Technology & skill based education vital for the country’s progress

President Dr Arif Alvi said while addressing at the ILMpossible Summit organized by British Council that said a combination of technology and skill could help meet the challenges of contemporary world.

Technology & skill based education vital for the country’s progressThe President said education could help raise a generation with proper know how about dealing with challenges of modern-day world.

He stressed the importance of technology and skill which had changed the dimensions of learning and concepts of formal education by making it accessible to the techno-literate people anywhere in the world.

The summit focused on British Council’s ‘ILMpossible: Take a Child to School’ project encompassing enrollment and retention of school children aged 5-11 years in primary schools across Pakistan.

Dr Arif Alvi appreciated the project of British Council for enrollment of 385,000 children at schools in 65 districts and regarded it as a big service for Pakistan.

He lauded the contribution of UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) in Pakistan for decades in the field of literacy and recalled his meetings with Prince Charles in Tokyo and Prince Williams in Pakistan where the discussion also focused on British partnership in the areas of education.

He said education had become a subject of global importance due to need for raising awareness on common challenges including environmental protection and climate change.

The President called the need for bringing a change in the mindset of society to lay equal emphasis on education of girls.

He said it was important to ensure an encouraging environment for students at schools to overcome the problem of dropout.

He said several factors were involved in retention of students at school including infrastructure with basic amenities such as washrooms, secure environment and opportunities for extra-curricular activities mainly sports besides good education.

Education and health were the basic areas that contributed in reformation of a successful society. He lauded the government of Prime Minister Imran Khan for choosing the both as part of a social service.

He also mentioned the troubles faced by the children of Kashmir who were denied access to schools for last five months.

British High Commissioner-designate Christian Turner spoke about the importance of keeping children at school with education of girls equally important for the country’s development.

He said United Kingdom and Pakistan had a long history of partnership and termed the volunteers, teachers and community activists the ‘real champions of change’.

On the occasion, a 30-second silence was observed to pay tribute to the martyrs of APS.