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Active Citizenship Programme : British Council distributes certificates among LCWU students
LAHORE: Lahore College for Women University (LCWU) hosted showcasing and certificate distribution ceremony of the British Council’s Active Citizenship Programme (ACP) here on Tuesday at the LCWU campus.
British Council Punjab Director Richard Weyer, Vice Chancellor Dr Sabiha Mansoor, Directorate of Faculty Development and Internationalisation Saima Asghar Riaz and members of 26 international delegates from UK, Myanmar, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Poland, Czech Republic, Jordan, Lebanon, Ireland and Kenya were present on occasion.
The ACP is a flagship programme of the British Council focusing on youth leadership and community engagement. British Council successfully launched Active Citizens Programme (ACP) as its pilot university project in Lahore College for Women University (LCWU) by signing an MoU for four years. Subsequently, ACP was introduced as a mandatory course for undergraduate students at LCWU and the first batch of 413 students from eight departments successfully completed the ACP of 04 credit hours. A total of 47 Social Action Projects (SAP) were completed by students from a range of disciplines working to improve education, health and environment of their local communities.
The SAP projects displayed by the students included ‘Cleanliness of Kachi Abadis’, ‘Inter Faith Harmony’, ‘Reducing Generation Gap’, ‘Smile for Orphans’, ‘Learn Innovation For Ever (LIFE)’, ‘LIVEright- LIVERight Raising awareness against HEPATITIS’, ‘Empowering Children’, ‘Pleasing Environmental Effects’, ‘Establishment of Botanical Garden in LCWU’, and ‘Promoting collectivism in a residential area of Shadman’.
Richard Weyer speaking on this occasion said, “The partnership with LCWU to introduce Active Citizens as a University course is an illustration of our focus on young people as future leaders. The institutionalisation strategy with LCWU has enabled both partners to work with young people who are determined to bring positive change in their local communities on a long term basis.”
Prof Dr Sabiha Mansoor stated that community engagement was one of the pillars of the vision of LCWU and the British Council’s support in introducing the ACP at LCWU as a pilot programme is a welcome initiative which is making a change in the personality development if not only the thousands of girls studying at LCWU but will also impact their households and communities positively, thereby causing positive change across the country.
The Vice Chancellor thanked the British Council for their continuous support to LCWU and stated that the ACP is not only the transforming LCWU graduates by making them active citizens, but is also helping the university improve its quality, empowering women and encouraging environmental sustainability, all of which are underlying principles of LCWU Vision 2020.
Dr Mansoor recommended that Civics should be reintroduced as a compulsory subject for all secondary students so as to make them more aware of their rights and duties as citizens when they enter the portals of Higher Educational Institutions.
Directorate of Faculty Development and Internationalisation Director Saima Asghar Riaz said that British Council Active Citizens Programme (ACP) at LCWU as a pilot project in a public sector university. “ACP links civil society networks, community leaders and community networks in Pakistan. The journey of ACP at LCWU started with the training of Facilitators to develop the knowledge, skills and attitude required to engage in dialogue and social participation with students and the wider community” she added.
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk