MUZAFFARABAD: Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Prime Minister Iftikhar Gillani on Thursday said his government was focusing on education reforms, including introducing information technology, artificial intelligence (AI), robotics and modern technical education in educational institutions.
“My main focus is education. The future of nations is shaped in classrooms,” Mr Gillani said while presiding over a meeting on education reforms at Jammu and Kashmir House in the federal capital.
The AJK premier served as education minister in the previous PML-N government from 2016 to 2021. During his tenure, third-party recruitment of teachers through the National Testing Service (NTS) and biometric attendance were introduced.
“Our mission is to ensure that every young person in AJK becomes not merely a degree-holder but a skilled, self-reliant individual capable of creating employment opportunities,” he said.
“IT, artificial intelligence, robotics, online business and modern technical education are our top priorities,” he said.
“We are bringing an education system that will prepare our children not only for today but also for tomorrow,” Mr Gillani said. Representatives of organisations and firms working in the education sector under public-private partnerships in different provinces briefed the meeting on their AI-based projects and success stories.
Mr Gillani said his government was working on a plan to equip AJK’s educational institutions with modern technology, AI, robotics and other modern facilities so that its youth could compete with students in developed countries.
“We are going to begin the process of equipping our youth with knowledge, skills and technology,” he said. The meeting was attended by Higher Education Minister Chaudhry Azhar Sadiq, Federal Secretary for Inter-Provincial Affairs Mohyuddin Ahmad Wani, LearnOBots chief executive officer Mohammad Faisal Laghari, NAVTTC Executive Director Amir Jan, TechValley CEO Umar Farooq, Joint Secretary Hamid Niazi, Allah Wali Foundation chairman Shahid Lone and TechForPakistan CEO Khadija Bakhsh, among others.
Published in Dawn, September 11th, 2026
