Islamabad, February 18: Speakers at the 5th international conferences on ‘Research and Practices in Education held here on Tuesday at Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU) called for making the education relevant to the society’s overall well-being.

They emphasized that the education should be an effective source for transformation of the society and a helping hand in improving quality of life at all levels.

The two-day conference was arranged by the University’s Faculty of Education to promote the concept of ‘Relevance and Quality in Education. Senator Taj Haider was the guest of honour on the occasion.

Those who addressed the inaugural session included Parliamentary Secretary Federal Education and Professional Training Wajiha Akram, and the two foreign delegates Ms. Punramol Sutthirit from Thailand and Dr. Kiichi Oyasu from Japan who delivered key-note address.

The speakers congratulated the AIOU and its Vice Chancellor Professor Dr. Zia-UL-Qayyum for their consistent efforts of linking the education with the community’s development and addressing the country’s socio-economic challenges.

While asserting for giving priority to education, Senator Taj Haider called for turning the education into a movement, in line with the footprints of Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, who had struggled for replacing the out-dated and traditional education system, with the modern one. He was of the view that the coming generation and the educationists should adopt ‘East Look’ policy to learn from the countries, like China that brought tremendous development in quality of life of their people through education.

He noted around 20,000 Pakistani students are currently in China for higher education, hoping they would follow Chinese traditions ensuring quality and handwork in all sphere of life. He appreciated the AIOU for providing the youth an opportunity to learn from educational practices of the foreign countries.

Ms. Wajihe Akram also spoke about the need of linking the education with the society, stating the education must contribute to the socio-economic development. She was confident the educational institutions will succeed in addressing the issue of out-of-school and drop-out children through collective efforts.

She assured that the present government will always be supportive one in achieving the stipulated goals in the educational sector.

Earlier, the conference’s chairperson, Dr. Nasir Mahmood and the conference’s coordinator Afshan Huma highlighted the objectives of the conference, stating that it provides a platform for researchers and practitioners to share evidence-based findings and results of various interventions.

The conference will also explore the way forward for implementing the improvements to be suggested by the scholars and practitioners.

Dr. Nasir Mahmood also briefed the participants about the University’s ongoing efforts of upgrading learning environment and research culture.

During the conference's working sessions, around 300 research-papers were to be presented.