Education promises prosperity & peace: Baligh

Islamabad:The country can achieve peace, prosperity, and progress only by promoting education, said federal minister for education and professional training Balighur Rehman on Wednesday.

He was addressing the 14th degree awarding ceremony of the Hamdard University Islamabad Campus here. The event was attended by the faculty members and a large number of students and their parents.

The minister said the government was focusing on education sector by allocating a huge amount from GDP under the Vision 2025. "Currently, more than Rs100 billion is being spent on higher education, which is 50 percent more than the allocations of the previous governments for the purpose," he said.

The minister said the number of out of school children has been decreased since last five years adding that missing facilities in the schools across the country were also being provided. He said the government had also revised the curriculum of Islamabad Capital Territory schools from class one to five.

Balighur Rehman said the government was focusing on technical and vocational education and initiated Prime Minister's Youth Training Programme under which around 100,000 youths were being trained free of charge.

He urged students to take benefit from the mission of Hakeem Muhammad Saeed, the founder of the university. He asked them to focus on the development of their skills. The minister while mentioning the achievements of the present government said power load-shedding had been controlled by the government by ensuring heavy investment in power projects. "Economy of the country is on the right track as indicated by the world economic organizations and magazines," he said adding that Pakistan was an emerging market.

He said only the countries could flourish which had strong democracy as it was the only way to go ahead. Earlier, the vice-chancellor and director general of the Hamdard University informed the audience about the mission and achievements of the late Hakeem Muhammad Saeed.