LAHORE: (Monday, January 30, 2012): The launching ceremony of free laptops among talented students of the province on merit, by the Chief Minister Punjab, was held in the Faisal Auditorium of Punjab University here on Monday. Chief Minister Punjab Mian Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif was the chief guest of the ceremony while PU Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Mujahid Kamran, Editor Majid Nizami, former Education Minister Ahsan Iqbal, Senator Pervez Rashid, vice-chancellors of various universities, politicians, faculty members and a large number of students also attended the ceremony.

Addressing the ceremony, Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Mujahid Kamran said the world was a battlefield where war among nations was indispensable and escape was not possible.

He said only the nation who prepared themselves for confrontation had been successful. He said that knowledge and power were must for respectable survival in the world and knowledge was the only way to gain power. He said the first verse of the Holy Quran was related to pen and knowledge whereas 722 verses of the Holy Quran urged human beings to consider into the mysteries of the universe.

He said only the nation who considered into the mysteries of the universe was powerful and progressed. He appealed to rulers of the country to allocate at least four percent of GDP to education and it would change our lives.

He said it was unfortunate that Pakistan stood at 186 out of 193 countries in spending lowest of their GDP on education even some countries of Africa spent more GDP on education as compared to us.

He thanked the Chief Minister Punjab for choosing the platform of Punjab University to launch free laptops process among the talented students.

He said Mian Shahbaz Sharif had taken a lot of revolutionary initiatives to promote education in the province. He said the provision of laptops among students would bring fruitful results and it would bring positive and concrete change in the society. He also announced that the facility of Wi-Fi would be provided in all hostels of the varsity.

Principal PU College of Information Technology (PUCIT) Prof Dr Syed Mansoor Sarwar briefed the participants of the ceremony about the features of the laptop to be given to students. Dr Mansoor Sarwar named computer labs of PUCIT and Institute of Business & Information Technology (IBIT) after renowned brilliant IT star Arfa Karim.