Islamabad:As many as 377 graduates have been awarded degrees of whom 200 are bachelors and 177 are Masters at the convocation of Sarhad University of Science and Information Technology held on Saturday at the Jinnah Convention Centre.

Of 377 graduates, thirty-four students were awarded gold medals including two PhD scholars. About 4,000 students have been awarded degrees in the six convocations of the universities so far.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Barrister Masood Kausar, on the occasion, said that the increase in literacy rate has helped in curbing the menace of terrorism in the country. “Only quality education could ensure the eradication of terrorism from the country,” he said.

He said that only those nations of the world earn a respectable place for themselves in the comities of nations, which make untiring efforts to take a big leap forward in science and technology in the shortest possible time. “We are blessed with all the natural resources for pulling our country out of economic backwardness and make our nation prosperous provided we produce rightly trained and motivated human resource through our educational infrastructure,” he said.

He said that teachers play vital role in the nation building as they are like bedrock on which the whole edifice of a nation rests. “Their role is not confined to teaching text books only, but also encompasses a host of facets such as those possessed by psychologists, reformers, advisors, guides, motivators, disciplinarians, parents, friends, guardians and character builders. These attributes place enormous responsibilities on their shoulders,” he said.

He urged teachers to focus whole heartedly on the education and character building of their students and inculcate in them the qualities of head and heart to dissuade them from evil attributes of bigotry, prejudice, intolerance and negative thinking so that they can serve our motherland with dedication, commitment and selflessness.

He said, “We were passing through an era of extremely competitive environment in which only the best of the best in knowledge, science and technology, research and development and creative abilities will excel. As we have entered the portals of a highly competitive world, education must focus on future’s hopes and aspirations for better, brighter and high accomplishments of life.”

Sarhad University of Science and Information technology Vice Chancellor Professor Dr. Salim ur Rehman said that private sector has proven its seriousness and ability during last 20 years to meet the government’s as well as stakeholders expectations. “During the last ten years of our existence, we have transformed from a knowledge sharing to a knowledge creating institution. Our current regular faculty strength is 150, half of whom hold MPhil and PhD from universities of repute,” he said.

He said that the university has started distance education program in 2002 in accordance with the provisions of our charter and consent of the Higher Education Commission (HEC) while during last nine years, we have added new degree programmes, and we also kept enhancing educational facilities for our distant students.

“The face-to-face interaction at the carefully evaluated and selected study centres is reinforced by the web-based software through which distant students can have access to the repository of knowledge that our faculty members upgrade and enhance on regular basis,” he said.

He said that the university has held six convocations and about 4000 students have been awarded degrees. “Our graduates are serving various public and private sector organisations, multinationals and educational institutions,” he said.The news.