SWABI: President Mamnoon Hussain has said that contemporary education can play a significant role in the progress, prosperity and economic development of a nation.

Addressing as chief guest at the 21st convocation of Ghulam Ishaq Khan (GIK) Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology here on Thursday, the president said that Pakistan`s future was very bright and its students were future of the country. He said that Pakistan was on track of economic progress and soon it would stand in the line of developed countries.

He conferred degrees on 329 BS, 40 MS and six PhD graduates at the convocation and awarded gold medals to outstanding students.

The president said that a huge foreign investment was coming to Pakistan under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. He called on the young engineers to be ready for joining the CEPC project because several opportunities would be available to them. He said that a number of countries, especially Central Asian Republics, had shown great interest in joining the CPEC project.

`The students should harmonise themselves with the needs and requirements of CPEC as it would offer a lot of job opportunities for the country`s youth, especially the young engineers,` the president said. `I feel confident that our younger generation is fully prepared and capable to face the new emerging challenges,` he said.

Mr Hussain said that the country needed a new breed of engineers who possessed the will and ability to accept emerging challenges, the dedication to pursue higher goals and the professional competence to play the role of troubleshooters.

He hoped that the GIK Institute would play its due role in producing professionals who by their hard work and strong determination would make Pakistan an industrialised, forward looking and prosperous country.

`We need to focus on science and technology education for the country`s economic development and the role of GIK Institute would be very significant in achieving this objec-tive,` he said.

Corruption destroys the very vitals of social, political and economic systems, the president said. `Our younger generation must possess a moral attitude which inculcates in them a sense of putting the national good above their personal gains,` he said.

Jehangir Bashar, rector of GIK Institute, said that the institute produced graduates who had made substantial contributions to the society.

The six PhD scholars who graduated included Tufail Mohammad, Fazal Mohammad, Syed Zameer Abbas, Shahabuddin Ansari, Ahmad Abbas and Mohammad Fayaz.

The Quaid-i-Azam medal was awarded to Faiza Khan and Ghulam Ishaq Khan Medal to Irfan Habib.

The BS graduates who got the faculty-based gold medals were: Mufaddal, Adeel Javid, Hamza Belal Kazi, Zimad, Bilal Shahid, Itrah Sohail, Irfan Habib and Salman Yousaf.

The MS graduates gold medalists included Mohammad Shal(eel and Sarah Sajjad.

Governor Iqbal Zafar Jhagra, executive director of Society for the Promotion of Engineering Sciences and Technology in Pakistan Shal(eel Durrani, parents of the students and federal and provincial ofñcials also attended the convocation.