PESHAWAR: Speakers at a ceremony here on Wednesday highlighted the importance of awareness among students of history and culture and said it would leave a positive impact on students when they were linked to their glorious past and culture.

They said visits to historical places would help increase the students` knowledge besides making them aware of the region`s history.

They were addressing the prize distribution ceremony organised for students from 10 educational institutions, who participated in a project `awareness raising among students about history and culture of Peshawar through exposure visits.

The project was launched byan NGO, De Laas Gul, with the support of the Pakistan TransitionInitiativeforPeshawar Uplift Programme.

DLG Chief Executive Meraj Humayun Khan, who is also an MPA, apprised participants of the project`s salient features.

She said the project was meant nrst to expose underserved youths in Peshawar to the cultural value of historical sites to inculcate a sense of civic pride in the city and secondly to sensitise teachers and Parent-Teacher Committee members to how to make the school a fun-loving place through activity based learning/teaching method in their teaching style.

This, she said, will not only be helpful in retaining the existing schoolchildren but will also attract more children toward school.Parliamentary secretary Ayesha Naeem said the government faced multiple problems in the education sector and most important of them was lack of resources.

She, however, said the government was doing its best to improve the existing school system.

Ayesha said providing proper security to schools was the government`s priority.

MPA Anessa Zaib Tahirlcheli, representative of Uplift Programme Bacha Hazrat and Government High School Hayatabad principal Haq Nawaz Marwat also addressed the ceremony.

During the project, exposure visits were organised for students to historical and important places including Balahisar Fort, Khor Khutree, Islamia College Peshawar and Archives Library.