Pakistan to help Afghanistan digitise education sector

President Dr Arif Alvi told a visiting Afghan delegation that two long-distance learning universities of Pakistan would provide assistance to the Afghanistan for a digital transformation of its universities and imparting online education to students.

Talking to Afghanistan’s Higher Education Minister Maulana Abdul Baqi Haqqani, who along with members of his delegation, called on him at the Aiwan-e-Sadr, Alvi said that Pakistan would continue to assist Afghanistan in the capacity-building of its educational institutions.

During the meeting, both sides agreed to increase collaboration between the higher education institutions of the two countries. It was also agreed that the National Vocational and Technical Training Commission (NAVTTC) would arrange vocational training programmes in various technical fields.

according to a statement issued by the Press Wing of the President’s Secretariat, Alvi said that the Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU) and the Virtual University of Pakistan (VUP) would assist Afghan universities in their digital transformation and providing online education to their students.

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“Afghanistan direly needs educationists, professionals and technical experts to contribute towards its reconstruction and development,” he said, adding that Pakistan would continue to provide all possible assistance to Afghanistan for the development of its education sector.

“Afghanistan is passing through a very difficult phase and the international community is needed to provide economic and humanitarian assistance to save it from a human catastrophe,” said the president, according to the statement.

Alvi recalled that during the recent Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) Summit in Turkmenistan, he urged the member countries and international community to address the humanitarian and economic needs of Afghanistan which had been a victim of war for over four decades.

The Afghan minister thanked Pakistan for its role in the reconstruction and education development of his country. He termed his meetings with Pakistani authorities, including the federal education minister, very fruitful, saying that it would help increase cooperation in the education sector.