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KP government expedites efforts to set up Education City
The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf-led Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has expedited efforts to set up the Education City, an iconic project that would help establish the party’s image of change.
“Formal work on the project has already been started. The feasibility report has been made, Section-4 imposed for land acquisition, and more importantly, the education authority for the purpose has been formed,” said Asad Qaiser, a senior leader of PTI and speaker of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly, who considers the Education City as one of his four priorities.
His other priorities, besides development of his native district, Swabi, are education programme for orphans and street children on the pattern of Ummah Welfare Trust, establishment of industrial estate and construction of expressway from Motorway to Chakdara.
Asad Qaiser was quite serious about the Education City, which, he said, he was pursuing personally. “The Education City would be established at an area of 30,000 kanals of land near Karnal Sher Khan Interchange on Motorway in the Nowshera district. Initial work for the project has been done. Budget would be announced for it in the next phase,” he told The News.
Some 20 state-run universities have expressed willingness to set up campuses in the city. The University of Bedfordshire has already inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the provincial government to set up its campus. “Efforts are also on to sign a similar MoU with the University of Bradford,” Asad Qaiser said.
The provincial assembly speaker said the provincial government would fully support and provide free land to the world universities that want to set up regional campus in the area. The provincial government has also reached an understanding with the British Council, which recently arranged a visit for the government representatives to the United Kingdom where they participated in an international education roundtable.
Asad Qaiser said the UK visit provided them a good opportunity to share the idea with the leading educationists from across the world. Khalid Khan, additional secretary higher education, who is supervising the project, told The News that they have arranged meetings with all the stakeholders to ensure early execution of the project. He said technically speaking, formal work on the proposed Education City has been started and the idea would soon be translated into practical shape.
According to the concept paper of the project, the Education City referred to the development of knowledge based economy with world class infrastructure and market-oriented courses. “The key point that needs to be borne in mind is that Education City development should not be viewed as real estate development but as a holistic development of an ecosystem that is driven by the passion to create knowledge,” stated the three-page document.
The Education City, the concept paper states, has envisaged a state-of-the-art knowledge-based community development. The ideals of research, innovation, incubation and honing of specialized skills will be at the nucleus.
The development of Education City, with unparalleled infrastructure, research labs, centres for innovation and institutes for specialised studies will make Khyber Pakhtunkhwa the preferred destination for the academic and corporate world, said the concept paper.
The project, if completed, would certainly have a positive impact. “Establishment of the Education City is certainly a positive project. If universities of world repute come here and open their sub-campuses, it would not only promote education, but also contribute to overall development of the province,” said Prof Dr Nasreen Ghufran, a professor at the International Relations Department, University of Peshawar.
It would also attract the local students, who go abroad for education, to get the opportunity in their own province, she said, adding promotion of quality education in this militancy-plagued province was also necessary for restoration of peace.
Education has been one of the top priority area of the PTI government that took power in the province after May 11, 2013 elections. However, nothing tangible could be seen in the field of education during the first 10 month rule of PTI that had been voted to power in the name of change.
Some serious efforts were, however, made for promotion of education. In the first budget of the coalition government education emergency was announced, though no emergency steps could be seen in education sector so far.
The provincial government launched enrollment drive for bringing the out-of-school kids to schools, but it faced the problem of lack of schools and infrastructure to accommodate the millions of out of school kids.
During the three-month enrollment campaign some 300,000 children were enrolled, while still several hundred thousands remain away from education facilities. The Education City, if established, would give a real boost to the PTI government. This would be something visible showing the government’s commitment for promotion of education.
KP government expedites efforts to set up Education City - thenews.com.pk
The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf-led Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has expedited efforts to set up the Education City, an iconic project that would help establish the party’s image of change.
“Formal work on the project has already been started. The feasibility report has been made, Section-4 imposed for land acquisition, and more importantly, the education authority for the purpose has been formed,” said Asad Qaiser, a senior leader of PTI and speaker of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly, who considers the Education City as one of his four priorities.
His other priorities, besides development of his native district, Swabi, are education programme for orphans and street children on the pattern of Ummah Welfare Trust, establishment of industrial estate and construction of expressway from Motorway to Chakdara.
Asad Qaiser was quite serious about the Education City, which, he said, he was pursuing personally. “The Education City would be established at an area of 30,000 kanals of land near Karnal Sher Khan Interchange on Motorway in the Nowshera district. Initial work for the project has been done. Budget would be announced for it in the next phase,” he told The News.
Some 20 state-run universities have expressed willingness to set up campuses in the city. The University of Bedfordshire has already inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the provincial government to set up its campus. “Efforts are also on to sign a similar MoU with the University of Bradford,” Asad Qaiser said.
The provincial assembly speaker said the provincial government would fully support and provide free land to the world universities that want to set up regional campus in the area. The provincial government has also reached an understanding with the British Council, which recently arranged a visit for the government representatives to the United Kingdom where they participated in an international education roundtable.
Asad Qaiser said the UK visit provided them a good opportunity to share the idea with the leading educationists from across the world. Khalid Khan, additional secretary higher education, who is supervising the project, told The News that they have arranged meetings with all the stakeholders to ensure early execution of the project. He said technically speaking, formal work on the proposed Education City has been started and the idea would soon be translated into practical shape.
According to the concept paper of the project, the Education City referred to the development of knowledge based economy with world class infrastructure and market-oriented courses. “The key point that needs to be borne in mind is that Education City development should not be viewed as real estate development but as a holistic development of an ecosystem that is driven by the passion to create knowledge,” stated the three-page document.
The Education City, the concept paper states, has envisaged a state-of-the-art knowledge-based community development. The ideals of research, innovation, incubation and honing of specialized skills will be at the nucleus.
The development of Education City, with unparalleled infrastructure, research labs, centres for innovation and institutes for specialised studies will make Khyber Pakhtunkhwa the preferred destination for the academic and corporate world, said the concept paper.
The project, if completed, would certainly have a positive impact. “Establishment of the Education City is certainly a positive project. If universities of world repute come here and open their sub-campuses, it would not only promote education, but also contribute to overall development of the province,” said Prof Dr Nasreen Ghufran, a professor at the International Relations Department, University of Peshawar.
It would also attract the local students, who go abroad for education, to get the opportunity in their own province, she said, adding promotion of quality education in this militancy-plagued province was also necessary for restoration of peace.
Education has been one of the top priority area of the PTI government that took power in the province after May 11, 2013 elections. However, nothing tangible could be seen in the field of education during the first 10 month rule of PTI that had been voted to power in the name of change.
Some serious efforts were, however, made for promotion of education. In the first budget of the coalition government education emergency was announced, though no emergency steps could be seen in education sector so far.
The provincial government launched enrollment drive for bringing the out-of-school kids to schools, but it faced the problem of lack of schools and infrastructure to accommodate the millions of out of school kids.
During the three-month enrollment campaign some 300,000 children were enrolled, while still several hundred thousands remain away from education facilities. The Education City, if established, would give a real boost to the PTI government. This would be something visible showing the government’s commitment for promotion of education.
KP government expedites efforts to set up Education City - thenews.com.pk
