KARACHI:
All Pakistani governments pay lip service to promote education in the country, but all of them lack the political will to prioritise the most vital sector. They have failed to realise that without a strong education system, human resource development and advancement in science and technology cannot be achieved. Too often, special interest groups and vested interests have prevailed over the collective national interest and now we are reaping the harvest.
The former PTI government approved the Capital Development Authority’s (CDA) project to occupy land owned by Quaid-e-Azam University (QAU). Even Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif did not give any thought to halting the project. This would not be allowed in any other country. The state administration cannot take over land allocated and owned by a state university. Civil society, parliament, and the media collectively rise to protect the sanctity of premier universities. Unfortunately, this is not the case in Pakistan.
Today, India earns significant revenue from the information technology (IT) industry because of its investment and promotion of Indian IT institutes. China emerged as a major financial power because of its focus on promoting education and investment in research and development in science, technology, medicine, economics, arts etc. But Pakistan continues to lag regionally and globally because of a lack of promotion and development of the education sector. Although our religion stresses the importance of education, it is unfortunate that even our judiciary is reluctant in enforcing the importance of universities. Instead of relying upon technicalities to regularise the irregularities, the sanctity of land allotted to universities, amenity plots, forests, etc must be protected.
Malik Tariq Ali
Lahore
Published in The Express Tribune, October 21st, 2022.
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