Experts discuss challenges of rising population

PESHAWAR: Speakers at a seminar to mark the World Population Day here stressed the need for introducing chapters in syllabus and raising awareness among the youth about the challenges of ballooning population in the country.

The seminar was jointly organised by the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication, University of Peshawar and Marie Stopes Society here on Wednesday.

The theme for World Population Day 2023 is “Unleashing the power of gender equality: uplifting the voices of women and girls to unlock our world’s infinite possibilities”. Scholars, health practitioners and government functionaries, faculty members and students participated in the seminar.

Speaking on the occasion, a guest speaker Mumtaz Askar said that people and government should learn from and follow the best practices of the regional countries like Iran and Bangladesh, where overpopulation is curbed through premarital counseling and empowering women through national programmes.

Chairman Department of Journalism Prof Dr Faizullah Jan suggested that the state authorities should introduce syllabus interventions at universities to educate youth about reproductive health and knowledge.

“We need to shun words like birth spacing and need not to press hard ourselves for expressing these reproductive issues under the garb of taboos,” he said.

Dr Faiz added that the youth must discuss such issues to make it a discourse and everyday talk for the wellbeing of society. The state must also realise that tackling poverty, terrorism and unemployment would not be possible without controlling rapid increase in population.

Director Community Services Programme of the university Dr Shakil Ahmad said that the country is gradually progressing in controlling the population but due to rising poverty and economic hardships, rural population is bound on the course of earning hands and social protection. He called upon the authorities to work for developing human resources and youth empowerment to achieve the bulging population.

Director Technical of the Population Welfare Department Dr Ambreen Akhter said that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa population figure stood at 35 million. It is high time to rethink our population strategy, she added.

Additional Director Health, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Dr Saeed Gul and Ali Imran, assistant professor journalism department, also spoke on the occasion. Chairman Islamic Ideological Council Prof Dr Qibla Ayaz and journalist Mujeebur Rehman Shami’s video messages were also presented on the occasion.