NED University Archives

Thirty-year-old Haleema Sarwar, who is visually impaired, received her MS in applied English linguistics at the 31st convocation of the NED University of Engineering and Technology (NDUET) held on Tuesday.

Moreover, Sarwar has officially created history by becoming the first-ever visually impaired student to receive her MS from the renowned university in the past 100 years.

Haleema graduated with her MA in English literature from the University of Karachi in 2014, at which point she began working as a teacher. She was a professor at a number of institutions, including the Ida Rieu College for the Blind and Deaf.

Sarwar shared that when she had first applied, the varsity administration was a tad bit reluctant to allow her admission because the programme was running only in the evening shift, due to which it would be inconvenient for her to attend regular classes.

“The varsity management was thinking I would not be able to continue my classes. While some teachers and officials of the varsity were also of the view that attending classes in the evening shift would be risky for a female student who was also visually impaired,” she explained.

However, she convinced them that shill will be regular and put in her 100% and will ensure not to put any burden on the management. The varsity allowed her admission on condition that a blood relative would accompany her whenever she came to the varsity.

Meet Maniha Hashmi: The First Pakistani Fulbright Scholar at Columbia University

For the next 4 years, her mother took that responsibility and today, she is a proud mother of a proud daughter who has created a historic moment not only for the university but for everyone.

The course was supposed to be completed in two-and-a-half years but when Haleema had completed her third semester, her father passed away and her mother had to stay at home. “I would have bagged the degree a year ago, but I missed one semester owing to my father’s death,” she said.

“In today’s era, if any special person has the courage and wants to live a normal life, they can do it easily,” she said, adding that technological advancements had made it possible for people with disabilities to live a normal life.

She thanked her teachers who supported her studies and encouraged her to pursue higher education. Haleema intends to start her career as a lecturer. She hopes that this time she would secure a good job because she has earned a higher degree.

She is a symbol of hope for everyone. She has proven that if you have willpower and support, you can break all shackles that are holding you back, even if you are handicapped or special otherwise.

We are extremely proud of her and wish her all the best in all her future endeavours.

Stay tuned to WOW360.

A group of NED University students have left many highly impressed after creating a robot called ‘Luco-Chotu’ for children with autisim.

Luco Chotu is a unique AI cognitive model that can interpret sensory data (facial expressions, speech output, etc) and uses clues to access child behaviour.

The robot functions on an Android platform and can be controlled through the a smartphone via Bluetooth or Wi-Fi and is low-cost as it has been completely made in the country.

According to the Lucobot website, the Luco Chotu offers diagnostic and treatment support to autistic children relieving the burden from the current labor intensive therapeutic interventions.

Luco-chotu is a robotic platform that helps the autistic children to improve their imitation skills. This robotic platform mainly targets the children having autism.

The highly modified LUCO-chotu will assist therapists in imitation therapy. The repetitive behavior of LUCO-chotu help autistic children to learn human actions on other hand it can also copy child’s action by detecting human posture.

Moreover, the website shares that the Lucobots are equipped with a number of high-end features:

The team behind this amazing robot includes Mohammad Ghayas Ahmedani the Co-Founder and COO, Mr Jamshed the co-founder and CEO, Muhammad Kamran Waseem the co-founder and Director Business Development, and Hashim the co-founder and Director Technology.

The students have two other models called Luco Doc which can measure vitals of COVID patients remotely and Luco Salam robot that can be hired as a receptionist by companies.

With invention like these, children who face day-to-day social problems will be able to express themselves better and vice versa, the data accumulated through AI will help doctors as well as parents understand their child’s needs.

We hope that this technology goes nation and eventually worldwide with a ‘Made in Pakistan’ stamp.

Stay tuned to WOW360 for more news and updates.

NED University

Haleema Sarwar Becomes First Visually Impaired MS Graduate from NDUET University

NED University Students Create Robot to Help Autistic Children