Never in our history such an effort has been made where a program to uplift the poorest has been introduced and the way Dr. Sania is doing, I would like to congratulate her This scholarship program that you have introduced, people don’t realise that what sort of change it will bring in society. Why I created Namal university? When I was doing a campaign in Mianwali, I noticed that youth in that area was getting involved in drugs & crime due to unemployment. If you don’t provide good education and employment, even if he is intelligent, he is vibrant, what will he do if neither he has good job nor he gets a chance to educate himself and get job somewhere else, you close all doors on him; in the end what choice does he have? The more intelligent the youth is, the higher chance of rebellion and inclination towards crime will be seen. At that point I decided to make a technical college so they can learn some skills. It was such a beautiful place that my dream of making a technical university converted into a bigger dream of University leading to a knowledge city. The base behind it was to provide employment.
Now let me share my 10 years experience with you, what we learned from there. First of all, 90% of the students, from the poor families, are on scholarship. Just like your program, these kids qualified for undergrads were from humble background, so we had them qualified for scholarships. We kept technical degree such as computer sciences, informatics, electrical engineering so they may get jobs. You will be surprised to hear that 90% of the passed out grads got instant jobs and that too good jobs. Because of that they were able to support their home. The best way to eradicate poverty is to provide opportunities to kids from poor families. Unfortunately, our colonial system which never evolved; we started three paralles systems of English Medium Urdu Medium and Madarassa system. No one ever tried to eradicate this social injustice. Last that I heard, almost 8 lac kids are in English medium, about 3 crore kids are in Urdu medium and almost 25 lac kids are in Reiligious Madrassas. No society in the world gives such unjust treatment to their kids
The second finding was, because I was the chancellor of Bradford University, I affiliated the university with Bradford Univerity. Thus the kids of Namal University were receiving Bradford Degree. Since most of them from Urdu Medium, so we used to put them in English Foundation course then they used to go to normal classes. The first division in Bradford are almost 10-12%. The same first division degree were being earned by 50-55% students of Namal University. Why was this happening, because they had a drive in them. When I used to play cricket, we had the best grounds and coaches in Hitchon College but when we used to compete with street kids. We were unable to bear them as those kids had more drive. Same way, a professor from Bradford visited, when he saw the first division, he spoke of the drive students possessed. He said that in our university, students didn’t used to study but the students of Namal used to study in evening, then take their dinner and then they used to resume their studies because they had this drive of availing the opportunity they were provided with. Dr. Sania, I’m very pleased with you initiative. It is an amazing work, to give 50K scholarships on such good terms. Specially the aptitude test, just like in Namal Univeristy, you have kept the same entry system. In Namal we check their aptitude, whoever passes the test and is not capable of paying, we award them with a scholarship but we give them a chance to come up. What I’m picturing is that you are doing the same, you will check the aptitude as well as the needs. These 50,000 scholarships will be for those who lack resources. I’m also glad to see that you have kept 2% for physically challenged kids and 50% scholarships to females. Something that we should have done long time ago. Someone was saying that girls stay at home after education, boys should getter a bigger chunk in scholarships. This is such a wrong concept because research has shown that if a mother is educated, she changes the entire household whereas the man has lesser impact. The best example I can put forward is of my mother. Sportsmen possess great passion that they undermine their education. If my mother woulnd’t have been on my back, I wouldn’t have studied. If I wouldn’t have studies, I wouln’t have achieved in cricket what I have achieved now.
The thought behind Ehsaas program is Rayast e Madina. It is a concept where the state takes the responsibility of their weaker section. And the elites system of Paksitan, which has hijacked the country and take all privilages, our system is opposite to that i.e. the state takes the responsibility of its people from humble background. This system includes as well health – the health card that we have introduced (inshAllah this will be with every Pakistani) this card will support anyone belonging to a poor family by giving insurance worth 7,20,000. This is a huge protection for a poor sector because we have seen that whenever someone gets sick, it drags the whole household towards poverty Another initative that we took is of “Langer” (Soup Kitchen). Whenever nations face hard time, for example Eurpoe, they open Soup Kitchens. So until the time we move out of this tough phase, we will make sure that no one sleep on an empty stomach. Along with this we will be starting a new program of “Grocery” (Rashan). We will provide poor families with basic necessities such as Oil, Flour, Pulses & Sugar. The only reason in the delay is because we want to make sure that people don’t misuse this. In Past we have learned that under BIPS program the aid was being given to the wrong people. We are working on a more accurate date so the right people should be reached. Again I would like to Congratulate Dr. Sania on making such a great program. Never in the history of Pakistan such an initiative has been taken which works on every level to uplift the poorest in the society