Raising standard of education: four-year bachelor degree programme being mulled: Shafqat

The federal government is working on introducing 4-year bachelor's degree programme to raise the standards of education in the country to make it relevant to international requirements, said Shafqat Mahmood, Federal Minister for Education and Professional Training Thursday.
Addressing the participants of "Future Summit," Shafqat said that present bachelor's degree programme has lost its relevance and to make it relevant for present and future, the government is working to put in place four years bachelor degree programme.
He said that government is also craft the laws to create the standards in education to make the national education relevant to workplace. He believed that many old jobs are vanishing and new opportunities are being created due to rapid progress in technology, which can be tapped only with the new standards in education.
He identified vocational training a key area on which government is working and disclosed that 300 metric-tech schools would be developed to import the vocational training at early.
Minister also spoke on national standards of education and said that government is committed to introduce uniform national curriculum to bring at par the schools and religious Madressahs in the country.
He also deplored the fact that education in the country has lost the relevance, which is giving rise to the unemployment despite the passing out graduates from universities. "We are engaging the stakeholders to create the linkages between the educational institutions with industry," he added.
Later, General Zubair Mahmood Hayat, Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee addressing the concluding session of the summit said that changing scenario in the world is giving birth to new challenges and opportunities.
He underlined the need for improving the standards of education in the country to bring it part with the international standards.
Speaking about the global situation, General Hayat believed that world order is shifting from unipolar to multipolar and said that there is trust deficit in the present world order, which he said is posing threats to global system .
He also underscored the need for balance of power and environment of cooperation for the stability and development in the region. He urged for fostering the trust between the stakeholders and for peaceful of resolutions of all disputes.
General Hayat also felt that country needs to produce the human workforce that is capable to catering the needs of 21st century.
Talking about situation in Indian-Occupied Kashmir (IoK), the CJSC Chief said that situation in the valley poses threats to security and peace in the region.
He said that IoK has turned into biggest militarized zone in the world and added that Kashmir issue has become a human issue.
During the course of the event, penal discussions were held pertaining to various issues concerning the future requirements, in which eminent experts of the respective fields participated.