Tech and skill-based education can lead the country to progress: President Alvi

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ISLAMABAD: President Dr Arif Alvi on Monday terming education vital for the country's progress said a combination of technology and skills could help meet the challenges of the contemporary world.

Addressing at the ILMpossible Summit held here organised by the British Council, the President said education could help raise a generation with proper know-how about dealing with challenges of the modern-day world.

He stressed the importance of technology which had changed the dimensions of learning and concepts of formal education by making it accessible to techno-literate people anywhere in the world.

The summit focused on the British Council's 'ILMpossible: Take a Child to School' project encompassing enrollment and retention of school children aged 5-11 years in primary schools across Pakistan.

President Alvi appreciated the project of the British Council for enrollment of 385,000 children at schools in 65 districts and regarded it as a big service for Pakistan.

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He lauded the contribution of the UK's Department for International Development (DFID) in Pakistan for decades in the field of literacy and recalled his meetings with Prince Charles in Tokyo and Prince Williams in Pakistan where the discussion also focused on British partnership in the areas of education.

He said education had become a subject of global importance due to the need for raising awareness on common challenges including environmental protection and climate change.

The President called the need for bringing a change in the mindset of society to lay equal emphasis on the education of girls.

He said it was important to ensure an encouraging environment for students at schools to overcome the problem of dropout.

Besides good education, he said several factors were involved in the retention of students at school including infrastructure with basic amenities such as washrooms, secure environment and opportunities for extra-curricular activities mainly sports.

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President Alvi said education and health were the basic areas that contributed to the reformation of a successful society. He lauded the government of Prime Minister Imran Khan for choosing both as part of social service.

The President said the nation could not forget the massacre of December 16, 2014, where the students of Army Public School, Peshawar laid down their lives for the country.

He also mentioned the troubles faced by the children of Kashmir who were denied access to schools for the last five months.

British High Commissioner-designate Christian Turner spoke about the importance of keeping children at school with the education of girls equally important for the country's development.

He said the IsUnited Kingdom and Pakistan had a long history of partnership and termed the volunteers, teachers and community activists the 'real champions of change'. On the occasion, a 30-second silence was observed to pay tribute to the martyrs of APS.