Nuaman Ishfaq Mughal,
Islamabad: There is immense potential for the establishment of distance and e-Learning industry in Pakistan based on international best practices and standards. This was stated by Dr Nazir Ahmed Sangi, former Vice Chancellor, Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU) at the Guest Lecture on ‘China-Pakistan Economic Corridor: Prospects of Distance & E-Learning for Human Development’ organised by the Islamabad Policy Research Institute. The lecture was attended by academicians, students and journalists.
Dr Nazir Ahmed Sangi provided an overview of how AIOU broke new grounds in the fields of professional, scientific, and technical education by reaching out to the remotest areas of Pakistan through modern Information Technology. He said that in far-flung areas like Umerkot, Dera Ghazi Khan, Rahim Yar Khan, and Multan state-of-art study centres, with no faculty, were imparting online trainings and education to rural students. Dr Sangi was of the view that the full potential of CPEC was yet to be understood, especially in terms of its prospects for human development. ‘One area Pakistan could benefit from Chinese expertise and assistance in the form of laying out infrastructure, is Distance and e-Learning,’ he stressed.
However, he also urged that the National Education Policy of Pakistan needed to catch up with the CPEC initiative. ‘Pakistan’s education policy needs to be collaborative and innovative, and accommodate DL and e-Learning by following high standards, developing good infrastructure and focused facilities. It needs to be a policy which is multilingual, multicultural and tolerant,’ he advised.
Stressing the importance of CPEC trainings and education, Dr Sangi called for the need to produce dynamic professionals in commercial and engineering disciplines by developing strong processes, safety procedures, skills, communication methods and team work ethics for rapid growth and quality conscious output.
Demonstrating AIOU’s first online Chinese language course modules, he urged that enhancing internet connectivity in far-flung areas could revolutionise distance and e-learning and help equip the Pakistani population with modern skills and knowledge, as well as bridge the digital divide.
Earlier, welcoming Dr Sangi and other guests, Brig. (Retd.) Naveed Ali, Director Administration at IPRI, highlighted that CPEC could contribute significantly towards Pakistan’s human resource development. He said that under CPEC, setting up of various optical fiber cables presented an opportune moment for the development of the IT sector of Pakistan which in turn could enhance connectivity.
