The Convocation Ceremony of Government College Township (a Community College) Lahore, was held today; the highlight of the Convocation was that a large number of female students received Gold Medals for achieving distinctions in their programmes.

The Government College Township was placed in the “W” category by the Higher Education Commission (HEC) after evaluating the performance of selected colleges in Punjab in 2013.

The guests of honour at the ceremony were Professor Dr Muhammad Nizamuddin (S.I) Chairman Punjab Higher Education Commission and Professor Dr Kamran Asdar Ali of the Mushtaq Ahmad Gurmani School of Humanities and Social Sciences at LUMS, the event was attended by a large number of parents and staff.

The ceremony commenced with the playing of the National Anthem, followed by recitation from the Holy Quran and Naat.

The convocation was held for the students graduated back in 2015 and 2016 in the programmes of BS, BSc, MA and MSc, of which 210 students were from the Masters discipline while 281 got Bachelors degree. Of the 21 students who received gold medals 13 were female and 8 male. 114 students were awarded Roll of Honour; the Department of Mass Communication took the lead with 82 students.

While the girls were at the forefront of the awards in their subjects an exceptional story at the convocation was of Colonel Sultan Sarwar Ghumen (Retired) who at the age of 66 completed his Masters in Mass Communication. Speaking to The Nation he said, “I believe that one should never stop learning. I always had an urge to study further so I joined college. It has been a wonderful experience studying with people much younger than me. I have not only learnt from them but also showed them another facet of life by sharing my army experience with them.” He further said, “In US people can study at any age, this should also be allowed in Pakistan too without any inhibitions.”

Chairperson PHEC Dr Nizam in his address said, “This is the most important and memorable day for all graduates and gold medalists. Our society needs tolerance and patience for success. Students get degrees with passion to serve the country and society. This college is well organised and this is where PHEC launched its first pilot project of Community Colleges and it has been a success as can be seen today. Soon we are going to award degree awarding status to one of the colleges where the Community Colleges project is running.”

Professor Dr Kamran Asdar Ali of the Mushtaq Ahmad Gurmani School of Humanities and Social Sciences LUMS praised the Principal Dr Muhammad Ejaz Butt for running the institution according to the required standards. He asked the students to apply their knowledge in respective fields and help Pakistan prosper as they are the future of the country.

The principal in his address congratulated the students and told them that they have been given the weapon of knowledge and are the future of the country. “Our college is making progress with brilliant and competent faculty. They have worked extremely hard to make you achieve your goal, go and make them proud in the practical field.”

The event concluded with the chief guests, parents, students and media served with refreshments during which the graduates interacted with the guest and asked questions and exchanged pleasentaries.