Alvi for solutions to enrol children, promote preventive health treatment

Islamabad:President Dr Arif Alvi on Monday said creative and out-of-the-box solutions must be adopted to ensure 100 per cent enrolment of children in schools.

He also stressed upon promotion of preventive health mode of treatment for ensuring accelerated socio-economic uplift of the people, and the progress and development of the country. The president expressed these views during a meeting with National Commission for Human Development (NCHD) Chairman Col (r) Dr Amirullah Marwat, who called on him here at the Aiwan-e-Sadr, the President Secretariat Press Wing said in a press release.

Dr Nasim Ashraf, Chairman of the Pakistan Human Development Fund, and senior members of the NCHD were also present during the meeting. Talking to the NCHD chairman, President Alvi said as per estimates only 68 per cent of the country’s children were enrolled in schools at the primary level, which was alarming, and observed that 100 per cent enrolment of children must be ensured by instituting out-of-box solutions like using mosques from ‘Fajr to Zohar’ (morning to afternoon) as schools and using hybrid modes of learning wherever possible.

He highlighted the need for adopting innovative information and communication technology tools for imparting education at the grassroots level and imparting marketable skills to the youth through non-formal and formal education and skill development programmes.

The president said there was a need of creating a comprehensive system in the country to retain professionals, which included doctors, engineers, IT specialists and persons with high levels of skills in other sectors, so as to utilise their intellect, knowledge and expertise within the country and take tangible steps to stop the brain drain of precious human resources. He said the Pakistani diaspora, which was contributing to the growth and development of their host countries, should be engaged to transfer their expertise, skills and knowledge to Pakistan through various online and hybrid platforms.

The president said the large family size, especially in the poor segments of society, could be substantially reduced by meeting the need for contraceptives with longer efficacy by making them readily available to people, besides providing them with education and improving their economic status, which would contribute to bringing down the population growth in a reasonable timeframe. He lauded the NCHD’s role in the capacity building and training of teachers and health workers, its efforts for poverty alleviation, conducting research studies and data collection, and global resource mobilisation to fund its operations.

He noted that the NCHD was playing a pivotal role in the critical fields of literacy and non-formal education, promoting universal primary education, and improving the condition of primary healthcare which were essential for human resource development and for creating a quality workforce in the country.

He also appreciated the NCHD for its role in promoting human development with the support of the government and non-governmental organisations, and assured the Commission of his full support in their efforts for the national cause.