ISLAMABAD – Industries and Production Minister Mir Hazar Khan Bijarani told the National Assembly in a written report on Wednesday that 651 industrial units had been shut down in 2009-10. The minister reported that 70 units were shut down in Punjab, 260 in Sindh, 307 in Khyber Pukhtunkhwa and 14 in Balochistan because of shortage of energy, deteriorating law and order, the global recession and marketing problems.
The Education Ministry told the house that Pakistan had one of the lowest numbers of people with access to higher education in the world, with only 5.1 percent of those aged 17 to 23 years currently enrolled in a local institute of higher education.
The ministry said that the government was negotiating a $300 million loan with the World Bank for the implementation of the first phase of a higher education development programme. The ministry said the Sarhad University of Information Technology offering masters degrees in Library and Information Sciences without a separate faculty had been told to discontinue the programme, which it had been offering since 2006.
Parliamentary Secretary for Education Gul Muhammad Jakhrani told the house that targets set for the National Plan of Action on Education for All (2001-15) had not been achieved thus far, but that the government was doing its best to do so. He stated that the overall literacy rate among adults in the country was 57 percent, with 69 percent for males and 45 percent for females. Gul said that government universities had increased their fees in the last two years because of security issues and inflation.
Religious Affairs Minister Khursheed Ahmad Shah told the National Assembly that the ministry had taken note of the problems faced by pilgrims during last year’s Hajj and was doing its best to facilitate pilgrims come Hajj 2011. He said that ministry had decided to reduce Hajj expenses from Rs 236,000 to Rs 190,000 per pilgrim in 2011.
Shah stated that around 800 Pakistani students in Saudi Arabia would be hired as facilitators in future instead of sending personnel from Pakistan. He also said that the export of yarn would have no negative impact on the country’s textile industry, but had in fact been improving the credibility of Pakistani exports in the international market.
