Former President of Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) Dr. Shahid Rasheed Butt, on Tuesday said the poor education system had played an important role in the economic collapse. He said that science and technology are emphasised in developed countries, whereas outdated and faulty ideas are considered the most important here.

Shahid Rasheed Butt said that teaching strange and old-fashioned ideology is like wasting the country’s human resources, which should be stopped. He said Pakistan and other countries need skilled and competent people, not ideologues.

The business leader said that students in developed countries are equipped with knowledge and skills while our system gives them nothing worth mentioning.

Most students lack knowledge that can benefit them or the country; therefore, they are not in demand anywhere.

He said that Norway spends 6.6% of its GDP on education, New Zealand spends 6.2% on education, and America spends 6% of its GDP on education. In contrast, Pakistan spends only 1.77 per cent on this most important sector.

Low spending on education is a big obstacle to national development, resulting in an army of unskilled and unemployed people who cannot play any role in the country’s development. How can a country prosper where forty per cent of children suffer from malnutrition and two and a half million children do not go to school, he questioned?