UHE celebrates World Education Day 2023

Lahore (Tuesday, January 24, 2023): The Vice-Chancellor University of Home Economics (UHE) Lahore, Prof. Dr. Kanwal Ameen said, “without inclusive & equitable quality education for all, Pakistan will not succeed in achieving gender equality and upbringing the lives of millions across the country”. She was addressing the seminar titled “Policy Gaps in the Education System of Pakistan” with the collaboration of the Pakistan Youth Parliament. While addressing the audience, Prof. Ameen said Pakistan is facing a serious challenge to ensure all children, particularly the most disadvantaged, attend, stay and learn in school, and currently, Pakistan has the world’s second-highest number of out-of-school children. She said higher education institutes are facing various challenges including the weak industry-university linkages across Pakistan and therefore we are lacking behind in innovations.She also shared that UHE is establishing the Business Incubation Centre which will help out our students to execute their entrepreneurial ideas. She said UHE celebrates International Education Day each year to identify the policy gaps in the educational system of the country.
Former Chairperson PHEC Dr. Nizam ud Din said that 27 million are out of school and numbers are increasing every year in Pakistan, although education is a constitutional right of each child and unfortunately, it’s not being implemented.He said access to schools is not being provided to children and children’s access to schools is a major challenge due to the lack of transport facilities. He emphasized that educational policies should be designed and executed by the educationist rather than bureaucrats.
He stated that universities are suffering from a leadership crisis, which has a direct impact on the performance of educational institutions. He said that through a consortium of higher education institutions, we have to plan a long-term policy and its implementation at the national level so that Pakistan can contribute to meeting the needs of the national economy.He said UNESCO has dedicated World Education Day to the young girls of Afghanistan who are fighting for their education.Veteran Journalist and Political Analyst, Mujeeb ur Rehman Shami said many children in Pakistan are deprived of going to school because there are no schools in those areas. How can we meet the challenges of the present century in the digital age?
He said that Google is now going to launch an article-writing service as well, which will be a new challenge for newspapers in Pakistan. The Constitution of Pakistan ensures education is a fundamental right, but education is not for all children. He also said the division of curriculum in Pakistan is creating classes and those who get better quality education leave the country. Sajid Habib, Air Vice-Marshal (retired) was of the view inadequate teacher training and poor infrastructure of public academic institutions are not up to the mark to meet the requirements which are needed for national development.
The seminar was attended by Shahid Lone, Chairman Allah Walay Trust, Shahzad Nawaz, Former Special Assistant to Prime Minister, Brig Prof Dr. Wahid Uz Zaman Tariq, Dr. Naeem Mubarik, Registrar UHE, Shujaat Muneef Qureshi, Dr. Iram Rubab, faculty members, and students