Daily Times

A seminar was held on Thursday at Government College University (GCU) to raise awareness among youth against harassment at workplaces and campuses.

Speaking on the occasion, Non-Governmental Organisation Women in Struggle for Empowerment Executive Director Bushra Khaliq briefed students about what harassment is and how it could be prevented in different situations and what legal remedies are available to them against it.

“It is very unfortunate that it has become a taboo to discuss harassment in our society which has worsened the situation instead of protecting our children for this menace,” the women’s rights activist said.

Bushra Khaliq stressed that parents must guide and support their children to report the incidents of harassment to the committees concerned or law enforcement agencies instead of staying silent. She said it was a wrong perception that only women faced the issues of physical harassment; it happened to men as well. She laid stress on formation of Anti-Harassment Committees in all educational institutions and workplaces which was mandatory under law and guidelines of Higher Education Commission. However, she believed that sexual harassment cases should be prosecuted in camera, and should not be reported to media.

In reply a question, Khaliq said that the punishment should be according to the crime and in many cases it’s not right to the spoil the whole life and dignity of the accused.

The speaker was told that GCU had a zero tolerance for harassment and had a functional committee in this regard. GCU Mathematics Department Chairperson Professor Dr Mujahid Abbas also addressed the seminar which was attended by a large number of students and faculty members.

Separately, from fully automated lathe machines to foot power generation system for public buildings, the final year engineering students from different universities put on display their self-made smart devices, robots and innovative technologies at the Annual Projects Exhibition (APEX 2018).

The exhibition was organised by the Electrical Engineering Department of GCU at the university’s Abdus Salam Hall.

About 30 smart devices were put on display which included Artificial Intelligence-based home automation device, compressed air energy storage system, fire-fighting robot with wireless control, smart scoreboard for basketball, Google supported traffic management system, autonomous self-balancing military robot, visible light communication system, water quality monitoring system and voice control wheelchair for the physically-challenged. Speaking on the occasion, GCU Vice Chancellor Professor Dr Hassan Amir Shah said knowledge was nothing without its practical implementation; these students had worked very hard on their projects ranged from automation to power electronics to surveillance. He said the market had become highly competitive, so the university graduates had to be highly innovative and technically sound to survive. The vice chancellor also guided the students about the further research on their projects.

GCU Electrical Engineering Department Chairperson Dr Junaid Zafar said APEX 2018 was aimed at providing opportunities to the students to demonstrate their knowledge and technical skills to the companies but also educate and motivate the other students to come up with more innovative ideas and technologies. He said that more than 300 students submitted projects, out of which 30 projects were displayed. Different companies and funding agencies were also invited to APEX 2018 to witness and fund the projects.

Later, the fully automated lathe machine developed by the team of FAST University students secured the first position and cash award at the APEX 2018. AI-based home automation system of GCU students secured second position.

Published in Daily Times, December 14^th 2018.