Former federal minister for Science and Technology and Higher Education Commission chairman Dr Atta-ur-Rehman on Saturday said that the people of Pakistan must rise up against government’s anti-higher education and anti-research and science policy.
Addressing the 8th Convocation of University of Management and Technology (UMT) held to award 43 distinguished students medals and confer degrees on 999 graduates, where he was the chief guest, he said that India was spending 60 billion dollars annually on biotechnology. He said compared this number, Pakistan’s budget cuts in science, technology and higher education were highly disappointing. He said that the budget of science and technology has been reduced from six billion dollars to one billion dollars.
He said that even though they had established a National Commission of Science, the institute was shut down by the government. He added said that Pakistan, a country with a population of about 180 million, had about 100 million people below the age of 19 (about 55 percent).
This demographic advantage could be used for socio-economic development if the country focused its policies on science, technology, innovation and entrepreneurship that create job opportunities for the youth, he said.