

LAHORE: Over 5,000 school
children set a new world record on Friday by sitting through the largest
art lesson of the world at Punjab Stadium.
The record was previously held by Chinese Taipei with 4,810 children.
As many as 6,000 students from Beaconhouse School System exhibited
great discipline in the 30-minutes class as they painted the Mughal-era
style buildings.
The Guinness Book team then counted the papers prepared by the
children and affirmed 5,351 valid, declaring Pakistan the new record
holder. The stadium echoed with slogans of
Pakistan zindabad as the announcement came.
Addressing the participants, Sports Board Punjab Director General
Usman Anwar praised the students and said that Pakistani children had
the potential to regularly set and break records.
Sports Secretary Muhammad Khan Khichi was also present.
Young scientists
An exhibition was organised at the Lahore Expo Centre as part of the
festival under the aegis of the Ministry of Science and Technology.
Several government, private and educational institutions, including the
National University of Science and Technology, the Pakistan Engineering
Council, the National University of Oceanography, the Pakistan National
Accreditation Council, the Center for Applied and Molecular Biology, the
Technical Education and Vocational Training Authority, the Pakistan
Standards and Quality Control Authority and the National Institute of
Electronics Islamabad.
Thousands of students from 47 universities arranged 75 stalls at the
exhibition. Students displayed models of dams, bridges, important
buildings, roads and electronics and won praise from the audience.
An electronic bicycle model by Muhammad Tauseef of Government College
of Technology, Sialkot, earned great appreciation from the large
gathering. A jury would announce the winners on Saturday (today) after
examining the models and listening to students’ presentations.
Separately, a large book fair has also been organised at the venue,
where publishers have displayed a large number of academic, religious,
historic and scientific books. A digital Quran has also been displayed.
Farming
An exhibition of Best Agricultural Produce is also underway at the
Lahore Expo Centre. Department of Agricultural Information Punjab, Ayub
Agricultural Faisalabad, Agricultural Department, Institute of Rice
Research Kala Shah Kaku and many other research institutes are
participating in the exhibition.
Information is being given to farmers on how to protect their crops
from disease. Farmers are also being educated on methods of preserving
fruit and vegetables. Several agricultural experts talked on the
occasion. They said farmers could not get more production and profit
since they were unaware of the use of modern technology.