Education and economic development of a nation go side by side, as the academic amelioration leads to economic prosperity, democratic and cultural up-gradation and social uplift, Government College University (GCU) Lahore, Vice-chancellor Professor Dr Khalid Aftab said.
Talking to a Turkish delegation led by Harun Koken, Chairman Rumi Forum (Turkey) and Turgut Puyan, Chairman Pak-Turk Businessmen Association that visited the University on Friday, Aftab said that it was not the literacy rate but good quality education at primary, secondary and tertiary level that promotes understanding, among individuals of a society to create ideal tolerant social life.
He quoted an example of Sri Lanka where literacy rate is very high but still facing a lot of security problems. He said that education should be aimed at stabilising a society through promotion of culture of tolerance and mutual respect for each other's ideas. He apprised the Turkish delegation regarding the academic profile and historic perspective of the varsity and proposed to launch Turkish language courses at the campus in order to promote lingual and cultural ties between the two countries.
Harun Koken agreed to the proposal floated by the VC and assured that all out human resources in this regard would be provided by Turkey.
He told the VC that the Turkish government is holistically spending money on education sector and there is 94 percent literacy rate in Turkey. To achieve more excellence in education sector, the Turkish government has established 39 universities over the short span of five years.
He also told that Turkish government was taking keen interest in the promotion of sophisticated Information Technology and 600,000 computers and internet facilities have been provided to the public sector schools of the country during the last one year.