Shafaqt Mahmood. PHOTO: FILE
ISLAMABAD: The government-run educational institutions in the federal capital will be made a model for the rest of the country.
This was stated by the Federal Minister for Education Shafqat Mahmood on Wednesday while addressing a groundbreaking ceremony of Islamabad Model College for Boys in Sector G-15 of Islamabad.
The minister said that the education ministry is working to resolve the challenges faced by the education sector in the country and to improve the performance of his ministry.
“The country has achieved only 60 per cent literacy rate in the past 70 years,” he said, adding that this means that around 40 per cent of people still cannot write or read. We can guess how education is a major challenge for the government, he added.
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He also hinted at establishing new schools in the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) while upgrading existing institutions.
“The education ministry is planning to improve the educational and physical conditions of 423 schools and colleges of ICT by next year,” he said, adding that the education system in ICT schools will be exemplary for the entire country.
He assured that the government is concerned about inflation and that concrete steps are being taken to overcome the issue.
Purposeful research
Mahmood on Wednesday stressed the need for directing research towards addressing challenges facing Pakistan.
He said this while addressing the launch of the Pakistan Research and Innovation Landscape Report at the first-ever Pakistan Research Day 2020, observed at the National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST) here on Wednesday. The report was prepared by the Web of Science Group, a subsidiary of Clarivate Analytics.
Mahmood said that the introduction of the Research Excellence Award was an excellent idea, as it will help augment the research culture in Pakistan.
The minister appreciated the recognition of the impact that a transition towards a knowledge-based economy is creating.
He hoped that the collaboration between reputed national Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) such as NUST, Web of Science Group and the Higher Education Commission (HEC) will play a fundamental role in driving as well as expediting the development of scientific research and excellence in Pakistan.
The report documents excellence, challenges and opportunities in scientific and academic research in Pakistan.
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Key findings of the report were presented at the event co-hosted by Web of Science Group and NUST at the main campus of the varsity.
Web of Science Group Pakistan-Country Manager Faisal Mehmood said that over the past decade, Pakistan’s research community has substantially increased the number of publications across several disciplines, with a 300 per cent growth in the number of publications indexed in the Web of Science Core Collection between 2010 and 2019.
NUST Rector Lt Gen Naweed Zaman said that the event afforded an ideal opportunity to reflect on how our policies, over some time, have influenced the direction of research in the country.
He also presented a snapshot of milestones achieved by NUST in the domains of scientific research, innovation, patenting and intellectual property transfer to industry.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 20th, 2020.
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