ISLAMABAD, Aug 25 (APP): President Dr. Arif Alvi on Thursday urged the students to persistently continue their quest for knowledge by remaining intellectually humble, developing critical and logical thinking, and gaining marketable skills to achieve academic and professional excellence.
He was talking to the students of Gilgit-Baltistan (GB), who achieved top positions in the Matriculation exams, here at the Aiwan-e-Sadr.
Chief Secretary Gilgit-Baltistan Mohyuddin Ahmad Wani, and senior officials of the GB government attended the meeting.
The President said that persistence and hard work as well as developing critical thinking skills were the bedrock for success in academic and professional life.
He added that the youth should have confidence in their abilities to achieve success and should continue to increase their knowledge and competency to achieve gainful careers, a press release issued by President’s Media Wing said.
The President advised the students to seek Almighty Allah’s blessing for opening their hearts and minds for receiving knowledge and information, gaining effective and convincing communication and analytical skills and the ability to achieve targets and goals which were beneficial for them and the entire society.
While expressing his concern over the lower female retention rates in the medical profession, he said that women made up almost 70% to 80% of the total students enrolled in the professional institutes, whereas only 20 % of them enter the job market which was quite low and worrisome.
The President said that there should be counseling at all levels for female students and their families on regular basis to give them the confidence and assurance that women can pursue their careers without any fear or intimidation.
He advised the students to take advantage of online sources of knowledge and information to continuously update their knowledge for remaining abreast with the latest developments as well as for competing with other students of other countries, seek admissions in reputed institutions, win scholarships and secure jobs in the international markets.
The President said that despite the shortcomings of education system in the country, Pakistani students were capable of competing with their fellow students from developed countries due to their exceptional intellect, unmatched hard work and desire to seek knowledge.
He highlighted the crucial role of the educational institutions to produce quality and skillful human resource which was direly needed for fast-track socio-economic uplift of the country.
The President advised the students to seek employment in business, trade and commerce preferably within the country, as their knowledge and skills were needed for the progress and development of the country.
He said that Gilgit-Baltistan had tremendous natural resources which needed to be explored by the trained human resource in relevant disciplines.
The President also called upon the government of Gilgit-Baltistan to take all possible steps to bring out-of-school children into the school system and take all measures to reduce dropout rates.
Chief Secretary of Gilgit-Baltistan Mohyuddin Ahmad Wani apprised the meeting about the steps taken by the GB government for the promotion of education, the establishment of computer labs in existing schools and bringing the out-of-school children into the education system.
