This was stated by Parliamentary Secretary for Federal Education and Professional Training Wajiha Ikram while speaking at the launching of a study 'Adolescent Girls Voices on Enhancing their own Productivity in Pakistan,' jointly launched by Council Population in collaboration with the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) here on Friday.
She said the government was encouraging the youth to impart skills to make a living with dignity both inside and outside the country. She said National Vocational and Technical Training Commission (Navttc) was going to launch an application to connect the youth, especially the women, to get technical education at their doorstep.
She said the government was facing numerous challenges in education sector and most of them were relating to the women, adding in order to empower young girls, there was a need to create an environment where girls and their parents needed to be sensitised on why a woman could also be a plumber or a mechanic.
"The enrolment of out of school children, quality education and uniform education system are some of the major challenges before this government, for which all-out efforts are being made as we sort these things out on priority," she declared.
Summing up the need to bring about a change in perception and thinking to empower 23 women, she said skills were gender neutral, adding one could not make a distinction that a particular set of skills was for girls or for boys.
"There is a misconception that women are only meant for beauty, or sitting to cook meal for the males...when talking about changing this misconception, the way society thinks about women should be and must be changed," she declared.
She said the government had awarded important responsibilities to the women in the different sectors as some 273 females had been appointed as teacher out of 500 posts.
She said actual facts and figures of the issues of women were not available. She also highlighted the issues being faced in policymaking after the 18th amendment, adding it had also affected the education sector. She urged to forge unity for the socio-economic development of the country.