SIALKOT, Pakistan: The Foreign Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif on Saturday stressed the need for provision of the best quality education to the upcoming generations.
While addressing the participants in the laptops distribution ceremony held at the Government College for Women University (GCWU) Sialkot after inaugurating the newly established Admin Block and smart class room, he said it was the prime obligation of everyone to help secure educational future of students by opening doors of quality education on them and providing them with maximum opportunities of gaining knowledge.
The minister said promotion of education was a must to make Pakistan and the Pakistani nation the best in every sphere of life, and enabling the Country to stand in the comity of educationally developed nations.
Khawaja Asif said promotion of quality education was top priority of the government. He said students were the future of the Country and the government was providing them maximum facilities, and enabling them to serve the nation and the country in a better way.
The foreign minister pledged an early and amicable solution to university’s all problems and provision of missing facilities there.
On this occasion, the Chairman Higher Education Commission (HEC) Dr Mukhtar Ahmed said that the Commission had been playing a pivotal role in promotion of quality education, knowledge and knowledge-based economy through ensuring access to quality higher education at local level.
The HEC Chairman said the number of HEC recognised universities had increased to 188 with 1.4 million students studying in these universities. He said the number of universities was only 59 in the Country in 2002, and only 276,000 students were getting education there. He said female students were 42 per cent of the total 1.4 million students now studying in all 188 HEC recognised universities across-the-country.
Dr Mukhtar Ahmed said the annual budget of HEC had been increased to Rs 107 billion, as the Commission had been giving educational scholarships, both foreign and indigenous, to 251,000 students for getting the higher education.
The Chairman hailed the efforts and services of GCWU Sialkot for promotion of higher education among the local students.
The foreign minister also distributed laptops among 40 brilliant students of the university in the third phase of Prime Minister’s Laptop Scheme.
As many as 481 laptops have been distributed among the brilliant students of GCWU under the PM’s Laptops Scheme until now.
