Career counselling is a process that will help you know and understand yourself better, and give you a preview of the professional world before you step into it. It will help academic, career and life choices easy to make. 
Career development is more than just deciding on a major and what job you want to get after you complete your studies. And the process of career counselling needs to start at an early age.
Acknowledging the importance of career counselling, Sohni Dharti, a forum of overseas Pakistanis based in Al Khor, recently took advantage of the presence of Dr Faisal Izhar in Doha and organised a career counselling session in Al Khor for Pakistani students in the community.
A medical doctor by profession, Dr Izhar is a public speaker and career counsellor. The Associate Professor from Lahore, Pakistan, delivered a comprehensive lecture to students and parents.
During his address, Dr Izhar stressed the need to provide information related to career opportunities in Pakistan for  students in Qatar and appreciated the efforts of Sohni Dharti executive committee for organising the event. “There are world-class institutions in Pakistan where you can get a quality professional education and it is cost efficient compared to the world’s professional institutions,” said Dr Izhar. Students and parents participated in the interactive session related to career choices available to continue their education and take this important decision of their lives.
Rana Anwar Ali, chairman, Sohni Dharti, addressed the audience and said it was difficult for parents of Pakistani students to find the information related to the career choices and this session provided a lot of information on this subject.
 Ali reiterated his team’s commitment that Sohni Dharti executive committee will continue to organise such informative sessions in the future. The SD Executive Committee presented a token of appreciation to Dr Izhar at end of the event.
Dr  Izhar is a well-known dental healthcare professional in Lahore. He has been in this field for the past 20 years and has carried out research and promoted oral healthcare.
Currently working as an Associate Professor and Head of the preventive and community dentistry department at the Fatima Memorial Hospital and College of Dentistry, he is teaching undergraduates in the college and doing community dental health services.
He has carried out various dental public health projects and amongst the most prominent is the Live Laugh and Learn project funded by the WHO. This project was based  upon providing schoolchildren with preventive dental healthcare and education with a fun aspect to make it more interesting for the students aged six-13.
It was a success in which we not only provided quality dental care with a follow up but also proved that by doing this preventive care, the state can save a substantial amount of money on dental healthcare on the adult population.
School dental health services are run throughout the year under the supervision of Dr Izhar in his institution, by going to the schools and providing care at the schools.  
Oral health education and promotion are the most essential features of today’s dental healthcare. The main objectives of the Sohni Dharti are to promote cultural, social and sports activities for Pakistanis residents of Al Khor community. The forum also helps develop the talents of Pakistani children in various fields, contribute in welfare and development of community, especially to promote the preservation of environment of community and surroundings and integrate Pakistani community with other nationalities of Al Khor community.
The membership of Sohni Dharti is open to the people of Pakistani origin residing in Al Khor community, and to Qatargas and RasGas employees living in Doha as well.