Szabist opens Sindh studies academy

KARACHI:

The Sindh Abhyas Academy was inaugurated with a seminar titled ‘Sindh Studies’ on August 9, said a Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Institute of Science and Technology (SZABIST) press release on Monday.

The academy was established on March 1 to encourage research in subjects on Sindh and promote student involvement in Sindh Studies. Dr Ghazala Rahman Rafiq is the director.

SZABIST President Dr Saqib Rizavi inaugurated the Sindh Studies Book Fair 2012 at the 90 Clifton campus as part of the celebrations. Noted publishers included the department of culture, Sindh, department of information and archives, Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai chair and Varsity Publications of the University of Karachi, Sindhi Language Authority, Hyderabad, Institute of Sindhology, University Jamshoro, Sindhi Adabi Board Jamshoro, Sindhika Publication, Karachi, and Roshini Publication Hyderabad.

At the opening ceremony, a recording of the Waai of Sindh’s great poet Hazrat Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai, ‘Dost Pehee Dar aayo...’ (My friend came to see me) was played in the charming voice of Ustad Muhammad Jumman.

Social science student Hifza Shah Jilani explained the academy’s logo, based on the Ak plant. An Ak-based folk legend from Thar has inspired the academy’s guiding principles of empathy towards all of Sindh.

The seminar series itself is among the compulsory subjects offered to Social Science undergraduates at SZABIST Karachi. It is also being offered as an elective subject to media science undergraduates.

An independent study followed by a presentation on any one of the topics taught during the semester will serve as a partial qualification and entry requirement to the MA, MPhil, or PhD programmes in Sindh Studies, when such a program is made available.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 14^th, 2012.