academic excellence.

Five students including Ali Ahsan Iqbal, Kashif Iftikhar, Bilal Paracha, Adeel Raza, Ali Irfan were awarded scholarships worth 2,000 Pound Sterling each while mega scholarship award worth 10,000 Pound Sterling was given to Javeria Afghan.

One of the student Laraib Ali was awarded with 'Chairman Scholarship Award' worth 5,000 pound Sterling and Syed Ali Asghar was given 'CEO Scholarship Award' worth 2,500 Pound Sterling. Representative PFL informed that thousands of students applied for scholarships through PFL centres in various cities of the country out of which 30 students were selected initially by a panel of education experts from LUMS, HEC and other universities.

Following the formula devised by panel experts, 18 students were short-listed who met the criteria in terms of qualification and aptitude, he said. Finally, eight students out of 18 were selected through a fair process of balloting conducted in today's ceremony.

CEO PFL, Zafar Iqbal while addressing the participants said that fair process was adopted by the company to determine who is entitled for this award.

It was observed in terms and conditions that no relative of any PFL employees would be considered as eligible to apply for this scholarship.

About PFL, he told it is an international company that has established itself on its reputation for high quality service provision. PFL has eight companies and 15 offices across the world.

Vice Chancellor Quaid-e-Azam University (QAU) Dr Qasim Jan, as chief guest, congratulated the winners and said PFL has set a healthy tradition of awarding scholarships to the capable students.

and it will set the way for others to follow. Such initiative will be the source of human capital development in the country, he added.

South Asia has become a hub of talented students, he said and hoped that these students will emerge as useful citizens of the country after completion of their studies.

Although there are a number of degree awarding universities in the country but still we are behind in terms of access to quality education.

The youth between the age of 17 to 24 are deprived of the quality education which is hindering the way of progress, he said.

The concept of seeking knowledge has not emerged from western society but according to our religious teachings, one should travel from one part of the world to another part for the sake of getting knowledge, Dr. Qasim said.

Dr. Qasim advised the students to understand the social aspects of life besides acquiring formal education.

He also lauded the role of corporate sector in encouraging the students toward acquiring knowledge and for playing their role in socio-economic development. The Nation

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Protest to save ICU assets kicks off
Peshawar: The teaching and non-teaching employees of the newly established Islamia College University on Monday kicked off their protest drive to press the government withdraw the notification on division of the assets of Islamia College Peshawar.

Earlier, the employees in the joint general body meeting of the teachers, Class-III and Class-IV associations, had announced schedule for protest campaign against the handing over of the properties and assets to the University of Peshawar (UoP).

The UoP administration, on the other hand, has expressed unawareness with regard to any notification about the properties of the Islamia College. Vice-Chancellor of Islamia College University Ajmal Khan, too, was unaware about any such decision.

The employees as per the decision they had taken in the general body gathered in front of the office of the vice-chancellor of the university and staged a sit-in for two hours. The protesters were led by presidents and general secretaries of Islamia College University Teachers Association, Class-III, Class-IV associations and senior alumni association.

Vice-Chancellor Ajmal Khan came out of his office and addressed the protesting employees. He said that he had not received any notification about the distribution of the properties of the college. He, however, failed to convince the protesters to call off their protest campaign.

Later, a delegation of the employees also held a meeting with the vice-chancellor in his office. The vice-chancellor assured the delegation that nobody would usurp the assets of the historic seat of learning of the province.

The employees, on the other hand, resolved to continue their strike till the college was given its rights.

Earlier, President of Teaching Staff Association Izhar Ahmed, General Secretary Sheda Muhammad Kakakhel, Professor Eidur Rahman Khattak and others addressed the gathered employees.

The speakers said if there was no decision about the division of the assets of the Islamia College, why the government was not denying it. They said that they would continue their protest drive till the government offered a clear assurance that no such step had been taken.

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Course on 'Tissue Culture
Rawalpindi: A training course on 'Tissue Culture Lab Technician' commenced here Monday at Pir Mehr Ali Shah Arid Agriculture University, Rawalpindi (PMAS-AAUR), organised by the Varsity's Department of Horticulture in collaboration with Agribusiness Support Fund (ASF).

The purpose of this programme that will continue till August 20 is to provide a complete hands-on experience, with skills and knowledge gained to be especially useful for plant propagators and breeders, lab technicians, horticulturalists, botanists, nurserymen and allied trades.

The course is designed to train the students comprehensively on the techniques of plant tissue culture, and has the strength for better job opportunities in industries as well as for higher academics in both basic and applied sciences. It comprises techniques of plant tissue culture and its application in horticulture and plant biotechnology, with almost 75 per cent of the course time devoted to practical training work.

The course starts with the basics of subjects such as introduction to plant tissue culture, organisation plan and basic requirements of plant tissue culture laboratory, to be followed by techniques of plant tissue culture like seed, embryo, axillary bud, leaf and meristem culture.

As a unique feature, the course deals with the application of plant tissue culture such as micro propagation of plants, disease free plant production and germplasm conservation. Finally, the course will wrap up with special aspects of plant tissue culture techniques like in vitro grafting, and in vitro and ex vitro rooting.

Prof Dr Muhammad Munir, Dean Faculty of Crop & Food Sciences AAUR, in his address as the chief guest at the training course's inaugural session, appreciated the efforts of the Horticulture Department for organising the training course.

"The science of plant tissue culture as a tool to propagate plants at a large scale as an indispensable aid to biotechnology has made a tremendous impact on worldwide food production and the business of plant production through tissue culture runs into billions of US dollars annually. The extent of industrial potential of tissue culture techniques could well be gauged by the mushrooming of plant tissue culture and biotechnology based industries in various parts of the world," he said. The News

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FJWU students exhibit theses
Rawalpindi: Students of computer arts at Fatima Jinnah Women University (FJWU) on Monday exhibited their theses during a ceremony.

Vice Chancellor (VC) Prof Saeeda Asadullah Khan inaugurated the ceremony in presence of Faculty of Arts Dean Prof Samina Amin Qadir and a large number of faculty members and students.

The exhibition featured different objects in the areas of photography, animation, video productions, digital art, classical animation, claymation, interactive CD/game designs and graphic designing.

In the field of computer graphic, some students created cartoons and games on diverse social issues like traffic rules. Promotional documentaries were very appealing to visitors.

A student highlighted indigenous 'truck art'. Zarin Gul, Hena Ali, Afshan Jamal, Darakhshan Batool, Ahlam Tariq, Taqi Shaheen, Fatima Mazhar, Rabia Zia and Lubna Yasmin supervised the students in their projects. Dialy Times

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