Survival Of Nation Not Possible Without Education: Dr Amirullah Marwat

Chairman National Assembly Standing Committee on Federal Education and Professional Training, Dr Amirullah Marwat has said that survival of a nation was not possible without education

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 8th May, 2018 ) :Chairman National Assembly Standing Committee on Federal Education and Professional Training, Dr Amirullah Marwat has said that survival of a nation was not possible without education.

He was addressing the announcement ceremony of national winners of Imagine Cup 2018, a technology competition, organized here by the Higher Education Commission (HEC) and Microsoft, Pakistan. National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST) school of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (SEECS) team, 'Fe Amaan', clinched first position, while City University of Science and Information Technology team, 'Data Warriors', and Bahria University, Karachi team, 'IoT Solutions', got second and third positions respectively.

The ceremony was also attended by Dr Arshad Ali, Executive Director, HEC and Abid Zaidi, Country General Manager, Microsoft, Dr G. Raza Bhatti, Member Operations and Planning, HEC. Speaking on the occasion, Dr Amirullah Marwat said Pakistani youth has huge potential which they had demonstrated in the Imagine Cup.

"I am confident now that we Pakistanis, can do anything, but it requires a strong will power," he stated. He stressed the need for self-accountability to address individual and, ultimately, national issues.

He underlined that every sector of the country needs to adopt the modern technologies, especially Information Technology, as this is a need of the hour. He maintained that all the sectors are required to make innovations and encourage novel ideas.

Marwat urged the industry to come forward and award scholarships to Pakistani youth so that they were fully facilitated to serve the country. He advised the students and researchers to ensure their research is based on solutions to problems prevailing in the country.

Congratulating the winners of the national final, Dr Arshad Ali said, "Imagine Cup is all about innovation, transformation and what comes next." He said Imagine Cup continues to cultivate a spirit of social and technological entrepreneurship, empowering students to use their creativity to address real societal problems through technology.

"We have seen extremely innovative ideas coming in and the students who have been participating especially in the imagine cup and so many of them have established their own startups were now becoming multimillion Dollar companies.

I am proud of our students for participating in this global event and I am sure they will bring laurels for Pakistan," the Executive Director said.

In his remarks, Abid Zaidi said microsoft strives to bring the right set of tools and technology to the students so that they can work for the better.

"The way we look at our students, we feel that they are the agents of change and they just need the right set of tools to succeed," he said, adding that as a technology company, Microsoft wants to empower students and enable them to shape our future.

Before the national final, HEC and Microsoft held regional competitions. The regional finals were won by Sukkur Institute of business Administration, NUST SEECS, National Textile University, Faisalabad and Balochistan University of Information Technology, Engineering and Management Sciences, Quetta.

Imagine Cup is one of Microsoft's many efforts to transform skill development, nurture budding technologists and foster collaborative and innovative spirit. This global technology competition boasts of several success stories emerging from the competition.

It's a great platform to innovate, get recognised and eventually get enabled to bring about a positive change. Imagine Cup continues to foster innovation among students and enables them to transform their ambitions into reality.

The winner team will now represent Pakistan at the upcoming worldwide finals in Seattle, USA to compete among global teams for a USD $100,000 prize. Microsoft Imagine Cup continues to witness strong participation from Pakistan, as well as world over.

This year, as an initiative of the Strategic Partnership with HEC, Microsoft reached out to more than 56 campuses this year through onsite sessions in a bid to create awareness around the competition and effectively market it to the audience, which resulted in record breaking project entries i.e.

110 in this competition. Under Education Transformation Agreement, HEC and Microsoft work in partnership to enable student-centric learning, enhance education with powerful software tools and improve the efficiency of education systems.

The agreement is aimed at supporting all communities, enabling them to enjoy social benefits of a well-educated population. It encompasses training for educators and educational leaders, conducting research for innovations, and building professional communities to ensure that every student has the benefit of a global network of empowered educators.

The key strategic aims of this partnership include transformation of learning and innovation and develop 21st century Skills and Employability.