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PESHAWAR, April 28: The NWFP government wants to encourage the private sector to invest in the education sector to increase the literacy rate in the province, according to Chief Minister Akram Khan Durrani.
He was speaking at the closing ceremony of the three-day information technology exhibition and conference Brainstorm- 2004 at a hotel here on Wednesday. Mr Durrani said the NWFP was a poor and backward province but there was no dearth of talent if resources and opportunities were provided to the youth.
The NWFP minister for science and technology, Hussain Ahmad Kanju, minister for information, Asif Iqbal Daudzai, minister for irrigation, Hafiz Akhtar Ali, president SCCI, Adeel Rauf, were also present on the occasion.
The chief minister said the 21st century was the era of technology and underlined the need of concerted efforts for development in the field. He termed the opening of new educational institutions in the province as a welcome sign and hoped that more such schools and colleges would be set up in the province.
Hussain Ahmad Kanju also spoke on the occasion. Chairman of the organising committee of the Brainstorm, Mr Zafarullah Khan, announced the establishment of a trust that would work in collaboration with educational and IT institutions in rural area to promote education in the province.
Later, the Chief Minister Akram Khan Durrani gave away prizes and certificates to participants of various events of the Brainstorm-2004.
APP adds: Students from different schools, colleges, private institutions thronged the exhibition and showed keen interest in the stalls of various educational institutions, software and hardware vendors.
A multi-national company 'Sharp' also exhibited their products related to IT. The exhibition was organised by Brains Group of Colleges with the support of Ministry of Science and Technology, Computer Science of Pakistan, Pakistan Software Export Board, Sarhad Chamber of Commerce and Industry and SMEDA.
The show was divided into three categories. In the first category stalls of educational institutions were set up. Whereas, the second and third categories were related to technological instruments and software & hardware.
"We have achieved our objective of exhibiting the projects of IT students in industrial sector and bring them in competition," observed Arif, an organizer while talking to APP. The main objective, he continued, for holding of the exhibition was to provide a platform to IT students to display their software and hardware projects.
