Chief Minister said that education, health and protection of life and property were the responsibilities of the government, and it would leave no stone unturned in this regard. He said that illiteracy and ignorance were the major causes of extremism, terrorism and lawlessness, therefore, the govt would have to prepare a co-ordinated course of action for providing education to the new generation. He said that the govt would have to march forward to cope with the challenges of modern era, and intellectuals, teachers, educational experts, parents and other segments of the society would have to supplement government efforts.
Shahbaz said this while addressing a consultative meeting held for improvement of education sector at Chief Minister's Secretariat, here Sunday. The meeting that lasted for more than six hours was also attended by intellectuals, educational experts, MPAs, senior officials, teachers and students.
Shahbaz Sharif said that the present education system was creating gap between rich and the poor. He said that children of the elite were getting education in costly and superior educational institutions, whereas doors of such educational institutions were closed for children of the poor people. He said that although private sector was providing a qualitative education but only a particular segment was taking benefit from it. He said that besides revolutionary steps in the educational sector, the govt would have to enforce self- accountability, monitoring and training system in this sector. He said that educational system could be improved through joint efforts of teachers, parents and the administration.
He said that illiteracy was the main cause of extremism, terrorism and lawlessness. He said that educated people express their sentiments in a peaceful manner, whereas illiterate people adopt wrong course of action. He said that teachers were a respectable segment of the society and play a very important role for development and character building of a person. He said that the govt would have to give the same status to the teachers in the society, which was available to them in developed countries.
He said that it was the need of the hour to chalk out a comprehensive training programme for increasing the teaching abilities and give a respectable status to teachers in the society. But more important thing was that teachers should be made accountable, and an affective monitoring system can only ensure the presence of teachers in schools of rural and far-flung areas, he added.
Chief Minister said that although private sector was playing a very effective role in the field of education yet 70 percent children of the province were getting education in government schools, and the govt would have to provide all basic educational facilities in these schools. He said that government had established Punjab Educational Endowment Fund for providing opportunities to talented students, facing financial problems, for getting education in local and foreign prestigious educational institutions, for which priority had been given to the backward and far-flung areas.
He said that Danish Schools were being set up in the province, where not only free education would be provided to the poor children but boarding facilities would also be available to them. He said that free transport facility was being provided to students of far-flung areas of the province. He said that his government would provide all incentives and facilities to the teachers but the teachers would have to show their performance and make a commitment to the nation that they would provide education to the new generation with honesty, devotion, dedication and sincerity. He said that nations do not progress through resources but other nations including America and Europe had made progress on the basis of knowledge.
He said that the pivot of this discussion should be performance as resources and incentives had the secondary position. He said that the nation had the will power of marching forward and they would have to march forward with the spirit of determination and honesty for discharging their responsibilities. He said that separate meetings of teachers, parents and students would be arranged for evolving a comprehensive and effective strategy for the promotion of education sector, and in the light of their suggestions and opinions, a solid course of action would be adopted for improving education sector.
During the question-answer session, the participants presented their suggestions in detail for improvement of education sector, and it was agreed that it is need of the hour to improve the educational system for the bright future of Pakistan, and all segments of the society would have to play their role towards this national obligation. During the meeting ten various groups had been constituted for consultative meetings that presented their detailed recommendations, keeping in view various aspects of education sector.