EXCLUSIVE – FIRD Presser: Pakistan Gov. Urged to Engage Youth in Education, Sports, Politics; Toaha Qureshi MBE and Tahia Noon MPA

EXCLUSIVE – FIRD Presser: Pakistan Gov. Urged to Engage Youth in Education, Sports, Politics; Toaha Qureshi MBE and Tahia Noon MPA

In a seminar titled “Education and Youth” organised by Forum for International Relations Development (FIRD) and London College of Business Management and IT (LCBMIT), Toaha Qureshi MBE and Education Secretary Tahia Noon MPA urged British Pakistanis to engage the youth in various activities ranging from sports and education to politics and handcraft. The delegation sent by Education Minister Rana Mashood Khan, which also included Mr Shahid Zaman, Additional Secretary/Planning and General who is responsible for higher education,  were given an overview of the work being carried out by FIRD and LCBMIT to support people of Pakistani origin (and others) to better education, skills and provide exposure to the British society.

The official visit comes after meetings in the UK and Pakistan by both Toaha Qureshi MBE and Rana Mashood Khan where a staggering £100,000 Change Maker Scholarship Fund was awarded to the Government of Punjab by LCBMIT at a FIRD seminar where Rana Mashood Khan was a keynote speaker.  The gracious offer was warmly welcomed and greatly appreciated from all quarters. Toaha Qureshi MBE stressed that the education scholarship for deserving students was a continuation of the support by overseas Pakistanis to their country. Punjab is currently leading in the reformation of the country but these projects will also be rolled out across the country, to KPK, Sindh etc. We must ensure youth are made stakeholders in decisions being made so that they prosper in the country.

Tahia Noon MPA, Education Secretary, delved into the preparations being carried out for the second youth festival being organised by the Punjab Government which broke 26 world records and involved approximately 3.1 million people. She went on to say that the plans include having British Pakistanis travel to Pakistan as part of the festival to build bridges and strengthen the links culturally, educationally etc. We have a youth bulge in the country and so we are working very hard to ensure that they are looked after and given a platform to voice their opinions and share ideas.

Shahid Zaman, Additional Secretary, spoke on the higher education improvements taking place in the country as well as at primary level. The government has recently taken back commerce colleges as well as providing more than a thousand labs for schools as well. Mr Zaman said the government was exploring the higher education link with the UK to see what resources could be shared and exchanged to build the sector. Umar Mahmood spoke on the development of Pakistan in recent years, giving examples of Pakistani universities making the world top 200 universities list.

The seminar was attended by community members, students, researchers, lecturers and businessmen.