The Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU), in collaboration with UNESCO, marked International Literacy Day on Thursday under the theme “Literacy and Peace”. Federal Minister for Science and Technology Mir Changez Khan Jamali was the chief guest while AIOU Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Nazir Ahmed Sangi presided over the function. Representatives of UNESCO, Dr Kozue Kay Nagata, Arshad Saeed Khan, a large number of intellectuals, educationists and students were present.
Changez Khan said education was an engine of change and a key to fight out ignorance, extremism and terrorism. He said education played an effective and key role in the progress and prosperity of a society to keep it united and make it stronger.
He said illiteracy was root cause of all destructions, including extremism and terrorism. He underlined the need to give due importance to education to fulfil the dreams of Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah and aspirations of Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto to make Pakistan a strong, stable and prosperous state by promoting education facilities for every one.
He said AIOU was successfully pursuing the mission of Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in connection with spreading education from grassroots level to doctoral level to every nook and corner of the country. He appreciated the initiative of VC Prof Dr Nazir Ahmed Sangi in strengthening educational opportunities to far-flung and rural parts of the country.
Prof Nazir Sangi, in his presidential address, said literacy rate in Pakistan was quite low, adding it could be increased by making people realise that it would give them socio-economic benefit. He said AIOU was doing a lot in this area. He said Bureau for University Extension and Special Programmes (BUESP) had again been activated to make a difference in Pakistanis’ education.
Representatives of UNESCO, Dr Kozue Kay Nagata, read the message from Irina Bokova, director general of UNESCO. In his message, the UNESCO DG said literacy was a prerequisite for peace because it carried multiple benefits, cutting across human, cultural, social, political and economic spheres.
Mr Jamali certainly not the type of eduction being imparted to our youth and the training being given to the teachers.Both moving in two different directions. When you start thinking with inductive logic and with an open mind, perhaps then experts in the field of education can come up with a curriculum that will help develop the mental faculty of the youth. We love to collect '' Degrees'' of all kind and put them on the wall in glittering gold frames. Yet fail to develop our mental faculty because two words we hate to use Think and Reason.
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