SWAT: Elementary and Secondary Education Department, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Secretary Mutasim Billah said here on Saturday that developed countries were properly discovering and polishing their students’ talents, which was why they had made speedy progress and development in the field of science and technology.
He was addressing the awards and medals distribution ceremony arranged for the position-holder students of the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (BISE), Swat.
The board organised the ceremony for those students who had secured the top three positions in its recent Secondary School Certificate (SSC) examinations. Cash awards and medals were given away to the position-holders, including Laiba Noor, Awais Ahmad, Khumaro Khaliq, Sonia and Sabrina. BISE chairman Nabi Shah was also among the participants.
The education department secretary said that educated and skilled youth had played a key role in the progress of developed nations.
Secretary calls for training students in fields of their interest
“The developed nations give due importance to their children. They try to identify their interests, talents and skills from the young age, and then train and guide them in their fields of interest,” he said, adding that unlike the developed nations, the underdeveloped nations only encouraged their children to make money.
Mr Billah said the educationists and teachers had to impart science and technology education on modern lines to the children besides making them civilised human beings.
“Without modern and technical education, no nation can become truly developed. It is the digital age, and we have to make our entire system digital too,” he said.
The secretary said that every child had different interests, skills and characteristics. “Owing to their diverse talents, the world is considering children as the universe, but unfortunately, we consider them as a physical body,” he said, adding it was collective duty of the parents and teachers to make serious efforts to fulfill the responsibility of discovering the children’s talents.
“Keeping in view the importance of education, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government is trying to provide modern laboratories to every school,” he claimed and added that by building laboratories the students would be able to grow in the field of science.
He said the provincial government was taking serious steps to bring the out-of-school children to schools. Apart from the position-holders, other students, parents and teachers also participated in the ceremony.
Published in Dawn, December 11th, 2022
