Pakistanis seek forum help to raise quality of education

Dubai: The main issue of concern for Pakistanis in the UAE is standards of education. This was raised during the first session of the Overseas Pakistanis Forum held recently.

Pakistani Ambassador at Large, Javed Malek, Vice-Chairman of the Forum, called on Pakistan's Federal Minister for Overseas Pakistanis and forum chairman, Dr Farooq Sattar, to develop a mechanism of support for Pakistani Schools in the UAE to improve the standard of education being offered to the community.

Opportunities

The forum aimed at providing an opportunity to the Pakistanis based outside the country to communicate with the decision makers in Pakistan on issues that concern them. "This Forum gives a consultative role to the community," explained Malek.

The Forum started with a detailed presentation by Malek, who is also a Governor of Overseas Pakistanis Foundation.

In his presentation he highlighted the issues being faced by overseas Pakistanis and called on the Minister to evolve a innovative strategy to resolve the issues being faced.

He was critical of the fact that all Pakistani expatriates get wrongly stereotyped only as "workers" whose role is limited to just sending remittances.

"They have a much bigger and wider role" he said, "Pakistanis living abroad have acquired positions of affluence and influence, they have gained skills, professional training and resources and many others feature in the most influential and rich list of their host countries.

"There are people of Pakistani origins who are Ministers, and Members of Parliament or lead some of the worlds largest multi nationals.

"All of them are keen to play a role in supporting their country but there is no framework that allows them to do this."

Policies

He said this culture needs to change, and the government must review its policy on overseas Pakistanis as a whole.

Speaking about the issues of Overseas Pakistanis in UAE, he said as the population of Pakistanis has grown in UAE, naturally their needs have also changed and increased.

Housing Projects for those expatriates who wish to return after employment as well as a pension scheme also came under discussion.

Business connections

It was suggested an Overseas Pakistanis Business Club should be established.

This would allow business networking and provide investment advice to those who want to invest in Pakistan through a structured system.

Dr Sattar said he will give a priority to resolving the issues being faced by the UAE based Pakistanis.

He also proposed to the community to look at the possibilities of public-private partnership opportunities whereas the government would extend its support to the initiatives raised in the Forum.