Govt according top priority to education: Firdous Ashiq Awan

ISLAMABAD: Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Information and Broadcasting Dr. Firdous Ashiq Awan said on Thursday that education was the only way forward for socio-economic development of any society and the government was according top priority to it.

She observed this during a meeting with Quintin McKellar, Vice Chancellor and CEO, University of Hertfordshire, UK who called on her here. Dr. Firdous maintained that Prime Minister Imran khan had always accorded top priority to education, as it was the main impelling cause for human progress and national development.

“The Prime Minister is keen to encourage investment in this key sector which is related to the future of Pakistan, as youth is 60 per cent of our total population and it is imperative to orient them towards quality education of international standards,” she contended.

While hailing the collaboration of University of Hertfordshire, UK with the Millennium Universal College, Islamabad (TMUC), she said that Pakistan had a conducive environment for investment in education and higher education sectors.

She commended the role of TMUC being among the trendsetters in imparting quality education to the students of Pakistan. She maintained that public-private partnership in education was crucial for boosting the literacy rate in the country.

On his part, Quintin McKellar said his university had a history of educating students from Pakistan and partnership with TMUC would further reinforce cooperation in the field of education. He informed Dr. Firdous that over the next three years, they intended to expand this partnership by establishing international standard university campus in Pakistan.

He also explained that the university located on the outskirts of London is offering business and computing degrees to 26000 students annually. He said that public sector University of Hertfordshire is ranked as teaching excellence framework Gold Status with 97 per cent employability in the UK.

Dr. Firdous assured the visiting dignitaries of her support to promote the cause of education in Pakistan and hoped that the visit of Quintin McKellar would afford an opportunity to learn from his experiences to uplift the education sector of the country.

CEO Roots Millennium Education Chaudhry Faisal Mushtaq apprised SAPM of the role his educational institute is playing in promoting education in the country.