LAHORE, Nov 5: Education is a matter of life and death to our nation. The world is moving so fast that if we do not educate ourselves, we will be left far behind other nations, says Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani.

Speaking at the inaugural session of two-day third international conference titled 'School of Tomorrow: Freedom to Learn' organised by the Beaconhouse School System (BSS) at a local hotel here on Friday, Gilani said no nation could aspire to reach glory and achieve economic development without making education its top priority.

Prime Minister Gilani said the present government was working on biggest expansion in educational opportunities this country had ever seen. “We need to invest heavily in education, if we are up to take our rightful place in the comity of nations.”

Stating that it was an era of technological revolution and scientific achievement, Gilani said the secret to the phenomenal successes of the developed nations lied in their attainment of high literacy rates and productive human resource development. He said Pakistan could be transformed into a modern and developed country through promotion of education alone. He also acknowledged that only education could pave the way for instilling a spirit of ethical behaviour and tolerance and peaceful coexistence besides inculcating respect for human rights and democracy.

The prime minister said the government was committed to strengthening educational system that could provide opportunities for all students regardless of their socio-economic backgrounds. He called for mobilising and engaging not just teachers and parents but the whole community.

He said the National Education Policy 2009 had marked a turning point in responding to the challenges faced in the field of education by this nation. “The policy is a diverse mix of wide ranging consultations and pooling of ideas from both public and private educational sectors.”

Now, he said, the government was moving towards increasing investment in schools, delivering for many and not just a few, and assuring parents of high quality schooling for their children while following the practice of the best educational systems around the world.

The prime minister stressed promoting a practice of research, analysis, critical inquiry and creative thinking in educational institutions to expect revolution in educational culture. He said that this cause was in line with the theme of this conference – 'Freedom to Learn'.

Lauding the role of BSS, the prime minister said the Beaconhouse had risen from being a private institution in 1975 to become a national asset. He said that it was heartening to know that besides Pakistan, the BSS had its presence in nine countries and was providing distinctive and meaningful education to over 193,000 students from pre-school to post-graduation.

Of these, 82,000 study at Beaconhouse while the remaining students were largely enrolled at the Educators, a parallel school network operated by the group providing a standardised quality of education to a different socio-economic target market at a much reduced fee.

The prime minister said that he firmly believed that the quality of a school system rested on the quality of its teachers. He acknowledged that the BSS had institutionalised in-service teacher training and more than half of its teachers had internationally recognised teaching certificates. He expressed the hope that this conference would explore various models of teacher education.

He said that it was encouraging to learn that this conference was questioning traditional forms of education that were at one time the requirement of an emerging free market society but were now regarded as chains tying down the young. “The future of this world is in the hands of our young and only education is capable of providing them with necessary light so that they can chart their way to a more meaningful life,” he added.

Gilani said the Beaconhouse had taken upon itself an extremely enterprising venture of bringing together scholars, educationists, classroom practitioners, policy makers and experienced professionals from all over the world, to reassess conventional beliefs of what constitute good and progressive teaching.

He expressed the hope that this would help change the learning experiences of children studying not only at private schools, but in schools at every level including those in the public sector.

Earlier, BSS chief executive officer Kasim Kasuri urged the prime minister to support the private education sector as it was playing an important role in imparting quality education to a large proportion of the population and sharing government's responsibility. He also offered that the BSS would be ready to do anything for the betterment of public sector schools. “In return, we only want appreciation from federal as well as all provincial governments,” he added.

He said a variety of conference sessions were being addressed by top educationists, who had come from the United Kingdom, United States, New Zealand and India.

BSS chairperson Nasreen Mahmood Kasuri and Khurshid Mahmood Kasuri besides a large number of educationists were present on the occasion.