Initiated by Electronics Group – E3

 Asif Ahmed:
July 19, 2014

It was the summer of 1998 when four friends and Electronics Engineering graduates got together for a dinner in the suburbs of Toronto reminiscing the time spent together and about the memorable times they had as students of the once proud institute called, Dawood College of Engineering and Technology (DCET), situated in Karachi, Pakistan. The dinner conversations also mourned the loss of two of its class mates and dear friends namely Akhter Jamil in the year 1982 and Mohammed Ashraf in 1991. Both left the world quite prematurely in their prime 30s, Akhter primarily due to Kidneys failures and Ashraf in the terrible and one of the worst accidents in PIA’s aviation history that occurred in Kathmandu, Nepal .

There was an over whelming desire by the group to do something in the memory of the two Class-mates of Electronics-3 (E3, third batch of graduates in the year 1972/3) departed souls and also do something for the Engineering Institute that had enabled us to climb up the ladder of success in life, thus the seeds of the overall theme germinated and the idea of creating and awarding Scholarships in the names of both of the dear friends was born. The scholarship(s) were to be awarded to financially needy and academically good deserving students of DCET and would be named “Akhter and Ashraf Memorial Scholarship” to honor the two friends, payback in a meager way to the institute and above all to do a charitable deed to please the LORD.

   
Akhter – Ashraf

The next step was to accumulate enough funds and remit these to Karachi , Pakistan so that the Scholarship project could be kicked off. Unfortunately time was not our side and the project could not be implemented as envisioned due to reasons which now are irrelevant. Another 15 years lapsed and then in the month of Sept,2013 there appeared a small column in Karachi daily English newspaper “DAWN” commemorating an Engineering institute offering Courses in Electronics , Chemical and Metallurgy for the first time in the history of the nation. This news column of course referred to Dawood College of Engineering and Technology as the premier Technical Institute that was created 50 years ago to be the pride of the country, inaugurated by the then President of Pakistan, Ayub Khan. This little column in Dawn sparked an immense nostalgic feeling, culminating in the revival of the 15 years old dormant Scholarship scheme. A meeting of all E3 classmates resident in Karachi was conveyed in Sept of 2013 and once again an effort both at the national and international level was made to revive the old Akhter and Ashraf Memorial Scholarship program. This time, by the Grace of Allah Subhan Taa’la , E3 group received an over zealous and astounding support from the class of E3 in particular, coupled by other alma mater of DCET belonging to Chemical and Metallurgy disciplines.

After considerable ground work by the Karachi based E3 group along with the cooperation of officials at Dawood Engineering University (DCET was granted University status in 2013), the year 2014 for the first time saw grant of Scholarships awards to some the most needy, bright and deserving students of First year Engineering at DEU, some of whose parents are street vendors and could not afford to pay the yearly tuition of Rs 15000. Thirteen (13)Scholarships were awarded by E3 Group in April 2014 thus creating a small piece of history.

After the euphoric start In the year 2014, it was decided by old E3 group to rename the Akhter and Ashraf Memorial Scholarship as “E3” and also rename the E3 association as “DCET ALUMNI” with the pledge to continue to support this Scholarship program year after year with increase in number of scholarships as a humble contribution to the institute and to the great country called Pakistan!

This program now has the support of over thirty DCET alumni spread globally and has evolved from a drawing room group into an international organization, the sole purpose of which is to spread literacy in the country by awarding academic scholarships to the needy and underprivileged students in an effort to make their lives better and make Pakistan a country worthy of its status. The DCET ALUMNI also would like to extend its not only its financial support to this program but wishes to extend its technical and advisory support to ALL students of DEU as a humble contribution to the institute acknowledging its role and its contribution and the difference it has made in our lives.

This program is spearheaded by the original concept group with very active and dynamic support from all DCET Graduates who are spread globally and are keen to contribute to this noble cause.