As many as 1,117 delegates from more than 170 organisations and international delegates from as far as Canada, Turkey and Malaysia participated in the four-day eighth edition of Zabmun that concluded on Sunday. PHOTO: COURTESY ZABMUN
Addressing the 1,117 delegates from more than 170 organisations and international delegates from as far as Canada, Turkey and Malaysia, Szabist president Shahnaz Wazir Ali was of the view that delegates of the conference have learnt to behave and think like diplomats and officials. "Zabmun teaches dialogue and working together for better policymaking in the future," she added.
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She also pointed out to the delegates that since last eight years, more than 10,000 students have been a part of Zabmun and they should be proud of being a part of this family.
Meanwhile, the chief guest of the closing ceremony, head of education section at United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef) who has also been working with the UN since last 23 years, Shahla Rashiduddin, said that diplomacy means positive attributes to do better dialogues and negotiations.
Sharing some statistics, she said that there are 25 million people out of school in Pakistan while the estimated population of Karachi is 22 million. "Just imagine if Karachi's population is replaced by the out-of-school children, it will be drastic and you will have an idea how big the problem is," she said, mentioning that Sindh alone has 15 million children who have never been to school.
Addressing the delegates aged between 13 to 17 years, she also emphasised the need of education and implementation of Article 25-A of the Constitution, which bounds every child to be educated. "In Pakistan, we need schools to be a vehicle of promoting respect for diversity and an institution to be critical thinkers," she explained.
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Informing the young delegates about how they can bring about change, she said from the estimated 180 million population of the country, one out of three men is under 14 and two-thirds of the population is under 18. "We, elders, are the real minority in the country and you people are the majority who can make things change," she said, addressing the participants.
The closing ceremony started with a 10-minute video, which covered activities of the four-day conference at the Zabmun. The best delegation award was bagged by KGS with the highest scores in best delegates.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 18th, 2016.
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