BAHAWALPUR City News

‘Importance of distance education increasing’
From Our Correspondent
BAHAWALPUR: The importance of distance education is increasing day by day and even in developed countries millions of students learn through this system.
It was said by State Minister for Education, Professional Training and Narcotics Control Mian Baleeghur Rehman while addressing the inaugural ceremony of the regional campus of the Allama Iqbal Open University here on Saturday. The minister said that the Allama Iqbal Open University was a clear example of distance education as more than 1.3 million students were getting education through it, however, he added, the AIOU had become a mega university of the South East Asia region due to its ever increasing enrolment of students. He said that after inauguration of the campus, educational activities would increase and the people of Bahawalpur Region would get quality education through the distance learning system. He said that during the last two budgets, the PML-N government had enhanced budgetary allocation for higher education. He claimed that literacy ratio had increased by 58 per cent to 60 per cent in the country during the last year, adding that 0.6 million new children were enrolled in schools but yet we were far behind in education ratio comparing with the other countries of the region. He said that new education policy had been drafted and it had been sent for cabinet approval. Earlier, AIOU VC Prof Dr Shahid Saddiqui elaborated the AIOU achievements and told that the varsity had 44 campuses in Pakistan and Bahawalpur campus was its 18th, adding that the campus would prove a model campus of the university. He said that the AIOU was imparting quality education to more than 1.3 million students from Matric to PhD through its distance learning programmes. Regional Director Kh Sabir Hussain also spoke.