Students can help dispel polio misconceptions

LAHORE:Punjab Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) for polio eradication Coordinator Ms Syedah Ramallah Ali has said that students could play an important role in dispelling misconceptions about polio.

She was talking to a group of students belonging to various universities and faculty members who called on her at the EOC Punjab office on Wednesday. Ms Ramallah emphasised that students could play a major role in spreading awareness about polio. “Misconceptions about polio are a big hurdle in polio eradication and have long lasting impact on polio eradication efforts”, added the coordinator.

The coordinator further said that she believed students could work as a harbinger of change and could build caregiver and family knowledge, awareness, and motivation in support of polio vaccination.

“With almost 100 million 3G/4G subscribers and over 100 million broadband internet subscribers, internet is as mainstream as television and radio. The penetration of internet as the primary medium of information, particularly for young parents and parents with children under 5 years of age, is expected to rise,” said the coordinator.

She urged all the dynamic students gathered here to harness the potential of the digital and social media and help eradicate polio from Pakistan. Pak-Japan literary dialogue: Punjab University Library in collaboration with Institute of Urdu Language and Literature, Oriental College organised a Pak-Japan literary dialogue and Urdu poetry session.

Renowned scholar Amjad Islam Amjad, Chief Librarian Dr Muhammad Haroon Usmani, Prof Dr Muhammad Kamran, Prof Dr Zia ul Hassan and Mustaq Ahmed were representing PU while Marghoob Hussain Tahir, So Yamane Yasir and Miyamoto Takashi were representing the Osaka University, Japan. A number of faculty members and students also attended the event.

In his address, Dr Marghoob shared his views on the development and education of Urdu Language and Literature in Japan. While sharing his personal experiences, he said that as a nation, Japanese give special importance to their mothers and mother tongue in the upbringing of their younger generations. He said that the success of the Japanese nation was based on their unbiased attitudes towards other nations and their languages, at the same time love and complete reliance on their own mother tongue.

Miyamoto Takashi expressed his love and respect for the Urdu language while admiring the beauty and culture of this language. Dr So Yamane Yasir shared his insights on the richness of the Urdu language and the strength of the Pakistani people as a nation. The guests and poets also shared their ‘kalaam’ which was highly appreciated and enjoyed by the participants. Dr Muhammad Haroon Usmani thanked the respected guest scholars for sharing time and their valuable thoughts with the students of Punjab University.