ISLAMABAD:President Dr Arif Alvi has said the country’s progress and development is linked with investment in health and education sectors.

Addressing Corporate, Humanitarian and Strategic achievement shields distribution ceremony here in Islamabad on Monday, he emphasized for imparting education to the out of school children. He said it is alarming that as per latest data of UNICEF 27 million children are not enrolled in schools. He underscored the importance of imparting skills to such children to make them productive part of society.

The President regretted that only nine percent of the students in Pakistan could make it to higher education which is twenty to thirty percent in neighboring countries like India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. Highlighting the problems of Differently Abled children, he said it is unfortunate that still in our society Differently Abled children are neglected. He stressed on sensitizing the society on the issue. He said technology can be used to address the issues faced by Differently Abled children.

Talking about health sector, Dr Arif Alvi said since Pakistan cannot afford expensive treatment of different diseases we must pay attention to prevention. Earlier, the President distributed shields among awardees for their meritorious services in corporate, humanitarian and strategic sectors.