PM Imran Khan firmly committed to rejuvenating country through education: Chinese scholar
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BEIJING: Prime Minister Imran Khan’s decision to convert Prime Minister House into the Islamabad National University has demonstrated his firm determination to rejuvenate the country through education.
Education is an important driving force for human progress and national development and his government is committed to developing education as a priority agenda, Cheng Xizhong, a visiting professor of the Southwest University of Political Science and Law and senior fellow with the Chahar Institute said on Saturday.
“The illiteracy rate is too high in Pakistan. But this is not a problem that has arisen just now. This is a problem that has accumulated over many years. This problem can only be solved through long-term efforts of the whole society”, he said in a statement. He said since Prime Minister Imran Khan came to power, he has put special emphasis on the development of education and made the fight against illiteracy as one of the four major tasks in 2019. “This shows that the Pakistani government has realized the importance of education for the improvement of national quality, socio-economic development and progress in science and technology”, Xizhong said.
He said, China now implements nine-year compulsory education and in some big cities, 12-year compulsory education has been introduced. This does not include three years of pre-school education before the age of six, he expressed.
“In my opinion, according to the current situation, Pakistan may implement at least nine-year compulsory education,” he added.
He remarked that with the development of the CPEC, many Chinese companies now employ local Pakistanis and short-term technical training is arranged before they take up their jobs. People have different qualities and it is closely related to how much basic education they have received. Only with universal basic education for all, can the quality of the whole nation be improved.
Only when a country has a large contingent of talents who have received higher education can it merge with modern high and new technologies. Although Pakistan is still underdeveloped, it will eventually enter the era of science and technology, industrialization and modernization. Prime Minister Imran Khan may foresee the coming of this era, so he puts special emphasis on education priority and intensifies knowledge preparation to embrace this era, he added.
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