KARACHI, Pakistan: President Dr. Arif Alvi has said that Pakistan only produces 35,000 graduates in IT and related fields every year which is not adequate to meet the needs of the market.
While chairing the 1st meeting of the Senate of Pakistan Air Force Air War College Institute (AWCI) in Karachi on Tuesday, the president said that Pakistan must improve the number of graduates in IT and related disciplines to keep pace with the rest of the world.
The president said that Pakistan must bring 22 million out-of-school children to schools besides improving the enrolment rate in higher educational institutions.
Dr. Arif Alvi said that in Pakistan, only 9% of the students goes to universities after F.Sc whereas in India and Bangladesh the enrolment rate is between 20-25%.
The president urged the universities to further improve the standard of education and training to produce high-quality and skilled graduates, especially in the field of IT.
The president added that Information Technology and Emerging Technologies have great scope and potential, and universities need to produce more graduates in these fields by utilizing online and hybrid modes of learning.
President Arif Alvi also urged the universities to utilize their physical infrastructure efficiently and introduce multiple shifts in universities besides increasing the quantum of online education to increase the number of students in universities.
The president highlighted that 52% of cyber security experts in the world has no degrees and they equip themselves with skills through online education. He said that Pakistan has introduced an online programme digiskills for youth’s skill development in the field of IT which is a great success as over 2.5 million people has benefitted from this programme so far.
During the meeting, it was agreed that avenues for online education would be explored with time as the traditional brick-and-mortar system could not produce the required number of graduates.
The representative of the Higher Education Commission (HEC) informed the meeting that in Karachi, almost 70,000 students pass the F.Sc examination while only 8,000 students are able to secure admission to Higher Education Institutions due to the shortage of seats and limited physical resources.
During the meeting, the Annual Report of the AWCI was also presented, and different aspects related to the performance of AWCI, infrastructure development and future plans were also shared.
