LAHORE: (Thursday, June 8, 2023): Governor Punjab / Chancellor Punjab University Muhammad Balighur Rehman has said that the teachers should play their role to eliminate hateful speech in the country, promote the culture of tolerance and build qualities of a good character among students. He expressed these views while presiding over the 359th meeting of the Punjab University Senate at Senate Hall, Old Campus. On this occasion, Punjab University Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Khalid Mahmood, Registrar Tasneem Kamran, Syndicate members, Heads of Departments and a large number of Professors were present. Addressing the meeting, Muhammad Balighur Rehman said that there is a need to focus on character building and training of students along with imparting quality education. He said that the youth has to be advised that they have to adopt honesty, ethics and truth in every field of life. He said that we should highlight good things of each other instead of pointing out bad things. He said that hate speech is not allowed anywhere in the world, but our young generation has been given the wrong impression in some aspects of life that they are right and all others are wrong. He said that the culture of tolerance should be promoted among the youth and they should be taught to respect difference of opinion. He said that due to the promotion of hate politics, the children went so far that they desecrated the memorials of martyrs who got Nishan Haider, sacrificed their lives for our beloved homeland and shouted hateful slogans against the opponents even in a holy city like Madina. He said that this is a tool of the enemies of the country to spread disappointment among in the next generation. He said that social media must be used with immense care and one should verify facts before forwarding any post. He said that Punjab University was the biggest and oldest university in the region where more steps should be taken to promote quality education. He said that for the development of any institution, its merits and demerits should be known so that matters can be improved. He said that universities have to adopt various measures to deal with their financial problems. He also instructed the Punjab University administration to prepare a master plan. He said that the aim of the universities is to promote the creation of new knowledge and research for which faculty development program should be improved further. He said that universities should establish Zakat fund for needy students. He said that the institutions should keep close contact with their alumni and their achievements should be celebrated at the official level. He said that alumni endowment fund should be established to provide scholarships to poor students. Vice Chancellor Professor Dr. Khalid Mehmood highlighted the ongoing educational, constructive and research activities in Punjab University. He said that Punjab University gets 73% of its budget from its own resources and only 27% comes from the government. He said that Punjab University is currently facing financial problems for which funding is required from central and provincial governments. He said that despite such limited resources, Punjab University is providing quality education to its on-campus 52,000 students with excellent transport, internet and providing residential facilities to 8,500 students. He said that there are more than eleven hundred teachers at Punjab University and most of them have earned their PhDs from top universities. He said that Punjab University has moved from 232nd position to 140th position in QS Asia ranking in five years despite such limited resources. He said that earlier three of our subjects were included in the global ranking initially but now their number has increased to 14 with the efforts of the administration and faculty members. He said that the role of Punjab University in the promotion of knowledge and literature is commendable and PU students have also been a part of Pakistan Movement under the leadership of Quaid-i-Azam. After discussion on various agenda items based on the recommendations of the Syndicate, the agenda items were approved with minor improvements. In the meeting, 15% special allowance was also approved for employees and teachers of Punjab University from grade 1 to grade 19.