For brianstorming with the cross section of society on overcoming the educational and employment crisis in the country, Coded Minds organized a talk ‘Reskilling The Next Generation of Pakistan: Role of Corporate, Public and Development Sectors’ at a local hotel. Coded Minds’ Founder and Executive Chairman Omar Farooqui initiated the discussion, expressing his vision for the education revolution in the country which aims to eliminate the gap between rich and poor and public and private. Shedding light on the state of education, he said that the country was running on a 200-year-old system the concepts of which had become obsolete as new trends had arrived in the world. “The world is learning Artificial Intelligence, Robotics and Data Science but here children were still being taught theories that have no significance in practical life. That’s why people having gold medals and multiple Masters degrees were unemployed because they were not skilled up for the real world,” he said. He added that the vision of Coded Minds was to create the affordability and accessibility of STEM learning for every household in the country so that no one is left behind and this is only possible with public-private partnerships in the field of education. He said that Coded Minds aimed to provide quality education to 5 million out-of-school children in the country in the next few years. The talk was divided into two sessions of 120 minutes. The first was on Empowering the Human Capital and the second on the Future of Education. Both of them included distinguished sets of panelists and were moderated by Farooqui himself. Speaking to the first session, PPP MPA Sharmila Farooqui emphasized on the promoting the inclusion of women in the education process saying that they face a systematic discrimination in the society beginning from their own households. Referring to the role of the women in the polio drive across the country, she said maintaining gender parity can bring the anticipated revolution in the country. Sindh lawmaker Arsalan Taj Ghumman who belongs to the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf said that youth in the country lacked opportunities providing which was the responsibility of the state. He said that although the governments increased budget regularly for education yet the standard of it had not raised because of traditional academic content. Sui Southern Gas Company spokesperson Shahbaz Islam said that Pakistan had become the fifth populous country in the world, boasting a youth bulge with an average age of 22 years. He said that having young people in such large numbers was an opportunity for the country to lead the world given proper strategy is engaged. K-Electric director Ahsan Anis said that the public-private partnerships were inevitable to make the society better because it was not only the responsibility of the state but of everyone. He said that the sense of ownership needed to be brought among people across the board to make them part of the change that country hopes for. All Pakistan Tajir Ittehad leader Atiq Mir stressed on promoting the education saying that it serves the same purpose in society as eyes do in a body. He said that it was the responsibility of everyone in the country to play their part in bringing the education revolution in the country. He added when this education and employment drive by the Coded Minds will reach goth and remote parts of the country, the real progress will start taking place. A large number of people from corporate, development and governments sectors attended the event as well as students and their parents. The audience also asked razor-sharp questions from the panelists, leaving everyone in the quest to learn more.
