- ‘Educated women, equipped with scientific knowledge, necessary for prosperous society’
PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Chief Minister (CM) Pervez Khattak has said that the promotion of women education, along with providing them proper education environment to undertake advanced research and provision of resources were some of the allied factors of their [KP government’s] educational emergency policy.
The establishment of Swabi Women University, equipping it with all the latest facilities and the construction of its new campus along with a network of new colleges, schools and a commerce college for women, spoke volumes about their commitment towards educating the women of the province, he said.
The chief minister said this while addressing the foundation laying ceremony of the new campus of Swabi University. Speaker KP Assembly Asad Qaiser, Senior Health Minister Shahram Tarakai, Advisor to CM on Higher Education Mushtaq Ghani, MNAs Usman Khan Tarakai and Ameerullah Marwat, Women University Vice-Chancellor Professor Dr Khanzadi Fatima Khattak and Higher Education Secretary Syed Zafar Ali Shah also highlighted the reforms and achievements of KP government in education sector, especially for the promotion of women education under its educational emergency.
The CM said that educated women, equipped with scientific knowledge, were necessary for a prosperous society. His government, he added, was giving an all-out effort to provide maximum chances to the women to get educated and to be able to contribute to the national development.
He also said that KP government established a cadet college for women, the first of its kind in the history of the country, adding that the cadet college in Swabi was being established in collaboration with the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) in addition to the PAF degree college, Gajju Khan Medical College and a campus of technical university in Swabi.
Khattak regretted the unnecessary opposition to the proposed education act adding that the forces of status-quo were trying to politicise an otherwise reforming move of his government. He doubted the intention behind the agitation saying that the government was only contemplating the reforms proposals in order to rectify the system of education and remove the weaknesses in it.
He assured that the proposed act would not give any harm to the interests of teachers but would give them a secure and protective future. He also gave a warning to the negative forces saying that his government would never allow them to play or use institutions for their interests.
He also said that his government had spent billions of rupees to cover the missing facilities, and an opening of new universities and colleges, including two women universities and ten new campuses in the province.
Khattak also spoke about the activities in the backdrop of CPEC and the level of his government’s preparedness to meet the challenges, adding that KP government had laid down the foundations for technical training centres by giving the existing centres to be run by PAF on professional lines.
“We have started our technical educational journey as we wanted to install a structure capable of meeting the requirements, following the mass scale investment in the province” he said, and added that his government wanted to produce skilled manpower to contribute towards the development because KP government wanted a nation standing on its own feet and dependent on itself.
He further stated that KP government held a road-show in Beijing to underline the advantages of the province, which was a success story. He added that his government succeeded to make almost hundred agreements out of which 21 were in education sector alone.
The chief minister also informed that his government held a (seeing-off) ceremony for 300 educated youth to learn the Chinese language in China, and added that KP government would ensure that justice was done to everybody, which he termed as the ‘change’ and for which they [KP government] stood.
He also announced to include the second phase of the university building, which would cost Rs 3 billion and called upon the female students to dedicate themselves to the acquisition of knowledge which was necessary for them and for the nation as well.
