Due to IT, today’s media is not confined within local boundaries: CS

Sindh’s chief secretary said on Friday that today’s media is not confined within local boundaries, but that it has become international media due to information technology. Thus, added Syed Mumtaz Ali Shah, the media persons of the country have to compete on international level.

In this respect, said the CS, the Sindh Madressatul Islam University (SMIU) has taken a great step by starting a 24-hour transmission of its FM radio channel titled ‘Voice of Education’. It will provide qualified and experienced young people to the media industry of the country, he added.

He made these remarks after inaugurating the SMIU’s 24-hour FM channel transmission at the auditorium of the university. He lauded the SMIU’s efforts to start the daylong radio service and congratulated the university’s Vice-Chancellor Dr Muhammad Ali Shaikh.

He also thanked the university’s teachers and students on the most positive addition of a radio service to their academic resources as well as to national service. The chief secretary said that media is a very important subject besides science in the present-day world. In the past, there was a lack of qualified persons in the field of media, he added.

He said that Pakistan Television and Radio Pakistan used to be the only sources of information in the country, but a new era of media kicked off in Pakistan after 2002. Shah said that being an alma mater of the Father of the Nation, Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the SMIU has always played a historic role, especially in imparting modern and quality education to the people of the province.

This is why the great leaders who shaped society before the independence of Pakistan and in the post-independence era had all received their education from this great institution, he added.

The CS said that today, after being accorded the status of a university, the SMIU under the leadership of its VC Dr Shaikh is playing a major role in providing quality education. He hoped that the university will emerge as the greatest seat of learning of Pakistan in the near future.

“The SMIU is rendering a remarkable national service by imparting modern education in the subjects of media and environmental sciences, which are still being rarely taught in Pakistan’s universities,” said the chief secretary, adding that the students of SMIU will play a significant role in the future by following the ideology of the Quaid-e-Azam.

In his address, SMIU VC Dr Shaikh thanked the CS for inaugurating the 24-hour transmission of the university’s FM channel, which has been assigned the 96.6 MHz frequency.

Dr Shaikh said that through this radio service the voice of the students and education of the country will have a global reach. He said that the SMIU’s FM channel ‘Voice of Education’ will promote education in the country, and if the Government of Sindh wants the services of the radio channel, it can highlight the educational activities of the provincial administration.

He said the SMIU’s radio service will ultimately benefit the country in the field of education and help spread awareness among students and their parents.

“Today the voice of education is very much important for the development of Pakistan, and the SMIU is playing its multidimensional role in the field of education.”

Earlier, Dr Ambreen Fazal, chairperson of the Department of Media & Communication Studies of the SMIU, delivered the welcome address and highlighted the features of the university’s FM radio channel.

On this occasion, Dr Shaikh also presented souvenirs to the chief secretary. Moreover, an introductory documentary about the university was screened at the event. Earlier, CS Shah visited the Jinnah Museum of the SMIU.