Social responsibility: Engaging the youth for a better tomorrow
Around 200 students attend conference aimed to develop positive thinking.
ISLAMABAD:
Around 200 students vowed to fulfil their social responsibilities and promote the country’s positive image through their actions at a conference on Monday.
The event was held at Air University as part of the “Shabash Pakistan” programme launched by the School of Leadership (SoL).
“The idea behind the programme is to mobilise and motivate the country’s youth so it can focus on opportunities instead of problems and start thinking about how they can improve the country,” said SoL Director Saima Khan.
“We talk a lot about our rights, but we never talk about our responsibilities,” Khan said. “We need to change our thought process and get our youth to start taking responsibilities,” she added.
The programme intends to achieve this by getting university students to identify systemic social problems and their causes through interactive discussions and exercises.
In one of the conference sessions, students formed teams and skimmed through newspaper archives to find symptoms for prevalent social problems.
They also planned out individual actions they can take to change the society in another session.
The trainer, Umair Jaliawala, kept the participants motivated with inspirational stories from Pakistan and beyond, including anecdotes about Abdul Sattar Edhi and Steve Jobs. Students were enthusiastic and responded well to the message delivered.
“The conference is aimed at developing positive thinking among us and so far it’s been very successful,” said Memoona Imran, a first-year computer science student. “We can stop violence in our society if we start thinking positively.”
Ahsan Abdullah, a final year mechatronics student, said the youth has the potential but it is afraid of thinking outside the box due to social norms and constraints.
“The youth can bring about change in society but it needs constant motivation and support from educational institutions,” said Abdullah.
The best thing about the programme, according to him, is that it is a series of conferences which will ensure feedback from participants.
“Shabash Pakistan” will be carried out over a period of three months. Each month, SoL will organise a one-day conference separately at NUST, FAST, Air University and COMSATS Institute of Information Technology.
“The first month’s theme is personal development and individual action. Participants will take what they have learnt during the first phase and transfer it to the community over the second and third months,” said Khan, the director for SoL.
SoL has been working in Pakistan for 11 years and has primarily focused on organising the Young Leaders’ Conference.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 9th, 2012.
Around 200 students vowed to fulfil their social responsibilities and promote the country’s positive image through their actions at a conference on Monday.
The event was held at Air University as part of the “Shabash Pakistan” programme launched by the School of Leadership (SoL).
“The idea behind the programme is to mobilise and motivate the country’s youth so it can focus on opportunities instead of problems and start thinking about how they can improve the country,” said SoL Director Saima Khan.
“We talk a lot about our rights, but we never talk about our responsibilities,” Khan said. “We need to change our thought process and get our youth to start taking responsibilities,” she added.
The programme intends to achieve this by getting university students to identify systemic social problems and their causes through interactive discussions and exercises.
In one of the conference sessions, students formed teams and skimmed through newspaper archives to find symptoms for prevalent social problems.
They also planned out individual actions they can take to change the society in another session.
The trainer, Umair Jaliawala, kept the participants motivated with inspirational stories from Pakistan and beyond, including anecdotes about Abdul Sattar Edhi and Steve Jobs. Students were enthusiastic and responded well to the message delivered.
“The conference is aimed at developing positive thinking among us and so far it’s been very successful,” said Memoona Imran, a first-year computer science student. “We can stop violence in our society if we start thinking positively.”
Ahsan Abdullah, a final year mechatronics student, said the youth has the potential but it is afraid of thinking outside the box due to social norms and constraints.
“The youth can bring about change in society but it needs constant motivation and support from educational institutions,” said Abdullah.
The best thing about the programme, according to him, is that it is a series of conferences which will ensure feedback from participants.
“Shabash Pakistan” will be carried out over a period of three months. Each month, SoL will organise a one-day conference separately at NUST, FAST, Air University and COMSATS Institute of Information Technology.
“The first month’s theme is personal development and individual action. Participants will take what they have learnt during the first phase and transfer it to the community over the second and third months,” said Khan, the director for SoL.
SoL has been working in Pakistan for 11 years and has primarily focused on organising the Young Leaders’ Conference.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 9th, 2012.