Dr Arif Alvi asks HEC to take steps for differently-abled students

President Dr. Arif Alvi asked the Higher Education Commission (HEC) to take special steps to encourage students of differently-abled students, including a waiver of tuition fees, transportation facilities within educational institutions, and age relaxation.

To save students from the menace of opioids and provide them with a safe learning space, the President also asked the HEC to devise anti-drug policies for higher education institutions by next March. While chairing a meeting of the Drug Addiction and Health Committee of Differently-abled-Students, the President released these guidelines.

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The meeting was attended by Federal Education and Professional Training (FE&PT) Minister Shafqat Mehmood, Drug Enforcement Minister Muhammad Azam Khan Swati, Human Rights Minister Dr. Shireen Mazari, FE&PT Secretary Farah Hamid Khan, Narcotics Control Secretary Shoaib Dastgir, HEC Chairman Dr. Tariq Banuri, and Major General Muhammad Arif Malik, DG Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF). At the conference, proposals to eliminate the threat of drugs from educational institutions were addressed.

The vice-chancellors of different universities in the country submitted their respective proposals to counter drug abuse at institutions.

The meeting highlighted the need to lift youth awareness by engaging social workers, the media, NGOs, and civil society.

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It also emphasized that the Ministry of Education, the ANF, and law enforcement agencies need to work together to protect educational institutions from drug abuse.