Exploring opportunities: Students throng education expo on second day

Hall 3 hosts business ideas competition as well as battle of bands among other performances.

KARACHI: The second day of the fifth Express Career and Education Expo dawned amid much excitement as students crowded into Hall 3 of the Expo Centre for the innovative business ideas competition, singing competition, battle of the bands and fashion show.

As many as 72 stalls set up by 40 schools, colleges, universities, career counselling firms and recruitment firms welcomed students and parents to explore opportunities for their educational and career development. Those offering prospects for studying abroad proved especially popular as many of them, such as the University of Louisville, also provide financial aid.



The Karachi Vocational Training Centre (KVTC) had a stall providing information about its academic and vocational courses, including carpentry, dressmaking, block-printing, embroidery and computing, for people with disabilities. "We choose students after assessing the level of their skills," explained KVTC teacher Flex Yousuf. "We also help them find jobs after they have completed the training."

Standing near the ITALKS by 'I Am Karachi' stage, Imran Ghanchi, the designer of a special rickshaw for physically-challenged people, said that the vehicle could be driven by those who were paralysed or didn't have both legs. "People should help others in a way such that they do not have to ask for help again," he asserted, adding that some people had made a business out of disability by begging on the streets. "I talked about the perceptions of society about disabled people in my first talk yesterday and today, I discussed the qualities and abilities of such people."

Accompanying Ghanchi was rickshaw driver Muhammad Anwar, who was left in a wheelchair by polio at the age of four. "If you give an opportunity to a disabled person, he will never beg for money," he claimed, grinning as he told The Express Tribune that the rickshaw had made the hobby of weightlifting affordable for him.

Students gathered at stalls set up by schools, colleges, universities, career counselling firms and recruitment firms at the second day of the Express Career and Education Expo. PHOTOS: AYSHA SALEEM/EXPRESS

After giving a performance in Hall 3, singer Ali Haider addressed the students, saying, "People from different cities are here, which is great. I congratulate the Express Group for making this effort and bringing people together."

The hall was brimming with talented students. "I have participated in events at my university but this is the first time I have ever been given a platform outside," beamed Rida Batool, a student from Nazeer Hussain University, after she took the stage for a performance.

The competition heated up, with a plethora of bands awaiting their turns backstage. "We will only move forward if we get platforms such as this," said Zawar Abeer from the three-member band, Azadi. "We are hoping to win but the competition here is very tough."

Published in The Express Tribune, June 15^th, 2015.