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The government is trying to mobilise graduates across the country to improve literacy ratio from 58 percent to 70 percent and working to create national curriculum to remove the disparity in education system as the present education system is based on injustice.
Shafqat Mahmood Federal Minister for Education and National Heritage remarked while opening the third edition of Information Technology University (ITU) Centre for Governance and Policy's Afkare Taza ThinkFest two-day Conference here Saturday.
The Minister said that education provided frame of reference and perception while we practice different streams of educational institutes including madrasahs, government and private schools, which created different minds and classes, which never helped in the making of a nation. Our society has decided that only English medium would go forward, he added.
He further stated that improving quality of education has been taken as a challenge by broadening the pool and to resolve serious economic issues.
In his welcome address the acting Vice Chancellor Dr Niaz Ahmad Akhtar underlined the objectives of the conference initiated in 2016 and said that it provided creation of newer spaces and opportunities for the flourishing of new thoughts and ideas, to bridge the gap between academia and society, providing academic discourse in an accessible yet robust manner and to engage with leading scholars from around the world. His address was read over by the Registrar ITU Zaheer Sarwar.
Discussing the 'Future of Democracy in Pakistan' Aqil Shah from Oklahoma University USA said that democracy ensured freedom of expression, enables to peacefully accommodate constitutional amendment to make normal prosperous Pakistan while boggy of corruption and in the absence of freedom of expression results in the rise of social movements.
Deliberating on the 'Types of Populism Nationalism, Demography and Authoritarianism' Dr Christophe Jaffrelot from Paris said that parliaments have lost their powers and role of media was the only space for free media. Hussain Nadim from Sydney discussed the Economists Democracy Index, which revealed that only 19 countries considered democratic, 57 with flawed democracy including US, 39 Hybrid regimes and 52 autorotation regimes.
Najam Sethi the chairman of the organising committee of the conference highlighted the areas of interest including history, politics, international relations and said that Lahore is fertile with ideas. Through such activities bipartisanship could flourish, remarked Dr Yaqoob Khan Bangash.
On Sunday the second day of the ThinkFest will have Federal Minister for Information & Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhary and Punjab's Finance Minister Hashim Jawan Bakht, which will start with a riveting discussion on the Manto film controversy by acclaimed scholar Ayesha Jalal in conversation with Raza Rumi. Professor Cemil Aydin will launch his book, 'The idea of the Muslim World' in conversation with Dr Tahir Kamran from GCU. Also launching her book on the Samadhi of Maharaja Ranjit Singh will be Dr Nadhra Khan from LUMS with renowned Punjab scholar Jean-Marie Lafont from France. Dr Tariq Rahman will also launch his book on Jihad in South Asia. Other talks will cover topics like Afghanistan, urban planning in Lahore, fog and the environment, nuclear non-proliferation issues, and the Metoo phenomenon.
The Afkar-e-Taza ThinkFest will also feature three other special plenary speakers, where Professor Gauri Viswanathan from Columbia University will speak on 'Post colonialism and Globalisation,' Professor Akeel Bilgrami, also from Columbia, will discuss his latest work on 'Secularism and Identity,' and Sir Richard Evans, a distinguished scholar of European history, will speak on 'Conspiracy and Democracy.'

Copyright Business Recorder, 2019

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