ISLAMABAD, 19 MAR (DNA) – Muhammad Baligh ur Rehman, State Minister for Federal Education and Professional Trainings said that businessmen were highly respectable segment of the society as they were creating jobs, improving prosperity and playing key role in economic development of the country and government was making strenuous efforts for creating a conducive environment to facilitate the growth of business and investment activities.

He said this while addressing business community at Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry. S.M. Munir, Chief Executive, TDAP and Abdul Rauf, President, FPCCI were also present at the occasion.

He said government was responsible for providing right infrastructure to entrepreneurs and it has arranged LNG from Qatar while work was in progress on TAPI & IP projects in addition of construction of dams to overcome energy problem.

He said with the efforts of the government, measurable difference was visible in key areas of the economy while country was getting positive ratings from international agencies and many foreign investors were looking at Pakistan with great interest.

Baligh ur Rehman said low taxation was the major cause of insufficient allocation of budget for education, however, government was determined to increase education budget up to 3% of GDP taking it up to 4% by 2018 as developing human capital was the central pillar of its policy.

He said technical and vocational education was our key focus and government has formulated the first ever National Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Policy 2015 to cater to the needs of industrial sector. He said ultimate aim of our efforts was to transform Pakistan into a knowledge economy.

He said grants were given to HEC to promote academia-industry linkages, 18000 schools were established under National Commission for Human Development (NCHD) to promote literacy in far flung areas of the country with plans to increase them up to 50,000. He stressed upon the business community to take ownership of such schools under their CSR activities and contribute to promotion of education in the country.

Speaking at the occasion, S.M. Munir Chief Executive Trade Development Authority of Pakistan, Abdul Rauf, President Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce & Industry and Atif Ikram Sheikh President Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry stressed that government should give high priority to education and allocate at least 5% of GDP to this sector in order to turn the youth bulge into a great dividend for the country.

 They said strong academia-industry linkages were imperative for sustainable economic development of the country and government should take strong measures to strengthen collaboration, coordination and mutual support between these two important sectors of the economy.

Appreciating the federal government’s efforts to modernize 26 schools in Islamabad, they stressed that all government schools in the country should be modernized on similar lines to improve the quality of education in public sector.

They urged that more technical and vocational education and training centers should be opened in the country and curriculum of such institutes should be finalized in consultation with trade bodies that would help in producing skilled and trained manpower for the industry. They said business community was already patronizing many students and it will continue to contribute to this noble cause for supporting the deserving talented students. DNA