Tariq Fazal Chaudhry State Minister for Capital Administration and Development Division (CADD) has said that the social sciences can play key role in strong building of societies, as mega projects, infrastructures and constructions can only build cities but not societies. He said this while speaking at the concluding session of Asia's first-ever Social Sciences Expo 2016 that was held here on Thursday at Pak-China Friendship Centre.
The expo was organised by Inter-University Consortium for Promotion of Social Sciences and a Media Group. More than 30 universities participated in the expo that brought in academicians, policymakers, parliamentarians, diplomats, government officials, writers, professors and young scholars on one platform to showcase their achievements in these subjects. He highlighted the importance of social sciences saying that provinces have started focusing on education and there is a positive competition among provinces in this regard.
Chairperson South Asian Strategic Stability Institute (SASSI) University Dr Maria Sultan highlighted the importance of social sciences in Pakistan. The world can be changed tomorrow by focusing on social sciences. Through social sciences, perception of Muslim identity can be changed in the world, she said.
Tariq Fazal Chaudhry assured that the issues of the social sciences would be taken up with the federal government for immediate resolution. Chairman Inter-University Consortium Dr Nasir Ali Khan said that the federal government should increase the funding to the government universities. The government is not spending much on social sciences. The funding needs to be enhanced. Today, education sector is still 1.9% of GDP, whereas, it was supposed to be 5% in 2015 and then 7% in 2020. We, the social sciences universities, are the most neglected among educational institutes. South Korea and Thailand have developed exceptionally because invested in their human resources.
In order to encourage the youth participation, various activities were chalked out in the expo. The main activities of the expo includes a two-day international conference, parliamentary forum, scholars forum, diplomats forum, book festival, culture pavilions expo, distribution of Social Sciences Awards, workshops for university faculty students, career counselling session. Various universities displayed their stalls along with the relevant details that were provided to the students.
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