Participation of youth low: Qazi - Tertiary level education
By Our Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD, Nov 25: Participation rate of youth in tertiary level education in the country is lowest in the world which stands at 2.6 per cent in this age group, Federal Education Minister and former ISI chief Javed Ashraf Qazi said.
He was speaking as chief guest at a seminar on "Distance Education" organized by Sarhad University, Peshawar, at a local hotel on Thursday. The minister expressed his disappointment over the falling standards of education in the country.
"Unfortunately, among three categories; high achievers, ambitious and non-achiever countries, Pakistan falls in the third category which should be a matter of concern for everyone of us," the minister said.
Talking to media persons after the function, the education minister called on the private sector universities to fulfil the Higher Education Commission's criteria laid down for the degree- awarding universities.
The HEC through an official statement only recently had asked the Sarhad University to meet the requirements both in terms of infrastructural and faculty development, otherwise its charter would be cancelled.
The federal cabinet had set February 2007 as deadline to meet the HEC's laid-down criteria for all those universities, both in public and private sectors, that lacked facilities, otherwise, their charters would be withdrawn.
Similarly, the HEC has through media launched a campaign entitled "parents alert" to let people know which were the recognised universities. The minister agreed that the universities which didn't fulfil the criteria should not be allowed to run their operations, however, the HEC has to wait till the time the deadline expires.
In response to a question, the minister said: "We are developing a linkage mechanism with provinces, through which the federal ministry will be able to exchange data with the provincial education ministries."
The ministry has been restructured and its various newly set up wings have already started working which would go a long way towards delivering services in the education sector. It will help the ministry to coordinate in a better way and have a uniform education policy in the country.
Earlier, during his speech the minister said terms like developed, developing and under-developed countries were not new. The so-called developed or advanced countries are the ones which succeeded in providing educational facilities to their people, he said.
Illiteracy is a term that they have probably deleted from their dictionaries. So while these countries are now reaping the benefits of high literacy rate, they can afford to focus on issues like digital divide, he said.
In such countries, there is no dearth of educational institutions and that too of high quality where millions of aspiring students from across the globe seek admissions.
Yet, those universities found it appropriate to launch their distance and online educational programmes so as to reach a wider cross-section of the world population that cannot afford to acquire knowledge through conventional means of learning, Mr Qazi said.
"We have been apprised that more than 900 renowned universities and institutions around the world are using this mode of education for the benefit of millions of students," the minister informed the gathering.
Columbia University, for instance, offers online degrees in engineering through Columbia Video Network. According to modest estimates, this number is expected to increase at a rate of 20 per cent per year. This unprecedented increase in usage of this mode of education is a logical outcome of the conversion of the world into a global village.
