AIOU, PIEDAR join hands promoting physical activities for female students
- February 16, 2014, 7:59 pm
- Education News
- 203 Views
ISLAMABAD, Feb 16 (Online): Allama Iqbal Open University(AIOU and Pakistan Institute for Environment Development Action Research(PIEDAR) at a meeting here recommended a plan of action for promoting physical activities of girl students, enabling them to play healthy role in the society.
At a day-long meeting held at the University’s main campus, it was recommended that the government should allow its school grounds for private-school females for carrying out physical activities. The government schools’ playgrounds may be utilized in the evenings by those private schools which do not have enough open space for physical activities.
It was also recommended that the government should allocate separate timing for girls and boys to use the space in public parks for health-related exercises and games.
The concluding session of the meeting was chaired by the Vice Chancellor Prof. Dr. Nazir Ahmed Sangi, who assured that the University will provide all possible support for the development of health environment for the female students.
During discussion, the participants reviewed the on-going collaboration between AIOU and PIEDAR. They all appreciated the uniqueness of the project, undertaken by the two institutions for the welfare of adolescent girl and encouragement of researchers on the subject.
This joint research project is the result of a long standing collaboration between Environmental Design Programme, AIOU and PIEDAR in the field of environmental design and management. The project is being undertaken with the financial support of the competitive research grants component of the Pakistan Strategy Support Program (PSSP) of the Planning Commission funded by USAID.
Hypotheses about girls access to and use of open spaces have been tasted in four selected planned and un-planned localities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad. The impediments as perceived by adolescent girls and their guardians have been compared with the responses of a control group of boys.
The conference was divided into two sessions. The first session was chaired by Prof. Dr. Nowshad Khan, Dean, Faculty of Sciences, AIOU.
Dr. Nomana Anjum, Chairperson, Department of Home and Health Sciences, Environmental Design Programme, AIOU and Principal Investigator of the Project Urban Open Spaces for Adolescent Girls highlighted aims and objectives of the project. Syed Ayub Qutub, Executive Director, PIEDAR gave a presentation on the project.
