UN donates 175 laptops to Peshawar University

FRONTIER POST

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) donated 175 mini-laptops to University of Peshawar which are to be distributed among various departments and two affiliated schools of UoP where Afghan students are enrolled. The Laptops were donated as a goodwill gesture and recognition of the services of University of Peshawar with regard to Afghan students over the past three decades. The handing over of laptops took place at the UNHCR site office (warehouse) in Pabbi where Program officer UNHCR Nasir Azam Sahibzada handed over the Laptops to Prof Dr Babar Shah, of Department of Regional Study, who was nominated by the vice chancellor to attend the ceremony. In his address, the program officer said that Pakistan was still host to approx. 1.7 million registered Afghan refugees and a number of Afghan students were still studying in Pakistani educational institutions. UNHCR together with government was trying to find a durable solution to the problem of Afghans refugees and their repatriation, he added. The official apprised that a number of initiatives had been taken by UNHCR, including provision of DAFI (Albert Einstein German Scholarship) to Afghan students studying in Pakistani institutions to help rebuild their country. The year 2012 marked the 20th year of DAFI scholarship worldwide, as a recognition to rebuild Afghan`s lives, he said. Prof Dr Babar Shah said that a number of Afghan students who had studied in the University of Peshawar were serving their own country ranging from government functionaries to educational experts, thereby contributing a great deal to the economy and rebuilding of Afghanistan. Vice Chancellor University of Peshawar Prof. Dr. Qibla Ayaz thanked the UNHCR office for the generous donation and lauded the efforts of Prof. Dr. Babar Shah for materializing the contribution being done by the UN agency.