Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif laid the foundation stone of the main campus of National University of Technology in Islamabad on Friday. Addressing the ceremony, he emphasized for promotion of skilled and technical education as it is key to success of any country. He said technical and skilled education and training is also a guarantee for development and prosperity of the country as well, which should be our foremost priority. The Prime Minister said the skillful graduates from this university will not only earn their livelihood in a dignified manner, but also help improve the image of the country across the world including in the Gulf States. Shehbaz Sharif stressed on the need to end class discrimination particularly in the education sector as per the vision of founder of Pakistan Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah and Allama Dr. Muhammad Iqbal.

 He expressed unwavering support of the government for promotion of skilled and technical education saying that it will also help in producing skillful human capital, which can help decrease trade deficit of the country by sending remittances from abroad. The Prime Minister said he as the Chief Minister spread a network of Danish Schools in Punjab to provide opportunities to the poor and deserved youth to get education and also disbursed billions of rupees as stipends among nearly half a million students. On this occasion, the Prime Minister announced 100 million rupees and provision of 4 air-conditioned buses for the university.

 Earlier, Minister for Federal Education and Professional Training Rana Tanveer Hussain said pragmatic steps are being taken to impart skills to youth to enable them earn their livelihoods in a dignified manner. Rana Tanveer Hussain called upon youth to get technical education as it is the need of the hour. Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Youth Affairs, Shaza Fatima Khawaja said skill development training will be provided to about one hundred thousand youth this year. She said government is paying special attention to equip youth with basic technical skills. She said eighty billion rupees have been allocated for youth empowerment in different sectors. Shaza Fatima said two hundred E Learning courses are being introduced under Learning Management System.

 
Credit : Independent News Pakistan-INP