Govt promises public-private partnerships in education

Islamabad: Bringing the country’s leading colleges, universities and educational consultants under one roof, The News Education Expo 2019 opened at the Pakistan-China Friendship Centre here on Tuesday.

Special assistant to the prime minister for Information and Broadcasting Dr. Firdous Aashiq Awan inaugurated the two-day event meant to guide youth on the best academic opportunities available in the country and abroad as well as student employability.

The people, especially students, showed up in large numbers at the annual expo happening for 10 years and interacted with the representatives of educational institutions and consultants for information about the relevant academic programmes, fee structure, scholarships, and career prospects.

The premier’s special assistant praised the Jang Group for furthering the cause of modern education in the country by holding the expo. She said the PTI government, especially Prime Minister Imran Khan, advocated modern, quality education considering it to be imperative for development.

Dr Firdous said reforms in the education system was a major election slogan of the PTI and once it had formed government in the centre and Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces, it was encouraging public-private partnerships in education to improve efficiency, increase choices, and make access to formal learning better for the people, especially those living in far-away areas.

She said the prime minister had tasked education minister Shafqat Mehmood with developing a roadmap for the government’s better collaborations with the private sector to expand equitable access to schooling and improve education outcomes, especially for marginalised segments of society.

The premier’s special assistant said education was the key to the success of the seventh-century Riyasat-i-Madina (state of Medina), so the ruling PTI was placing great emphasis on providing modern, quality education to citizens without discrimination.

She said the traditional education system had failed to deliver the goods, so there was a need for promoting the latest education of science and technology, building the teachers’ capacity, and helping youths plan careers.

Dr Firdous said besides ensuring their education, the government was also trying to economically empower youth, including girls, by offering start-up loans. She said as the women made more than half of the population, the country needed to educate and empower women and build their capacity for own economic development.

The organisers said the Jang Group had been holding the mega educational event across the country annually for the last 10 years with the mission to provide local youth with information about the programmes of nationwide and foreign colleges and universities on their doorstep.

With the country’s leading universities participating in the expo, they claimed a large turnout of students at the expo and said the youth were interested in knowing about science and business courses and the subsequent career options available to them.

The organisers said they expected that more people would show up on the event’s second day. Noted among stallholders were Quaid-i-Azam University, Allama Iqbal Open University, FAST-NU University, Hitech University, Air University, Riphah University, IST, SZABIST, IQRA University, Muslim Youth University, Bahria University, PIDE, The City School, Lahore Grammar School, Institute of Chartered Accountant of Pakistan, Institute of Cost and Management Accountants of Pakistan, University of Lahore, University of Management and Technology, Leads University, Superior Group of Colleges, Government College University, Information Technology University, PAC, KIPS, SBM, ABN Overseas Education, PIFFA, ICD, Conzept Connection, Gisma School, Virtual University, United States Educational Foundation in Pakistan, Alliance Francaise, British Council, HR Consultants, RMT Enterprise, and LearnOBots.

The stallholders appreciated the event saying it will help further the cause of modern education in the country. They praised Jang Group for holding a good event and said they got a good response from visitors.

Ali Farooq, director (planning) at the Iqra University, Islamabad, said his university offered 32 courses from computer technology to business administration to fashion to media studies to social sciences and had around 75 per cent of teachers with foreign qualifications.

He said the expo benefitted the students, who looked for appropriate educational institutions for courses of their choice with future prospects, so such events should happen regularly. A representative of Riphah University appreciated the holding of the expo and said it helped promote the university by highlighting its education, environment, and student employability.

He said his university was ranked among the country’s top educational institutions due to excellent academic standards and learning environment, especially for girls. The visitors also appreciated the holding of the expo and said they had the first-hand information about academic programs offered by the leading educational institutions.

Durdana Zareef, a university student, said she had explored options for education abroad and found interaction with the representatives of universities to be helpful. Visitor Jamal Khan declared the event very helpful for students saying it has brought major colleges and universities under one roof to provide youths with information from the course content to fee to degree acceptance in job market.