GUJRAT

The Center for Media & Communication Studies (CMCS), University of Gujrat organised a seminar on “Education, Budget and Media” wherein the speakers flayed the government for ignoring the education sector and allocating a meager budget for it.
The chief guest of the seminar was renowned columnist and veteran journalist Mr Mujeebur Rehaman Shami while Director General DGPR Dr Muhammad Aslam Dogar and Anchorperson Muhammad Ajmal Jami were guests of honour.
A large number of students along with faculty attended the seminar. The objective of the seminar was to highlight the role of the media in opinion making, taking an analytic view of educational budget announced by the government.
Mr Shami said that the media had become the largest forum in the world to discuss different issues and opinion making. He said that media could perform an important role for educational development in Pakistan. He was of the view that no nation could make solid progress without spending a larger portion of its budget on educational activities. Analyzing the budget, he said that bad governance was the chief issue of Pakistan. He said that Pakistan was a country rich with all type of resources. He said that we could solve many an issues acting according to the constitution. He said that management of resources had become essential for good governance. He emphasised on the rule of law in each sphere of life.
Dr Zia said that educational progress could be achieved only through collective efforts of the society. He said that all the advanced societies of the world had realised their goals by developing educational system. He said that the future of Pakistan depended upon educational development. He was of the view that education was basic and constitutional right of every citizen of Pakistan. He lamented that a meager portion of the budget was spent on education each year in Pakistan. He said that that expenditure on education should be considered as investment. He was of the view that media could play a positive role for policy making; universities should be provided funds for research projects. He said that strong association and liaison was essential between media and institutions of higher learning.
Dr Aslam Dogar said that real progress was impossible without educational development. He said that freedom of expression was the basic right of individual. He said that education was a source of social progress and real change in the society. He said that media had become influential in all spheres of life. He asserted that a reliable increase in educational budget of the country was the need of time for achieving national goals.
Mr Jami said that education had never been a priority of Pakistani government. He said that only 2 percent of the budget had been allocated for education which was too less for educational progress. He told that media could initiate an awareness campaign for making the matters better.
Director Media UoG Sheikh Abdul Rashid said that concept of progress was linked with changes in thought patterns. He said that the universities were the doors of knowledge to promote dialogue and discussion in society. He said that viable solutions could be explored by free discussions on contemporary issues. Dr Zahid Yousaf in a vote of thanks said that education was the social indicator of development and interaction among different factions of society was the best methodology for development of knowledge.