Framework for Economic Growth, Pakistan - Planning Commission

International conference on “Framework for Economic Growth, Pakistan”Questions and AnswersQUESTION:Question: I am Chairman of IT department of University of Sargodha. My question is that whiletalking about creative ideas we see that government has invested billions of rupees in publicschool buildings. Some other countries like India are using their buildings in evening. Buildingscan be used for software houses and call centres in the evening. Is that idea applicable or not touse these buildings twenty four hours for classes in evening in Pakistan?Question: I am Professor of Political Science Department in Karachi University. I would like torefer to the issues like we facing here in Karachi. If we talk about USA, Canada and Japan wefind that their political environment is absolutely perfect. We have both domestic and foreignstudies on political economy of Pakistan. My question is that how can we make concrete andpractical recommendations for the political stability of Pakistan?Question: If in our education system universities are designing courses in relevance to thedifferent area requirements then when this system is going to be implemented?Question: I am from Lasbela University and I teach entrepreneurship subject. We talked aboutbusiness plans and developing linkages with the industry for their development. Researchersneed research facilities for their work. We have a very limited job market and we need tomotivate our graduates to develop their own businesses. My question is that how researchers canhave facilities to apply entrepreneurship skills in the industry?Question: In the presentation the speakers discussed about universities as centres for knowledgecreation. Industry-academia linkage was highlighted for innovation. Is the role of the universitiesconfined to knowledge creation or to develop industry-academia linkages?Question: I am from University of Sargodha. My question is that how can we develop humancapital for productivity and development. There are political problems in universities with fightfor titles, devolution, and lack of academic leadership etc. There is absence of senior facultymembers.. How can we develop human capital for being competitive and to meet globalizationchallenges?Question: Based on my experience of serving in universities I feel that universities should beacademically, administratively and financially autonomous. Boards in universities should havethe powers to take decisions. I invite the comments of the speakers and discussants.Question: I am Akbar Khawaja, former Senator and World Bank official. I would like toappreciate Dr. Nadeem Ul Haque, Dr. Leghari and the sponsors here for having such a largeaudience in this conference. In my opinion determination and implementation are very importantto make things possible. FEG is an excellent framework and I have gone through the document. Iwould like to ask one line message to integrate all the things discussed here.Question: We have discussed about human capital development. There are so many ghostschools in rural areas in Pakistan. Schools are there in papers but don’t physically exist. My pointis that we have universities, HEC etc. but don’t have focus on school education. Please comment.65