Students urged to make the most of TCF-ADP initiative

A certificate distribution ceremony for The Citizens Foundation (TCF) Alumni Development Program (ADP) was held at the Gani &Tayub auditorium, main campus, said a press release issued on Tuesday.

Its main purpose was to appreciate the efforts of volunteers, students and the IBA management, which played an instrumental role in the program. The session started with Asad Sajid, Team Lead TCF-ADP and a TCF alumnus, who informed the audience that from almost 1,300 TCF Matric students, only two per cent make it to a university.

TCF-ADP was initiated in 2014 by Nadeem Hussain, a TCF and IBA alumnus, to improve these statistics. Currently, there are 160 TCF alumni enrolled in universities in Karachi, and 350 from across Pakistan and this number is expected to increase by the end of the academic year.

Thanking the volunteers and other participants, Sajid said, “Your continuous dedication and facilitation has ensured underprivileged students to gain an access to higher education.” He emphasised that this could not have been possible without TCF-ADP and the efforts of everyone involved.

Furthermore, two success stories were shared with the audience. Sehrish Yaseen, who hails from Hub, Balochistan, has obtained admission to the BS Economics program at the IBA, and Moiza Naved has been inducted in the Social Development program at Habib University. Both the girls expressed their gratitude towards TCF-ADP for bringing their dreams to fruition.

Addressing the audience, Vice President TCF Riaz Kamlani talked about how before 2016, the TCF was only providing education up to Matric, after which the students had limited opportunities to higher education. The TCF College at Qayyumabad was founded to bridge this gap in 2016 and has proved to be very effective.

Kamlani thanked the IBA management, especially Executive Director Dr Farrukh Iqbal and Professor Dr Nasir Touheed for their cooperation in the provision of classrooms, and mentoring by the IBA students along with other resources.

Dr Iqbal thanked the TCF for bringing this great initiative to the IBA for the greater good. He said, “TCF-ADP is a sustainable model, an initiative that is bigger than all of us and means a lot to the country in terms of making quality higher education accessible to the deserving and meritorious students.”

As a token of appreciation, shields were presented to Dr Iqbal and Dr Touheed by Kamlani, followed by a distribution of certificates to the participants. Certificates were also distributed to the IBA’s management to acknowledge their dedication to the program.

Dr Touheed concluded the ceremony by urging the students of TCF-ADP to make the most of this opportunity. He likened TCF-ADP to a tree that provides shelter to underprivileged students, and said, “Keep the momentum going and become nurturing trees to shelter future generations and assist them in their quest to quality higher education.”