Pakistan to set up free tech university based on merit

Dubai: Pakistan will establish a technology-focused university offering free education to students selected purely on merit, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif announced on Wednesday as he unveiled a series of initiatives aimed at expanding opportunities for the country’s youth.

The new institution, to be called Daanish University, will focus on technology education and will admit students without regard to their financial circumstances, Dawn reported.

Shehbaz made the announcement at an event in Islamabad marking International Youth Day, where he also acknowledged that Pakistan remained “still far” from becoming the social welfare state envisioned at the time of the country’s creation.

The prime minister used the occasion to highlight what he described as a stark divide in educational opportunities between wealthy and poorer families.

Shehbaz said children from affluent families had access to Pakistan’s best educational institutions and could go on to study at leading universities in Britain and North America.

But millions of other young Pakistanis who desperately wanted an education were denied even basic opportunities, he said.

He presented the Daanish schools, which he established while serving as Punjab chief minister, as one way of narrowing that divide by providing quality education to children from poorer families.

Thousands of Daanish school graduates had since become doctors, engineers and teachers, Shehbaz said, describing their progress as part of efforts to realise Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah’s vision for Pakistan.

Addressing students attending the event, the prime minister stressed that Pakistan could not afford to leave its large youth population without the skills needed to progress.

“If we could not give you essential skills, then we won’t be forgiven in this world or the next,” Dawn quoted him as saying.

Shehbaz also announced an expansion of state-funded opportunities for high-achieving Pakistani students to study in China.

As last year, 1,000 students will be sent to China for agricultural education. In addition, high-performing students will this year be given opportunities to study information technology and artificial intelligence in China at government expense.

Shehbaz said funds had been allocated in the current budget for youth empowerment and development.

At the event, he also inaugurated the Power Sector Innovation Programme, the National Youth Employment Policy and the Skills Ambassador Programme.

Chairman of the Prime Minister’s Youth Programme Rana Mashhood Ahmed Khan praised Shehbaz’s efforts to create opportunities for young Pakistanis and said the country’s progress was increasingly being recognised internationally.