Faisalabad:Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Professor Ahsan Iqbal on Thursday said that Pakistan’s development agenda could not be completed without placing its young population at the center of national policy-making as the decisions taken today would shape the lives of generations to come.
Addressing a ceremony at Government College Women University Faisalabad (GCWUF), he stressed the need to build a healthy, educated, skilled and socially conscious youth capable of leading the country in the future.
He said that around two-thirds of Pakistan’s population comprised young people, making investment in education, health, human development and leadership development essential for the country’s long-term progress.
He said that Pakistan needed a young generation equipped not only with academic qualifications but also with awareness, confidence, positive thinking and a strong sense of responsibility so that it could effectively assume leadership roles in the future.
He said that it was an honor for him to inaugurate two projects at GCWUF and expressed pleasure at visiting an institution where around 11,000 female students were pursuing higher education.
He said that the growing number of women pursuing higher education reflected the expanding opportunities available to Pakistani women to contribute to national development.
Referring to his home district Narowal, Federal Minister Ahsan Iqbal said that there had been a time when the area had no higher educational institution. Talented boys and girls who secured good marks and academic positions were often unable to travel to other cities for higher education, he added.
He said that the University of Narowal was established to address this need and now it had around 8,000 students enrolled, providing local youth with greater access to higher education.
The federal minister said that the Ministry of Planning and Development had launched the Young Development Fellows (YDF) Program to provide young people with opportunities to participate in development-related activities.
Initially, 40 young people from universities across the country were selected for fellowships under this program, he said, adding that its scope was subsequently expanded through chapters established at universities.
He said that YDF chapters were now functioning in 165 universities while leadership training was also being provided to young participants to prepare them for future leadership responsibilities.
He said that Pakistan had made progress in competing with the world economically to some extent but its social indicators still required substantial improvement.
He said that national resources had for a long period been directed more towards physical infrastructure than social infrastructure, although investments in education, health and human resource development often produced their benefits over a much longer period.
He stressed that investment in the social sector was essential to building a stronger foundation for Pakistan’s future.
He said that greater awareness needed to be created in the society about the importance of education, adding that ensuring access to quality education for children was imperative for developing the human capital required for national progress.
He also called for greater attention to public health and said that the society still displayed considerable negligence towards preventive healthcare and Pakistan faced serious challenges from the spread of diabetes.
He said that the focus should not remain confined to treat diseases after they emerged rather the society should promote healthier lifestyles and social behaviors for preventing diseases in the first place.
The minister also highlighted population growth as an important challenge and said that Pakistan’s population growth rate had reached 2.55 percent.
At such a high growth rate, achieving national development targets became increasingly difficult because economic and social resources had to meet the needs of a rapidly expanding population, he added.
He emphasized the importance of early childhood development and said that first five years of a child’s life were crucial and around 90 percent of brain development was completed during this period.
He urged parents and society to recognize the importance of providing children with a supportive environment, proper nutrition, education and effective upbringing during their formative years.
He said that investment in early childhood development could have long-term implications for the intellectual, physical and social development of future generations.
Speaking about climate change, the federal minister said that Pakistan was among the countries which are facing serious impacts from changing climatic conditions while deforestation continued to pose an additional environmental challenge.
He called for collective responsibility to protect the environment and ensure a safer future for coming generations.
Expanding on the concept of social responsibility, he said that people should not regard their home merely as the four walls in which they lived, but they should consider the entire society as their larger home and take responsibility for its well-being.
The minister urged young people to demonstrate self-confidence, positive thinking and responsibility while playing their role in the country’s development.
He urged the students and young people to play an active role in countering fake news, hate speech and extremist tendencies, stressing the need to challenge narratives that could push young people towards hatred and violence.
He said that misuse of social media and the spread of fake news had emerged as major challenges for the society, making it essential for young people to verify information before accepting or sharing it.
He called upon the students to adopt positive thinking and responsible digital behavior, saying an informed and responsible youth could help build a more tolerant, educated and stable society and contribute meaningfully to Pakistan’s long-term development.