Alvi laments ratio of out-of-school children

President Dr Arif Alvi on Wednesday, emphasising the promotion of analytical thinking, said that the highly competitive world necessitated Pakistan to enhance access to education and enrolment in schools.

The president, addressing the first convocation of the HITEC Institute of Medical Sciences, said Pakistan was faced with a crisis of 27 million out-of-school children. He said comparatively, the ratio of children’s school enrolment in India and Bangladesh stood at 98-100 per cent.

He told the gathering that through a dedicated focus on education and health sectors, Pakistan could excel within eight years, citing the case study of China.

The president, who earlier distributed medals and degrees among the graduates of medicine and dentistry, said the country could not afford the women giving up their careers after getting a higher education and called it a “tremendous wastage”.

However, he said it was incumbent upon the state to provide the women with a safe working atmosphere as the institutions like Federal Mohtasib were already functioning for the purpose. He said in Pakistan, only nine per cent of youngsters enrol for higher education which needed to be increased by introducing modern education tools like online education.

Citing a nine per cent prevalence of hepatitis and 40 per cent stunting, the president said the country direly needed a workforce to cope with the challenge.

He urged the new graduates to focus more on preventive care as Pakistan could not afford the curative treatment. Pakistan has already achieved remarkable success during the COVID pandemic by promoting preventive methods, he recalled.

Calling it a beautiful culture of Pakistan, President Alvi advised the youngsters to always remain thankful to their teachers and parents for their efforts to brighten their future.

He said obtaining the degree was just an opening of the door to knowledge as new trends and innovations were being introduced in the medical field, particularly after Artificial Intelligence (AI).

He predicted that within 10 years, AI would enable the display of human thought within no time as tremendous knowledge already existed in the cloud technology.

He also advised the new graduates to never let greed overpower their humanity and that they should always be compassionate to their patients in accordance with Islamic as well as cultural values.

Earlier, Principal of HITEC Institute of Medical Sciences Professor Major General (retd) Hamid Shafiq congratulated the students and their parents on the graduation. He said that starting in 2016, the Institute was counted among the A Grade medical colleges in the country.

He said the Institute had also obtained ISO certification, providing high standard education to the students as well as a house job facility to them after graduation.

Principal HITEC Dental College Dr Irfan Shah said that with the convocation, the seven years long efforts had come to fruition. He said the college was now a well-established institute with certain distinctions including the top ranking by Pakistan Medical and Dental Council.

He said besides studies, the college was also actively engaged in social welfare works by providing dentistry services to the people living in the suburbs.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 25^th, 2023.