February 08, 2007	Thursday	Muharram 19, 1428

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0LAHORE, Feb 7: Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi on Wednesday eulogised the contributions of the army for the cause of nation building and said the establishment of the CMH Lahore Medical College and the Lahore Institute of Technical Education (LITE) were the landmark projects worthy to be emulated by other institutions in the country.

The chief minister was speaking at the first certificate award ceremony of the LITE, according to an ISPR press release.

The function was attended also by Balochistan Chief Minister Jam Muhammad Yousaf, Azad Kashmir Education Minister Farooq Ahmad, Punjab Education Minister Imran Masood and Navtec chairman Saleem Altaf.

The chief minister said the government would provide all possible assistance to these projects and it was making efforts for the improvement of the health and education sectors in the province.

He said the government was giving priority to enhancing the literacy rate in the province and had allocated Rs12 billion for the education sector only in the current financial year. The establishment of LITE within a record time indicated dedication and commitment of the Lahore corps commander, he said, hoping that other institutions would follow the example.

Corps Commander Lt-Gen Shafaatullah Shah, who is also the LITE chairman, said the strength of any country depended largely on its human resources. It was always the manpower equipped with technical knowledge and skills that provided the country a solid economic base.

He said although Pakistan was blessed with a tremendous reservoir of human resource, it lacked appropriate technical knowledge imparting institutions. At present, there were only 1,373 technical institutes in the country of which 756 were in Punjab and 72 in Lahore.

He said there was an urgent need to do much more in this field to not only bridge the gap of unemployment, but also contribute significantly towards poverty alleviation in the country.

The corps commander said Pakistan could fight obscurantism and extremism only through better technical education and job opportunities for its people.

All efforts were being made to enroll a maximum number of students from smaller provinces to provide equal opportunities. As many as 15 students were taken from Balochistan’s Dera Bugti area, seven from FATA and 56 from Azad Kashmir.

He said efforts were being made to impart objective training in almost 19 different disciplines. Almost 65 per cent of the total 353 students had already been given jobs upon completion of their courses. The LITE was also trying to get ISO-9001 certification this year.

Meanwhile, a government handout quoted the chief minister as saying quota for students from Balochistan had been doubled in the medical colleges in the province. Punjab would cooperate with them with regard to the high faculty, also providing scholarships to the deserving among them.

He said the provincial government would also give scholarships, accommodation and food to two girl students from Balochistan intending to get technical education in Punjab. In addition to financial assistance, it had already provided two buses for the higher education students from Balochistan.

He said the provincial government would also plan for an exchange of delegation of teachers from both provinces.