LAHORE: President Dr Arif Alvi has said that around 20 million children are still out of schools in Pakistan and no country can progress without education.He was addressing the 12th convocation ceremony of Virtual University in Lahore on Thursday. A large number of students, their parents and faculty members attended the event.

Mr Alvi called for achieving 100 per cent enrolment in primary and higher education and said all stakeholders should ensure that all children were admitted to schools and all FSC qualified students were admitted to higher education institutions (HEIs).

He said: “Our rate of primary enrollment is only 68pc as compared to other regional countries’ over 98pc whereas higher education enrollment is only 9pc compared to around 60pc of other regional countries.”The president said low enrolment rate at the primary level is alarming and worrisome for the entire nation.

He said the universities usually ‘take pride’ in refusing admissions to thousands of students who desire to pursue higher education which is deplorable and should be discouraged.

Urges govt to ensure that no student is denied admission to higher education

He called upon the government and relevant HEIs of the country to ensure 100pc admission for all students seeking higher education by increasing their capacity to substantially increase the number of graduates equipped with quality higher education using online and blended modes of learning.

Alvi said an educated youth and a skilled workforce are the most essential ingredients for moving forward but unfortunately the pace of producing IT educated youth of 27,000 per year is extremely low as compared to the neighbouring country which produced almost 800,000 IT graduates every year.

He said the most practical and speedy way to fill the gap between the required numbers of graduates is shifting our education system to internet-based online and hybrid modes which are now increasingly being practiced very successfully in different countries.

The president said the Muslim societies in the past became afraid of gaining new knowledge, were hesitant to adopt innovation in scientific, social and management fields and, therefore, were left far behind compared to many countries of the world.

He said Sir Syed Ahmad Khan rightly realised the importance of education and knowledge after the War of Independence in 1857 and urged the Muslims to gain knowledge and education.

He regretted that till date “we are unable to act upon his advice as unfortunately only 68pc of our children are admitted to schools at the primary level.”

He said by starting now and taking appropriate actions, it would take 10 years to achieve a 100pc enrolment rate.

He said the government, High Education Commission and educational institutions, both in private and public sectors, should devise concrete and speedy pathways to ensure that no student was denied admission in higher education on any pretext or reason.

The president said Allama Iqbal Open University and VU were doing an excellent job of providing cost effective and quality education to the youth and endorsed the VU’s plan to provide virtual education to Afghanistan and other countries which were in need of cost-effective quality education.

Earlier, Rector VU Prof Dr Arshad Saleem Bhatti said the university established in 2002, was providing higher education and skill training in the IT sector to the country’s youth and had become one of the largest universities in Pakistan in terms of student enrolment.

He further stated that 160,000 students were currently enrolled in various programmes of the VU whereas 8,000 foreign students were also enrolled.The president also conferred degrees, and distributed gold medals and merit certificates among the top performing graduates of VU.

Published in Dawn, January 27th, 2023