President assures support to AIOU-AAOU for achieving millennium goals of poverty eradication
- October 4, 2013, 7:40 pm
- Education News
- 191 Views
ISLAMABAD, Oct 04 (Online): President Mamnoon Hussain said that the government will support Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU) and the Asian Association of Open Universities in their efforts achieving Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) of poverty eradication and education for all.
Speaking at the concluding session of 27th annual conference of Asian Association of Open Universities (AAOU) held here on Friday at Pak-China Friendship Centre, he said, distant education can play an effective role in providing learning opportunities to diverse groups of the society.
He said such kind of learning will also prepare the new generation to fight social evils such as mal-administration, corruption and terrorism, which have plagued our economic development.
Education is a top priority item on our agenda for development and we are taking all possible measures to promote education at all levels, the President said and added the government appreciates Allama Iqbal Open University and Asian Association of Open Universities for their efforts establishing a knowledge-based society that helps improve the living condition of the masses.
The President Mamnoon Hussain said the government attaches high priority to education and will extend all support to the relevant institutions to effectively address issues and future challenges in education sector.
The concluding session was also addressed by the President of AAOU, Prof.Dr Ho Sinn Chye and Vice Chancellor of AIOU, Prof.Dr.Nazir Ahmed Sangi while the conference was attended by around 250 delegates from home and abroad.
The President said the two-days deliberations would help enhanced partnership and cooperation among the member countries in various fields of distance learning and benefit from each other's experiences and expertise.
He hoped that it would not only serve the cause of distant learning but would also help forging fruitful partnership among the member countries to promote distant education mechanism in the region.
He added that the AIOU has also embarked upon an ambitious plan of Open schooling to bring out-of-school and drop-out young men and women into the mainstream of education.
He said the scheme also envisages educating one million out-of-school young females through Open Schooling system.
The President said that the government has also introduced constructive schemes for the welfare of youth and sufficient funds have been allocated to promote education and self-employment of the youth.
The President appreciated the role of AIOU in catering to the educational needs of more than 1.3 million students every year, which reflects the confidence of the students in the AIOU as a reliable institution for quality education.
He said the AIOU has emerged as a reliable institution of quality education and contributed to the cause of education during the last 40 years.
Vice Chancellor AIOU, Prof. Nazir Ahmed Sangi said that AIOU is fully contributing towards promotion of education with special focus on female education and far-flung and backward areas.
He said that around eight million students had got education from AIOU and it is working with the government to bring one million out of school children for enrolment and provide them quality education.
