Government minimized Student Losses: Education Minister

January 7, 2021

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Federal Minister of Education and Vocational Training Shafqat Mahmoud said on Wednesday that the government has taken immediate action in the education sector by adopting distance learning programs in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic.

He said that in the past, the state did not invest enough in the education sector, and unfortunately, because of this, it received little attention.

He expressed these views in a webinar entitled “Challenges Facing the Education Sector in Pakistan” hosted by the Karachi Council on Foreign Relations.

He said that while the education sector in Pakistan had to face huge challenges due to the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic, on the other hand, it also opened up many new opportunities.

He also said that the government focused on the distance learning program during the epidemic and created a separate wing in the Ministry of Education for this purpose.

He also said the government has presented a blended learning project in Islamabad in collaboration with the World Bank. He added that this project used technology to make the learning process more efficient and understandable.

The minister expressed hope that the epidemic will end soon, but distance learning projects will continue.

Shafat also shed light on the inequities in the existing education system in the country and considered developing a unified education system to be implemented by next year to eliminate classification in the education system.

The education minister said madrassa reforms are another important project of the current government, under which schools will be registered nationwide in cooperation with the Union of School Organizations over the next four years.

Referring to the government’s moves in vocational training, he said 170,000 people have received artificial intelligence training in the past 18 months. He said that the National Accreditation Council was established to raise the level of vocational education institutions internationally.