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UET wins declamation contest

By Our Correspondent
November 19, 2020

LAHORE : A team of University of Engineering and Technology (UET), Lahore won the 40th All Pakistan Allama Iqbal Bilingual Declamation Contest, hosted by the Government College University Lahore Debating Society (GCUDS).

The Ravian orators opened and closed the House with their memorable speeches. However, as a matter of principle, they as hosts didn’t contest for medals.

UET student Danish Azam was adjudicated the Best Urdu Speaker of the declamation contest, while UET, Lahore student Mahnoor Rana was declared Best English Speaker of the event.

In the final round, the serious topics that remained closely contested by the teams were: “The world will not fail if Pakistan fails, but the world will be healthier if Pakistan is healthy”, “globalisation is incredibly efficient but also so far incredibly unjust”, “for girls, becoming women is inevitability: for boys, becoming men is ambition” and “the moment you recognise what is beautiful in this world, you stop being a slave”.

In the humorous category, the participants enthralled the audience with their wit and humour particularly on the topics: “Inconvenience in progress, work is regretted”, “With me, it is better never that late”, “Use English, but don’t let English use you” and “Social distancing offers its own kind of companionship”. Additional Secretary Finance, Punjab, Nadia Saquib, who was also president GCU’s Debating Society 20 years ago, was the chief guest at the final round.

Speaking on the occasion, Vice-Chancellor Dr Asghar Zaidi congratulated the GCU Debating Society for organising this mega contest of public speaking while observing corona SOPs. The VC said that debates played a crucial role in overall grooming and personality development of students.

Ms Nadia Saquib appreciated the participation of a large number of female students and congratulated the winners in the debates contest.

Session on domestic workers’ rights: An NGO in collaboration with Young Parliamentarian Forum (YPF) organised public hearing here on “Domestic Workers Rights and Local Government” - Challenges and Opportunities.

National and Provincial Assembly representatives present were from PTI, PML-N and PPP Makhdoom Syed Usman Mehmood, Bushra Anjum Butt from PML-N, Wajeeha Akram, Federal Parliamentary Secretary on Education and YPF Secretary General Uzma Riaz. Lacuna in Domestic Workers’ Act 2019 was discussed, also reasons for delay in its implementation.