KARACHI: Expressing dismay at insufficient outlays in the budget for education and training sectors, Pasban Democratic Party (PDP) Chairman Altaf Shakoor has said that to change the destiny of this country we have to give the top priority to education and training of our huge idle manpower.
He said we have millions of young people but they are jobless, we have vast fertile land that is yet to be cultivated, we gave ample river water that is yet to be channelled through new dams and canals and we have all-weather sunshine that could yet be converted into solar electricity.
He said our manpower, lands, water and renewable energy are being simply wasted because the government is not interested in utilizing them optimally. He said this could be only possible when we educate and train our people to use our precious natural and human resources to develop the country and break the deadly debt trap that devours more than half of what this nation earns.
He said the economic hitmen of the international lending institutions have entangled the Pakistani nation in this debt trap and sadly every ruling party of Pakistan has its fair share of these economic hitmen in their senior rank and file. He said this is why these political parties have always ignored the crucial matter of the manpower training because it would lose the debt trap of their paymasters.
Altaf Shakoor asked to revamp the whole education system of Pakistan from primary to university level and make practical training the centrepiece of their educational strategies.
He said modern training in agriculture, irrigation and water conservation systems is a must at grassroots level to boost our economy. He said agriculture has a great potential which can be tapped with proper education and training to our farming communities.
He suggested making all high schools in Pakistan as technical schools and ensuring vocational training as a compulsory part of education up to matriculation.
He said instead of issuing a matriculation certificate a technical junior diploma certificate should be issued to the qualified students. He said similarly the Intermediate certificate should also be converted into a diploma certificate and entrance to university or college should be based on this technical diploma.
He suggested that the education and training departments and ministries should be given to highly qualified professionals instead of petty politicians, who themselves need an education.
He said all the countries that have attained economic freedom have done that by revamping their education systems.
He said making roads, flyovers and bridges do not necessarily take nations to progress but bettering education surely does so. He asked the federal and provincial governments to revise budgetary allocations for education and manpower training sectors urgently so that the nation could be set on a correct path of progress and prosperity.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023
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