NAWABSHAH: As many as 80 students were conferred degrees in different fields and Maheen Ali received gold medal at the convocation of the Shaheed Benazi Bhutto University on Saturday. Higher Education Commission (HEC) Pakistan Chairman Prof Dr Mukhtar Ahmed and Member of National Assembly (MNA) Dr Azra Fazal Pechohu were guests of honour. Addressing the convocation, Azra Fazal said that education plays important role in the development of society, nation and Pakistan. Underscoring the importance of modern education and research, she said that it was prerequisite for raising the status of country. She said that the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) established Shaheed Benazir Bhutto University to impart better education to children. The lawmaker said that the passed out students would brighten the name of Pakistan worldwide. She also said that there was no dearth of outstanding talents in the country and our students had proved it by winning many world titles. She added that a network of universities is being spread in whole Sindh province in order to provide best education facilities to our youth. Addressing on the occasion, Guest of Honour Dr Mukhtar Ahmed said that under the Prime Minister’s Education Reforms Programme each district and city would get best education by 2018. He added that one lack scholarship programme has been accorded for talented graduate students by government. He said that students were being provided with scholarships for research work, latest education and PhD. He said that about 1000 male and female students were sent for high education and PhD in America with the cooperation of American Universities. He further said that the government and the HEC were jointly working for bringing improvements in three sectors namely water, energy and food security. In this regard, Dr Mukhtar said that number of programmes have been started relating to water issues while different universities in cooperation with other countries are working on energy sector. He said that under the food security programme, all agriculture Universities of Pakistan were conducting research work to keep fruits and vegetables fresh arriving from different parts of Pakistan. He said that big achievements are made in this direction. He advised students to move ahead and prove their talent in the field of education and research.