ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly Thursday passed a resolution urging the government to take immediate steps to establish a Women University in each district of the country. It was moved by Shakila Luqman.
Speaking on the resolution, Minister of State for Federal Education and Professional Training Muhammad Balighur Rehman told the House that Higher Education Commission is implementing a comprehensive plan to set up university or a campus in each district of the country.
He said education is priority of the government and efforts are underway that no one will remain uneducated. He pointed out that at present there are 14 women universities in public sector and more are being established. He said in Balochistan campus of Sardar Bahadur Khan University are being set up in Khuzdar, Pishin and Noshki districts and allocations for this purpose have been made in the PSDP. He emphasized that the federal government is encouraging the provincial governments to establish women universities.
Balighur Rehman said education statistics are improving in the education sector as a result measures taken by the government. He said the percentage of out of school children has been decreased from 6.7 million in 2012-13 to five million in 2015-16. He said budgetary allocation for education has also been increased during the last three years and it is now closed to 2.5 percent of GDP. He said the government is also focusing on applied research in universities. He said standard of public sector universities are also improving and ten universities have been included in the three hundred best universities of Asia.
Earlier, the members demanded that colleges and universities be established in all parts of the country particularly Balochistan and FATA to promote education and enhanced literacy rate. They also demanded for more allocation for education sector. They stressed for setting up of vocational institutes for technical education.
Responding to a calling attention notice moved by Sahibzada Muhammad Yaqoob regarding poor performance of PESCO in District Dir Lower due to shortage of staff, Minister of State for Water and Power Abid Sher Ali informed the House that further recruitment in the company is being made which will help improve its performance. He said the merit-based recruitment will be ensured.
