President Mamnoon Hussain Thursday said that quality education especially science and technology played significant role in rapid progress and sustained economic development of a nation and asked the students to get ready for the opportunities in the context of multi-faceted China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project.
Addressing students, parents and faculty members on the 21st Foundation Day at Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology (GIKI), Topi, he said CPEC was a lifeline project for Pakistan that offered a lot of job opportunities for the youth and students must harmonize and prepare themselves by taking advantage of it.
He said Pakistan’s future was very bright and great responsibility did rest on the shoulders of students and youth to take the country forward on the road to progress and economic prosperity. He said CPEC would make Pakistan a very important country in the region besides bolstering trade and industrialization by connecting peoples and states of the region.
He said CPEC was a gift of PML-N government for the people of Pakistan who have rejected the propaganda of opponents regarding western route. Due to wrong policies of past regimes, national institutions like PIA and Pakistan Steel Mills were overstaffed due to massive recruitments, thus adversely affecting their overall growth and performance, he added.
By learning lessons from the past mistakes, the president said, “We should all work together tirelessly in our respective selected professions to take the country to new heights of glory and economic prosperity.” Due to prudent policies of the PML-N government, the economic growth rate had significantly improved and the rupee –dollar parity remained stable after a long time and confidence of foreign investors was eventually restored. The massive economic turnaround of PML-N government was appreciated by the world top monetary and economic institutions, he added.
Being a Muslim, the President said: “Our learning traditions have remained very outstanding in the world and we need to focus on science and technology to retain our past glory.” “The real development is character-building of students, rather than making progress in materialistic goals,” the President remarked. He said corruption was a social evil that hampered progress and development of a country, and joint efforts were needed for its complete eradication. “We all should hate corruption and corrupt elements.”
For a brighter and developed Pakistan, he said, “We need to focus on science and technology, promotion of vocational education and role of GIKI was very important towards achievement of this objective”. The President said no country could make progress without education and science and technology, adding the role of GIKI for spreading quality education in the country was highly commendable and praiseworthy.
He urged students to take full advantage of the facilities being offered to them at the premier institute by concentrating on their studies and research works. He said nation had high expectations from the students who had all the abilities and skills to take the country forward on the path of economic prosperity.
Later, the president awarded gold medals among position holders besides distributing degrees and certificates among BS, MS, M.Phil and PhD scholars. Earlier Rector of the GIK Institute apprised the president about different projects and achievements of the university.
