Parliamentary Secretary for Education Gul Muhammad Jakhrani on Friday stressed the need for acquiring technical and vocational education to achieve national prosperity. "The technical education leads to provision of skilled manpower - the gateway for sustainable development", he made these remarks in the closing ceremony of three-day seminar on "The contribution of TVET for Sustainable Development with implications for its Teachers Education" here.
The ceremony was organised under Unesco participation programme 2008-09 in collaboration with Pakistan National Commission for Unesco. He said that the education for Sustainable Development (ESD) envisions a world where every person has the chance to benefit from educational opportunities as well as to learn the lifestyles and values necessary to create a sustainable future.
"The inclusion of education for sustainable development (ESD) in pre-service and in-service courses at different levels, sustainable school and university movements with manifold activities indicate an increasing commitment towards an ESD agenda in education", he remarked.
He emphasised on the need to co-ordinate and publicise these activities for better output. He expressed the hope that sharing of knowledge and experiences in the seminar will lead to make plans for further improvement of TVET. In the seminar, 18 papers were presented by the TVET scholars who came from UK, Germany, Philippines, Malaysia, Nigeria, and Pakistan.
The Director General, NISTE, Bashir Ahmad Abbasi unfolded the main objectives of the conference. "We have arranged a get together to discuss progress of regional countries on several interlinked strategies on sustainability proposed by Unesco-UNEVOC", the DG said. In addition to paper presenters, the seminar was also attended by researchers, senior teachers, administrators and decision makers from TVET system from all over the country, including officials of Ministries of Education.