Gandaki: Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ has said education sector has a pivotal role to play for achieving the government’s goal of social justice, good governance and prosperity.
Addressing the 18th Convocation Ceremony of Pokhara University at the University’s central office at Khudi Dhungepatan in Pokhara today, he said the government is making the final preparations for bringing the Federal Education Act for implementing the right to free education enshrined in the Constitution.
The Prime Minister, who is also the Chancellor of the University, hoped that the policy, institutional, structural and functional challenges and problems of the education sector would be addressed through the Federal Education Act. He added that the government would achieve its goal of social justice, good governance and prosperity through the highly intellectual activities and the positive and constructive cooperation of the intelligentsia in the education sector.
Expressing the confidence that the students graduating from the University would prove to be competent and the best human resources in the world, PM Dahal said, “The important responsibility of creating the environment of retaining the human resources who go to foreign countries due to various reasons by means of employment and skills rests on your shoulders.”
Noting that the State expected the University graduates to utilise their knowledge and skills in minimizing the impact of various stressors as the Gorkha earthquake, Covid-19 and the Russia-Ukraine war on the national economy, the Prime Minister said the responsibility of saving the country from possible future crises resulting from the environmental and climate change impact fell on their shoulders.
He called on the graduates to make a concrete contribution to the transformation of society by linking the knowledge gained in University to production, employment generation, peace, stability and the overall development process of the country. For this to happen, the learning should be brought to lifelong use, the knowledge should be transferred to the future generations and used in innovation and entrepreneurship, he stressed.
According to him, the time has come to utilise the theoretical and practical knowledge gained in various subjects in facing the challenges seen in the country’s economic, social and other sectors and to turn the challenges into opportunities. The Prime Minister urged the University to expand its policies and programmes by addressing the different aspects of education, health, tourism and industry, and stressing on teaching- learning and research on subjects determined as priority sector by the State.
He assured of the State’s full support and cooperation to the University for meeting its goals. Stating that he was born in Kaski district, the PM said the district has immense possibility in education, health, tourism and adventure sports. “There is no disagreement that compared to the rest of the universities Pokhara University can provide a significant contribution to the development of educational tourism and health tourism,” he said and underscored the need of producing human resources capable of providing successful leadership in various sectors by enhancing the access and quality of higher education for building a knowledge-based society and economy. On the occasion, PM Dahal awarded medals to the students excelling in various subjects.