A delegation of Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry led by President Khalid Iqbal Malik called on Engr. Muhammad Baligh ur Rehman, Minister of State for Federal Education & Professional Training and stressed upon the government to focus on producing technically trained and skilled manpower for improving the industrial productivity in the region. Khalid Malik Senior Vice President, Tahir Ayub Vice President ICCI, Khalid Javed, Tariq Sadiq, Mian Akram Farid, Mian Shaukat Masud, Ejaz Abbasi, Malik Sohail Hussain, Khalid Chaudhry and others were in the delegation.

 

Khalid Iqbal Malik, President ICCI said that local industry was facing the shortage of trained and skilled manpower and urged that Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training should play its role for opening more technical and vocational training institute in the region to cater to the industrial needs of skilled manpower. 

 

He said drug addiction in schools was on the rise in public and private schools in Islamabad and stressed that government should take strong measures to eliminate this dangerous trend. He said many schools in Islamabad were lacking in clean drinking water, toilet facilities, buses and other facilities and emphasized that Ministry of Federal Education should look into these issues for urgent remedial measures. 

 

Speaking at the occasion, Baligh ur Rehman, State Minister for Federal Education and Professional Training said that Pakistan was way behind in education and main reason of low budget allocation for education was the increase in non-development expenditures. However, he said with the improvement in financial resources, government would enhance education budget. He said net enrolment in schools has improved as the number of out of school children has come down from 24 million to 21 million. 

 

He said higher education budget has been enhanced from Rs.512 billion in 2012 to Rs.775 billion. He said a new curriculum was being developed in consultation with provinces to introduce uniform education system in the country. He said action against drugs in schools would be taken in coordination with police and anti-narcotics department and assured that a school would be offered to ICCI in consultation with CADD.

 

He said government was taking many initiatives for facilitating the growth of business activities. He said energy crisis would end by 2018, land for Diamer Bhasha dam has been purchased, Rs.108 billion has been earmarked for this project and its work would start soon. He said Thar coal source was being explored for power generation