At last the Karakoram International University (KIU) has got an enlightened, moderate and above all a highly qualified woman Vice-Chancellor. The appointment of Dr Najma Najam, former Vice-Chancellor of the Ftaima Jinnah Women University Rawalpindi as head of the KIU should be welcomed by all in Gilgit-Baltistan. Dr Najma got her degrees in medicines from the Howling Green State University Ohio, USA. She also did her Master’s and PhD from the same university and completed her research from the University of Georgia. So far, over 75 research papers written by Dr Najma have been published in different parts of the world. Besides, Dr Najma has also participated in more than 120 national and international conferences. She has also to her credit different works in the field of women issues and fight against drug abuse.

The establishment of the Fatima Jinnah Women University Rawalpindi is one of the major contributions of her career. She has also over 30 years of teaching experience at the university level. She remained the chairperson of the Applied Physics Department of the University of Punjab Lahore from 1990 to 1998. She is also the only female in Pakistan to carry out extensive work in Neuro-Psychology. She is also the recipient of the presidential award.

Keeping her experience in view, President Asif Ali Zardar appointed Dr Najma as the vice-chancellor of the only rundown university of the constitution-less and deprived region of Gilgit-Baltistan with an aim to bring reform to the institution and help it achieve its objective and provide much needed higher education to the youth of the region.

After issuing the notification of her appointment, during a meeting with the VC the president advised her that as Benazir Bhutto sacrificed her life for democracy and well-being of the masses, she would also have to do her level best to meet the dream of “education for all” of the slain PPP chairperson, so that the masses can be educated in a better way for their bright future. 

About seven years ago, the Karakoram University was a set up as a gift by then dictator Pervez Musharraf to the people of Gilgit-Baltistan. Before Dr Najma, two VCs of the university – Dr Azam and Dr Najam Ali – had to relinquish their charges due to some unavoidable circumstances. Both the two former vice chancellors failed to run the affairs of the university keeping in view the requirements and needs of the local people. Today the situation is such that the university lacks atmosphere conducive for learning. The former VCs always banked on personal advices instead of developing departmental setups to run the affairs of the institution. As a result, the university saw groupings mostly on sectarian basis among the faculty members and there was an unending series of merit violations in appointments and admissions marring the standard of education at the university. Besides, a wave of sectarianism also hit the institution of higher learning. Due to the situation, the university also faced financial crisis and over 150 employees were sent home with one go.

In such a situation, the appointment of Dr Najma is a crucial decision of the government. The post at best seems to be more a bed of thorns than of roses for the new vice chancellor. We feel it our obligation to advise the new VC to be careful not to tread the paths of her predecessors and take every step with utmost care and caution in order to bring a positive change to the atmosphere of the university. She has to review the overall administrative and academic working of the institution and set the priorities. Dr Najma should also first of all check and evaluate the performance of the faculty heads in the institution and work to strengthen the teacher-student and administration relations and restore the confidence of the teachers. Also there is a need to remove shortcomings on part of the administration besides promoting the culture of research at the varsity. Moreover, the university needs to be purged of the elements who have been promoting sectarianism on the campus. The new VC should also take steps to set up new faculties on the campus.

We believe that Dr Najma has the potential to take the KIU at par with international universities so that students of the beautiful region start feeling proud of pursuing education at the university instead of moving to other cities in pursuance of higher education.

We also consider it important that the new vice chancellor should have strong relations with the media particularly the local newspapers and for this reason should activate the media centre at the university. We hope that Dr Najma will utilize her higher education and vast experience to make the KIU a real center of higher education for the good of the two million people of Gilgit-Baltistan who have so far been deprived of their right to higher education.

(www.weeklybaang.blogspot.com)