Former Governor State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Dr Ishrat Hussain said on Tuesday that over Rs 1 trillion injected by federal and provincial governments in state-owned enterprises (SOEs) reflects their flawed priorities. Speaking as the chief guest to the '1st National Forum on Philanthropy in Pakistan' Hussain said, "As a result we cannot find resources for research and development, which are critical to equip people with technical education to take advantage of employment opportunities offered by various countries."
"State does not do very good in allocating resources," he further stated while emphasizing that investment in technical education is very important to reap the benefits of demographic dividend. He said that Pakistan can exploit the opportunity in various countries by providing technical education to the youth, but he lamented that the sector is on low priority of the government. He urged the philanthropists to start investing in technical education, saying: "I have not seen much imitative on technical and vocational education."
Hussain further said that microfinance has not been targeting the female segment of society despite their tremendous record of repayment and emphasized the NGOs to also approach least developed Balochistan, southern part of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Fata. The former SBP governor stated it is important for civil society to pay more focus on backward areas and ensure that microfinance reaches the females because women constitute half of the population.
He said that financial sustainability, deficit of trust and question of accountability for NGOs have to be taken care of in order to protect philanthropy in the country. Chairman Pakistan Center for Philanthropy (PCP) Zaffar Ali Khan in his welcome address said as a country people of Pakistan have not done well on social indictors and are lagging far behind from regional countries. "As Pakistanis we do not pay taxes but are very generous in giving philanthropy and plugging the gap of social development," he said.
He said that even limited resources are being misused but PCP which came into existence in 2001 is providing support to all the stakeholders. He said Pakistan cannot move on a path to development without investing in social sector. Chairman Higher Education Commission Dr Mukhtiar said that only the government funding for HEC is not adequate and private sector should come forward.
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