Federal Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal has stressed the need for promoting knowledge-based education among students.
He was addressing participants in the certificate distribution ceremony, held at the Government Teachers Elementary School, Narowal, here on Saturday.
Vice Chancellor of Government College Women’s University (GCWU) Sialkot Dr Farhat Saleemi, MPAs Khawaja Waseem Butt, Rana Manan Khan, Chairman District Council Narowal Chaudhry Ahmed Iqbal, the son of Ahsan Iqbal, and Narowal Deputy Commissioner Rafaqat Ali Niswana were also present on the occasion.
Ahsan Iqbal said that the PML-N government was spreading the light of knowledge and education across the country along with ensuring easy access for everyone to quality education.
He said that Pakistan could never be developed without the promotion of quality education in the country. Ahsan Iqbal said that the grand project, China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), would change the destiny of the country and open up new vistas of socio-economic and human development in Pakistan.
He hailed the teachers, saying that dutiful teachers have always been a precious asset for every society.
He said that there could never be an alternative to a good teacher in the world. He said that students were the future of the country and the government was providing them with better facilities, enabling them to serve the nation and the country in a better way in future.
He said that ignorance of an individual is his greatest misfortune and that it is only through education that ignorance could be upended and an individual could become enlightened.
The federal minister also urged teachers and parents to focus on character-building of the students and stressed the need for bringing about a change in the society’s attitude towards promotion of quality education for all. He said that students are the future of the country and that the society should secure their future by ensuring their access to quality education.
The federal minister said that the government has increased the education sector’s development budget to Rs 215 billion from Rs 100 billion during the last three years in the country. He added that the PML-N government was committed to promoting quality education in the country.
Ahsan Iqbal revealed that the government has also successfully started the implementation of a multi-phased, comprehensive ‘Knowledge-Sharing Programme’ with the USA. Under this programme, Pakistan will send 10,000 research scholars to the USA for doing PhD.
