Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU) and Pakistan Agricultural Research Council (PARC) will sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU), meant to eradicate poverty, unemployment and illiteracy from the far-flung, rural and backward areas of the country, AIOU Vice-chancellor Prof Dr Nazir Ahmed Sangi said on Thursday. He was talking to a high-level delegation headed by PARC Chairman Dr Iftikhar Ahmed. AIOU Faculty of Sciences Dean Prof Dr Nowshad Khan, who is also chairman of Department of Agricultural Sciences, and senior teaching staff also attended the meeting.
Sangi said people in rural and backward areas were facing various socio-economic problems and it was necessary to provide educational opportunities imparting income generating skills to them for resolving their issues. “AIOU has developed more than 170 metric and intermediate level programmes according to the needs of the current era and requirement of the region.” He said the varsity was perhaps the only degree-awarding institute, which started computer literacy courses at certificate level. Sangi said the AIOU was providing international standard education at the doorsteps of the students with an affordable cost. “We have a highly qualified and experienced faculty at our main campus, which will further strengthened to provide higher education of international standard in rural areas.
He set up a four-member committee headed by Prof Dr Nowshad to prepare a draft of the proposed MoU. PARC Chairman Iftikhar said there were 40 technology-related programmes concerning agriculture in their institution while training and research centres were functioning in every nook and corner of the country. He said that the AIOU and PARC could a play a vital role to change the fate of the rural areas of the country.
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