Education budget to be raised to 7pc of GDP: Zardari

ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari, while emphasising the commitment of the PPP government towards the education sector, said on Friday that the education budget would be raised up to 7 per cent of the GDP in the next five years and the higher education budget would be increased by 20 per cent during this period.

He said the university budget would gradually increase up to three times in the next five years. “The government has approved higher salary structure for vice chancellors and faculty of universities in accordance with the market rates,” the president said during a meeting with vice chancellors/rectors of the universities across the country at the presidency here.

Vice chancellors, rectors and presidents of over 100 universities, both in the public and private sectors, attended the meeting, which became an interactive session of leading academicians and educationists with the president.

President Zardari said universities were the battleground for fighting the battle of minds and ideas.“Our graduates must be men and women of vision, knowledge, courage and integrity,” he said.

The president said that the vice chancellors as leaders of educational institutions had a great role to play in producing responsible and productive citizens.“As vice chancellors and heads of universities, you are like the thread that holds the beads together,” he remarked.

The president urged the heads of institutions to rise to the expectations of the nation in producing quality manpower.The president said the government was working on a package on Madaris reforms as a long-term measure to reform the extremist mindset. He was responding to the issues raised by the vice chancellor of the University of Balochistan.

The president said that education played an important role in national harmony and integration. He stressed the need for harmony and said that Balochistan needed special handling, adding that he had already asked parliament to consider giving amnesty to the politicians of Balochistan in exile.

He also said that the government was committed to integrating minorities into the national mainstream, so that they could also play their role as citizens of the country.On the suggestion of a vice chancellor, the president said that he would recommend to the government to consider setting up universities in the rural areas as well.

He also suggested that the public-private partnership model could be used effectively to promote higher education in the country.With a view to focus on the quality and calibre of the heads of universities, an institutional mechanism called the Vice Chancellor Search Committee is already in place to recommend a panel of names for the selection of vice chancellors.

Chairman Higher Education Commission Dr Javaid R Laghari thanked the president for meeting the heads of universities and institutions of higher learning and for his keen interest in the development of the education sector.

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