ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Higher Education Commission (HEC) hosted an award event for the Afghan short documentary competition on Thursday. The contest is part of the project named Allama Muhammad Iqbal Scholarships for Afghan Students.
The contest’s aim is to highlight the cultural and historical inportance of Pak-Afghan ties and developing goodwill gestures between the two countries’ citzens by putting ‘’Higher Education Experiences of Afghan students studying in Pakistan’’ in focus.
M Suhaib Salarzai, an Afghan student at NUST, bagged the first position in the competition. Adnan Hamidi from COMSATS University Islamabad came second while Naqibullah Mashwani from The University of Lahore came third.
The competition’s runners-up included Rohullah Qari Zadah and Mohibullah Niazai from IMSciences, Peshawar at 4th position and Sadeeq Ur Rehman and Noor Zia from Islamia College University Peshawar at 5th position.
The award event was followed by a screening of the top 3 documentaries.
HEC launched contest in January
The contest was launched in January of this year and received a total of 70 entries from Afghan videographers residing in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
The videos covered a range of topics, including the current state of the country’s education, and challenges faced by Afghanistan’s people along with the experiences of Afghan students studying in Pakistan.
The entries were reviewed by a panel of 3 jury members, who selected the top 3 documentaries based on their content, cinematography, and overall impact. The jury members included Dr. Muhammad Arif, Nasir Butt and Hasan Naqvi.
Speaking at the event, Chairman HEC Dr. Mukhtar Ahmed stated that we are pleased to have received such a positive response to this competition, and are honored to have had the chance to highlight the work of such talented Afghan students.
Via their videos, they have aided in shedding light on the immense cultural heritage and the complex realities of Afghanistan, and we hope that their work will keep on inspiring others to learn more about this important country.
He added that sans capacity building and education, no nation could progress.
He also informed the audience that in the 3rd phase of the Allama Iqbal Scholarships, the HEC would raise the number of scholarships to 4,500 and some other additions in the program to invite bureaucrats, faculty members, and technicians so that they could develop a better system on repatriation.
Embassy of Afghanistan’s Head of Political, Cultural and Education Sections Ali Mansoor Khaliq Yar thanked the HEC for organizing the competition and providing Afghan students with an chance to showcase their talent.
Adviser, Quality Assurance and Global Engagement HEC Awais Ahmad stated that the aim of this contest was to promote the creative activities of Afghan pupils and encourage them to excel in co-curricular activities.
