Sindh Hainan Universities Forum: Education is our top priority: CM

The Sindh government has prioritised education during the last seven years, which is evident from its setting up of over 10 public universities, said Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah on Wednesday.

“The general impression that Sindh has been lagging behind in education has no reality as facts show how we have funded education with a special emphasis on higher education,” said Shah while speaking as a chief guest at the concluding session of the three-day Sindh-Hainan Universities Forum’s conference, organised by Sindh Madressatul Islam University (SMIU) at a local hotel.

During his talk, the CM announced a grant of Rs20 million for SMIU.

Education minister Nisar Khuhro said Pakistan was reaping the fruit of Sino-Pak friendship with the advent of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor that had been sown by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.

SMIU vice-chancellor Dr Muhammad Ali Shaikh presented the report of the three-day conference to the CM. He said it was the CM who directed him to expand the scope of SMIU’s joint venture with the Chinese universities to all the universities of Sindh and, if possible, to the whole of Pakistan, to assist educational institutes in creating linkages with their counterparts along the Yellow River.

“The chief minister was the moving force, which eventually got 14 universities of Pakistan signing 56 agreements with universities in Hainan province of China,” said Shaikh.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 7^th, 2016.