Islamabad
Vice Chancellors at an online conference have recommended peace-and-civic education of students through co-curricular activities and faculty training on conflict resolution.
The online conference of the Vice Chancellors was jointly hosted by the Quaid-i-Azam University (QAU), Shaoor Foundation, National Counter Terrorism Authority (NACTA), Paigham-e-Pakistan, and Iqra University. The topic of the conference was “Academia’s Response to the Challenge of Extremism”.
Forty (40) Vice-chancellors from across Sindh and Islamabad attended the conference. They discussed in detail the issue of extremism in Pakistan.
The VCs reviewed and approved the set of recommendations aiming at the promotion of peace and tolerance at Universities.
The recommendations stressed, peace-and-civic education of students through co-curricular activities, the establishment of peace platforms, student societies, and elected bodies for peace and improvement in curriculum and pedagogy.
Dr Qibla Ayaz, Chairman Council of Islamic Ideology, while speaking at the occasion said that there was a dire need to redesign the curriculum and pedagogy in a way that true peaceful teachings of Islam reach the students and the Islamic principle of non-compulsion should be at the forefront while imparting these teachings.
He further said that students should be given an understanding of other religions too so that they learn acceptance and tolerance.
DG (NACTA) outreach Ms. Dure Maknoon also attended the event and explained how NACTA was engaged in countering extremism/terrorism in all its forms and manifestation.—APP
