Sir Cowasjee Institute upgraded

Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has announced upgradation of the 150-year-old Sir Cowasji Jahangir Institute of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences to a full-fledged university.

"This will be the first-ever university of Psychiatry & Behavioral Science in Asia. This 150-year-old institute deserves to be a university located in the heart of the province, Hyderabad," the CM said while speaking at the inaugural ceremony of the OPD Complex and Female Ward at Sir Cowasji Jahangir Institute of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences.

The programme was organised by Chairman Sindh Mental Authority Dr. Karim Khwaja. Minister University & Boards Ismail Rahu, Minister Irrigation Jam Khan Shoro, MPAs Dr. Sohran Sarki and Jabbar Khan, and others were also present.

The CM said that his father, then chief minister Syed Abdullah Shah, had visited this institute in 1994 and had inaugurated a ward. "Following in the footprints of my father, I have come here on the invitation of Dr. Karim to inaugurate the New OPD Block and New Female Ward.

He said that mental health was a state of mental well-being that enabled people to cope with the stresses of life. "Only a person with good mental health can play a positive role in the community and the nation," he said and added that mental health was more than the absence of mental disorders and it existed on a complex continuum, which was experienced differently by one person to the next, with varying degrees of difficulty and distress and potentially very different social and clinical outcomes.

CM Shah said that the mental health conditions include mental disorders and psychosocial disabilities as well as other mental states associated with significant distress, impairment in functioning, and risk of self-harm or risk to others. Mental health is as necessary as the rest of the body, in fact more.

"The exposure to unfavorable social, economic, geopolitical, and environmental circumstances, including poverty, violence, inequality, and environmental deprivation, also increases people's risk of experiencing mental health conditions," he said, adding that mental health risks and protective factors could be found in society at different scales.

Shah said that local threats heighten the risk for individuals, families, and communities. "Global threats heighten the risk for whole populations which is economic problems, disease outbreaks, humanitarian emergencies, like floods, and forced displacement due to the growing climate crisis," he said, adding that every single risk and protective factor has only limited predictive strength.

The chief minister announced upgradation of the institute to the level of state-of-art university. He directed Minister for U&B Ismail Rahu to get its legal formalities completed so that its charter could be passed by the assembly. "Meanwhile, work would be started," he declared.

Mehran University Convocation

Meanwhile speaking at the 26th Convocation of Mehran University of Engineering & Technology at the campus, the CM congratulated Vice Chancellor Prof. Dr. Tauha Hussain Ali, Members of the Senate and the faculty of the MUET, and MUET-Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Campus (Khairpur Mir's), for holding the convocation.

He said that being an engineer himself, he could very well relate to the feelings of being the recipient of this life-changing degree from this reputable institution. He added that Mehran University enjoyed an enviable position and it has become a leader and model in quality education.

Shah said that the education system in Pakistan was facing critical challenges, including access to higher education for a significant number of Pakistan's young population, old and impractical pedagogical techniques, brain drain of the most qualified people, and lack of meaningful and relevant research to tackle the most pressing issues facing the country.

It is alarming to note that in a population of 220 million, a very small percentage has access to university level education. "It is now our collective responsibility to prepare our students to play a pivotal role in the country's socio-economic development in future times," he said. Earlier, Shah gave away degrees to the position holders.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 18^th, 2022.