Dr Atta calls for investment in education

Chairman Higher Education Commission (HEC), Dr Atta-ur-Rehman has stressed the need for investing in education and training for acquiring strength and prosperity.
Inaugurating International Nathiagali Summer College jointly organised by Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) and National Centre for Physics (NCP), he said that demographic advantage is a unique strength of Pakistan, which is not available even to industrialised countries with ageing populations where predominant number of young people are not opting for scientific pursuits.
Enormous human capital in the shape of 85 million youth under 19 and 100 million under 25 years is a unique advantage of Pakistan among the comity of nations which we are certain to convert into innovative minds through proper education and training, he added.
"This is a window of opportunity for us if we make proper investment in education and training in an enabling environment," he added. Dr Atta said there has been a big change in the area of higher education as compared to the past, adding that now science and technology has found full commitment of the President and Prime Minister for transforming the country into a knowledge-based economy.
Talking about the foreign faculty hiring programme, he said to lure highly trained individual back to Pakistan, we have the necessary infrastructure to absorb them through excellent pay packages and provision of productive work environment.
"The same is evident from the fact that there has been 360 percent increase in our research output," Dr Atta said. He said a 15-year tax holiday is being offered for high-tech industry, which will offer opportunities for innovative individuals.
Linkage programmes with foreign institutions are also being funded, he added. Chairman HEC suggested that National Centre for Physics, QAU, Islamabad be named after Professor Abdus Salam - a single Nobel laureate from Pakistan - to recognise his meritorious services.
Professor Abdus Salam is also a founding figure of Nathiagali Summer College and Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics, from where researchers from third world countries particularly from Pakistan are immensely benefiting.
In his welcome address, Chairman PAEC, Anwar Ali said the government has launched a major initiative for the development of human resource in the field of S&T and in pursuance of the same, PAEC has also undertaken a number of projects including a Centre of Advanced Polymers, an Institute of Optics and Lasers, a Tokamak (toroidkamera-magnit-katushka) Fusion Laboratory and a Synchrotron Light Machine which will offer training and research opportunities to a number of scientists and engineers.
He said adjacent to our premier R&D facility PINSTECH, is our human resource development centre PIEAS which has been ranked as number one engineering university of the country by HEC and added with the tradition of research at PINSTECH and addition of new facilities, PINSTECH-PIEAS complex will become world class centre for the development of science and technology.
This complex will be accessible to the scientific community, Anwar Ali added. "Establishment of all these facilities will be a momentous task for which we will have to allocate resources to cultivate science.
In this context, we look forward to our co-operation with international organisations like IAEA, CERN, Abdus Salam International Center for Theoretical Physics (ASICTP) and others," Anwar Ali said.
He said PAEC is making its contributions towards country's development and added in addition to its programme in basic and applied sciences, it is working for the uplift of socio-economic sector. He said PAEC has already been assigned by the government to generate 8,800MW of electricity by 2030.