LAHORE – Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif while inaugurating the Post Graduate Block of Lahore College for Women University on Monday said that the youth were the hope of our future, and spending resources on them was not expenditure, but a useful investment.
The CM said that the laptops distribution programme of Punjab government would continue in order to apprise the younger generation of the latest technology. He said Punjab government was implementing a comprehensive programme for ensuring respectable and dignified position to the women in the society, along with empowering them.
On the occasion the Chief Minister said that the young generation was the centre of our hopes and that the government was following a revolutionary programme to ensure welfare and progress of the younger generation. With reference to load shedding in the country, the Chief Minister urged students to pay special attention on research into the energy sector. He said that the Punjab had potential of generating electricity through coal. He said that we were spending billions of rupees from our national exchequer on the import bill to generate electricity, through oil, whereas these billions of rupees could be saved by generating electricity through our own resources, and ensuring provision of inexpensive energy to the people. He said that female students should present a new and innovative idea for the solution of energy crisis.
He said that the Punjab government had effectively discharged its responsibility to empower women and to ensure a dignified place for them in the society because no society could progress without an active role of women. He said that the construction of new postgraduate block in LCWU was a significant development to ensure imparting higher education to girls, while Punjab government would also build similar postgraduate blocks in other colleges throughout the province to meet the academic needs of girl students. He said that the Project Director, administration of Lahore College for Women University and students all deserve felicitations over the splendid construction of the new postgraduate block.
The Post Graduate Block has been constructed with the funding of Punjab government and it has 102 class rooms, 40 labs, 90 lecture theatres and a spacious conference hall. LCWU VC Dr. Sabiha Mansoor thanked the CM for this generous gift for the cause of higher education in Pakistan and particularly in Punjab. She briefed that LCWU was established in May 1922 as an intermediate residential college .She said that since 1922 the college has proved its worth as the highest seat of learning for science subjects.
 At the moment the university is offering BS in 40 subjects, MS in 24 subjects and Ph.D. in 15 subjects. Since the establishment of LCWU as a university, the institution has striven for improvement in higher education. Since getting its charter in 2002, LCWU has executed many developmental projects through the financial support by Higher Education Commission (HEC). The LCWU VC said that this particular project, i.e., the construction of Post Graduate Block in LCWU was the only project executed that was funded by Government of the Punjab.
She said that this project will surely play a significant role to assist the University to excel in higher education, when the university is offering BS, MS and Ph.D. level programs and catering to the academic needs of more than 11,000 students, she added. She told that the Post Graduate Block was originally approved with a total cost of Rs188.656 million out of which 66.60 per cent share was constituted by Government of the Punjab and 33.40 percent by LCWU from its own sources.
On the arrival of CM, the students welcomed him. After the inauguration of the new block, the CM inspected its various sections and talked to the students. The CM also recorded a message for FM-radio of LCWU.
The CM was accompanied by Special Assistant to Chief Minister Zaeem Qadri, MPA Arifa Khalid, Secretary Higher Education and Secretary Schools while along with, LCWU Dr. Sabeeha Mansoor other teachers and a large number of students were also present.