Ahsan Iqbal stresses research on knowledge economy

LAHORE Nov 25 (APP): Federal Minister for Planning Development and Reforms Prof Ahsan Iqbal Friday said the government was attaching high significance to the knowledge economy and it was high time to
replace our traditional teaching style with interactive teaching style to create productive thinking among students.
He was addressing the concluding session of a 3 day, 4th International Conference on Research in Education (ICORE 2016) at Punjab University’s Faisal Auditorium.
PU Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Mujahid Kamran, Prof Dr Mumtaz Akhtar, Prof Dr Abid Hussain Chaudhry and a large number of students were present on the occasion.
The minister said youth were Pakistan’s biggest power and if they could be given quality education, they would become the largest driving force for the development of the country.
He said universities must create skills among the students, produce world class research, bridge gap between academia and industry, work for community
uplift and play role for elimination of extremism from society.
He expressed concern over Pakistan being ranked as least efficient innovator.
In knowledge economy era, he said, creativity and innovation were
fundamental drivers of progress and prosperity and no country could afford to ignore innovation.
“We are living in a very competitive world and being categorised as least efficient innovator is a very serious challenge which requires extra
ordinary effort,” he added.
He said the standards of development had changed and now
the development of a country depended upon six things. He said how surplus was the production of the country i.e., the economic development; whether the development was inclusive and all the
areas and segments of society are benefiting from the development and what was the competitiveness of the country?
He said “We need to enhance our production capacity and improve our standard continuously. We need to introduce knowledge and information
revolution in the country and introduce innovations in all the sectors.”
Prof Ahsan said Pakistan’s economy was emerging rapidly
and now heavy investment was being poured especially in energy sector in the country.
The minister said Pakistan has huge potential to get place among top 10 economies of the world for which “We need to conduct research on modern technology.”
He said Pakistan checked the menace of terrorism and also tried to
overcome energy crisis, adding that the power load shedding would end in the next two years.
Ahsan Iqbal said now “We need to portray the positive image of the country to bring foreign investment and economic growth.”
He said under Prime Minister’s 2025 Vision budget for education sector had been raised up to Rs 2115 billion.
He said the academic environment of Punjab University had improved manifold and it was hoped that PU would lead in all these matters.
PU Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Mujahid Kamran lauded Prof Ahsan Iqbal for extending all out support to the universities.
He said because of special attention of Prof Ahsan Iqbal, as many as Rs 8.4 million were given to Punjab University in 2014 15 session for various academic and development projects.