Chairman of the FPCCI Policy Advisory Board and National Business Group Pakistan, President of the Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectuals Forum and All Karachi Industrial Alliance, and former Provincial Minister Mian Zahid Hussain said on Friday that Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif has realized the importance of the education sector and taken steps for its rapid development.
The Prime Minister’s decision to promote is highly commendable as it will pave the way for social and economic development, he said.
Mian Zahid Hussain said that improving the education sector is one of the important responsibilities of the government, without which social and economic development is not possible.
Speaking to the business community, the veteran business leader said that the condition of this sector is very poor because its funding is low and monitoring is non-existent.
The business leader claimed that the government schools’ curricula do not meet modern standards, and there is no system in place for monitoring and holding teachers accountable, which results in the loss of both male and female students’ rights.
Many countries, including Western ones, do not recognize Pakistani degrees, and those who go there face challenges in terms of education or employment.
Mian Zahid Hussain said ghost schools and teachers across the country are responsible for destroying this sector.
The country’s constitution guarantees compulsory and free education to every child up to the age of sixteen, but the situation on the ground is the opposite. Approximately two hundred and three million children, deprived of education, will grow up to become a burden on the country.
The rest of the children pay huge fees at private schools without getting anything in return. Mian Zahid Hussain said that the technical education system in the country is also very weak, which means that the industrial sector does not get the workers it needs.
The IT sector, which is the guarantor of Pakistan’s better future, is also lacking manpower. Mian Zahid Hussain said that the education of girls is more important, but their number is always less than that of boys, which is a big threat to our future.
Realizing these problems, the Prime Minister has established an Education Task Force, which will try to change this situation. The Prime Minister will give full attention to literacy in Sindh and Balochistan, and increase investment in this sector. After reviewing the problems of the education sector, the task force will make recommendations for its development.
Mian Zahid Hussain added that without the task force’s recommendations and reforms in this sector, the country’s development is impossible.