President for steps to protect children from negative impacts of technological era

ISLAMABAD: President Mamnoon Hussain Tuesday urged the society as well as the government to take effective measures for protection of the children from the negative impacts of changing conditions in this era of information technology.

Addressing the concluding ceremony of two-day national conference on `Early childhood care and education in Pakistan' organized by Allama Iqbal Open University, the president said since last few decades, Pakistan had been undergoing swift changes that had been accelerated by information technology and electronic inventions.

He expressed the need for taking steps to make the children benefit from the modern inventions.

The conference was attended by Minister of State for National Health Services and Regulations Saira Afzal Tarar, Vice Chancellor AIOU Shahid Siddiqui, Additional Secretary Education Imran Ahmed, Chairman Rupani Foundation Nasruddin Rupani, besides educationists and researchers from across the country as well as abroad.

The president hoped that the recommendations formulated by the two-day event would provide a good foundation for the children's education besides assisting the government to formulate practical policies.

He told the audience that the government was pondering over the issues of education and training to make the children a good citizen.

He viewed that the conference was an important milestone to devise a coordinated strategy through the concerted efforts by government and non-governmental organizations.

President Mamnoon Hussain said the changes taking place across the world had also impacted the erstwhile strong family system in Pakistan increasing the parents' responsibility for children's education training in accordance with the changing trends.

He said the free flow of information had also impacted the children growth in Pakistan and the social class system had also begotten various problems. Therefore, he said it was essential to develop a mechanism to create a suitable atmosphere for the children education from home till matriculation in a positive manner.

The president also called for a broad system to provide a level playing field to the children from all sections of society and warned for complicated issues if the society was not purged of class-based social structure.

He lauded the services of State Minister Saira Afzal Tarar, Minister of State for Education and Training Balighur Rehman and expressed the pleasure that the reformation of educational curriculum from class one to ten would be finalized by this year end.

President Mamnoon said the youth could contribute to national development by excelling in education and research besides providing a good human resource to the country.

He said the PML-N inherited the country crippled with foreign debts those swelled from Rs 6,700 billion in 2008 to Rs 14,800 billion in 2013 for what he said the previous government must be questioned.

Later, the president also presented appreciation shields to Saira Afzal, Imran Ahmed, Shahid Siddiqui, Nasruddin Rupani, keynote speaker from Bangladesh Manzoor Ahmed and Rafiq Tahir. Saira Afzal Tahir also presented a conference shield to the president.

In her address, Saira Afzal Tarar called for addressing the root causes impacting the psychological and physical health of the mother.

He said all the institutions involved in holding this successful event must now start striving for implementation of the recommendations and the next such conference should discuss the progress in enforcement, not ideas.

Joint Education Adviser Rafiq Tahir read out the recommendations formulated by the conference including the first education policy, module amendment in accordance with the children education, budget allocation for ECCE, teacher training, material development and awareness drive on the subject.

Additional Secretary Imran Ahmed and Chairman Rupani Foundation Nasruddin Rupani also addressed the gathering.

Copyright APP (Associated Press of Pakistan), 2017