Daily Times

President Dr Arif Alvi on Wednesday said through the combination of education, intellect and morality, the youth could change the fate of the country.

He said Pakistan needed leadership and proper use of intellect more than the solutions, which he believed the youth of the country was fully capable of playing this role. Addressing the convocation of Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU), the president said the Chinese development was made on the basis of education and health, and Pakistan also needed to follow the Chinese model to achieve the goals of rapid development.

Citing an example of Vietnam that was destroyed during the war in 1973, the president said that in 1999, the fisheries’ export of both Vietnam and Pakistan was US$300 million that had now been increased to around $11 billion a year in 2022 against Pakistan’s export of only $500 million. “Resources do not develop the countries, education does”, he added.

Calling the successful graduates of the university as elite of the country, the president said they were elite because they had the privilege to secure a graduate degree in a country where 44% or more than 26 million children were still out of school. While comparing with the region, he said all the regional countries had 98% ratio of school going children.

“Some 55000 schools had been built in the country so far, while to accommodate all out of school children, the government will have to build 50,000 more schools which is not an easy task keeping in view the resource availability in the country,” he added. He pointed out that around 300,000 mosques in the country could be utilized to educate the out of school children.

President Alvi regretted that the developed world that was claiming to be the champion of democracy and humanity had lost the sense of sympathies with the humankind.

He said the world was now running on vested interests, as zero sympathies were being shown by the West amid the atrocities being done on innocent people of Gaza.

He said Pakistan was hoping to get the Kashmir issue resolved by using the United Nations platform but despite passing of over 70 years, the issue was still unresolved. “If the exploitation of wealth ends in the world and every person gets its due right, the killing of the people will automatically be stopped,” the president remarked.

He advised the successful graduates of the university to continue their struggle for seeking knowledge in their practical life.

He also asked the women graduates not to spoil their education while sitting at home after getting marriage. He said in today’s era of technology, women could easily manage their jobs and family works.

The president said due to timely and prudent strategies of the government, Pakistan was declared as the world’s 5th best performance country during COVID-19. Recognizing the leadership’s decision of establishing the AIOU in 1970s, the president said the university was playing key role in imparting education to the people especially in remote areas of the country.

Earlier, the president also conferred degrees and medals to the successful students. Vice Chancellor, AIOU, Dr Nasir Mehmood said until now, some 5 million students had been graduated from the university.

He said the university was providing free education to the transgenders, jail inmates, and children of the martyrs.