STAFF REPORT IBD: Eminent scientist, educationist, founder chairman of HEC and President Pakistan Academy of Sciences Prof. Dr. Atta-ur-Rahman has said that most successful economies in the world today are knowledge based and if Pakistan wants to move forward, it will have to spend more on education, especially, on engineering and hi-tech sectors.
In this regard, he quoted China, Korea and Malaysia that have rapidly progressed by developing knowledge-based societies.
While talking to theTechnologyTimes, Dr. Atta said that to achieve this purpose the government, industry and the universities will have to work in a synergy to make a favourable environment for the investment and further to sustain it, he concluded.
He regretted saying, “Pakistan is spending only 1.9 per cent of its GDP on education and out of it only 13 to 25 per cent goes to higher education whereas India has allocated Rs. 120,000 crore as total education budget for 5 years out of which 25 per cent will go to universities that is many times higher than the allocations made to 157 Pakistani universities.”
The Indian Institute of Technologies that were 7 have increased to 16 and the country is about to establish 200 more new universities, he said. In contrast to the government assessments, he claimed, literacy rate in Pakistan might be 25 to 30 per cent and around 70 to 75 per cent population cannot read a newspaper.