Daily Times

Prime Minister Imran Khan said Thursday he is mulling introducing a law to divert recovered ‘black money’ towards education in Pakistan.

“I am pondering passing a law to divert money brought in from corrupt individuals by the government’s asset recovery unit towards education. The more we invest in education, the more secure our children and country’s future will be,” the prime minister said while addressing the inauguration ceremony of Pak-Austria Fachhochschule Institute of Applied Sciences & Technology (PAF-IAST) at Mang in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Haripur city.

The prime minister acknowledging that his government failed to focus on education since it came to power. “The failure of the ruling party’s focus on education is due to a game of survival we faced after coming into power,” he continued. “Our first year was spent on stabilising the economy while the coronavirus pandemic intervened in the second year,” he noted. “Now, my attempt is that we as a nation need to decide that wherever we save money from, we divert it to education,” he added.

Prime Minister Imran Khan said knowledge economy is the best option for Pakistan to capitalize its large youth pool and immense talent for scientific innovation and technical productivity. “Now is the time for country to discover its own path leading towards a system based on scientific and technical production to ensure economic growth,” he said.

He said investment in education would ensure a bright and prosperous for the coming generations. He said ‘dependency syndrome’ is the main reason behind the country’s distraction from the path of struggle and development. “The mindset of depending on the West and not relying on own potential prevails. Why can’t we produce our own scientists and make inventions and patents,” he questioned.

The prime minister gave reference of tech giants Microsoft and FaceBook, which due to making strides in science and technology, had a worth bigger than Pakistan’s budget. He said Singapore boasted $330 billion exports compared with Pakistan’s $25 billion as it entirely adopted science and technology, besides Malaysia that made imprint in electronics as encouraged by leader Dr Mahathir Mohammed.

The prime minister expressed confidence that the Fachhochschule Institute of Austria’s top university would prove a hub of science and technology and also a platform for Pakistani youth to excel. He mentioned that China’s collaboration with Pakistan had transformed into industrial cooperation as the two countries entered the second phase of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.

He said campuses of five Chinese and three Austrian universities would be opened in Pakistan as the country set eyes on learning artificial intelligence and big data for systemic data processing. He also lauded the cooperation extended by the Khyber Pukhtunkhwa government in materializing the project, saying that time would prove its benefits for the country.

Established with assistance of the government of Austria, the institute will contribute to Pakistan’s high-tech industrial economy and higher education in engineering and technology. It also aims to set up an integrated Technology Park with business incubation centres and shell units for small and medium-sized enterprises.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Imran Khan warned the world that as ice at poles melted fast and temperatures rose globally, any negligence towards the climate change could put the future generations in danger. “If the world does not take notice now, I am afraid we will be endangering our future generations,” the prime minister said in a video statement at the fourth Austrian World Summit held in capital Vienna.

The prime minister, on the invitation of Arnold Schwarzenegger, former California governor and actor, shared his vision about conserving biodiversity and the steps taken by Pakistan to fight the climate change. He said some 20 years ago, the topic of climate change was taken with skepticism, however, today it had become a harsh reality. He mentioned the ‘cruel face’ of climate change for the world in shape of record temperatures in Siberia, ice-melting on poles, rising temperatures in Europe, unprecedented fires ravaging Australia, cyclones and hurricanes.

He said Pakistan realized about a decade ago that the glaciers that flew to its rivers and ultimately fed the population, were melting at a much faster pace. He recalled that his political party when came to power some seven years ago in Khyber Pukhtunkhwa province, set and achieved the target of planting one billion trees there. On assuming power at the Centre, he said, the target was now to plant 10 billion for a green Pakistan. He urged the world to collaborate and join hands to fight the climate change. “It is time for the world to take action against climate change as a united goal,” he said.