Acquire skill to face globalisation: PM

"Education and only education can gives us the strength to sustain in the unequal stiff competition of globalisation and the power to go ahead further," Khaleda said while she was inaugurating the country's second women polytechnic institute at Halishahar in the port city of Chittagong.

Commerce Minister Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury, State Minister for Civil Aviation and Tourism Mir Mohammad Nasiruddin, State Minister for Education A N M Ehsanul Haq Milon and Education Secretary Mohammad Shahidul Alam also spoke at the function.

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The Chittagong Women Polytechnic Institute (CWPI) will be constructed at an estimated cost of Tk 20 crore over an area of around four acres beside Chittagong Home Economics College. Of the estimated cost, Islamic Development Bank will finance Tk 15.20 crore while the government will provide the rest.

The construction of CWPI building is expected to be completed by 2004 and academic activities would start from the following year, official sources said. The institute will provide education on four technological disciplines on four-year course and a total of 160 girl students will be enrolled in an academic year.

A total of Tk 100 crore will be spent for building five women polytechnic institutions at five divisional headquarters creating room for technical education of nearly 1,000 girl students, the prime minister said. She said the process of setting up institutions at Rajshahi and Khulna are in progress while two more at Sylhet and Barisal will be taken up later.

"Overall development will not be possible without involving the women folk in the mainstream of development activities," she said. Education is key to the success and the government was putting immense importance for the expansion of education so that nation could face the challenges of the globalisation with limited resources, she added.

She said her government has taken initiatives to implement various development programmes for the empowerment of women by enriching them with time befitting education.

Khaleda said the government had given utmost importance to poverty alleviation by turning huge population into human resources by imparting them time befitting quality education and necessary training.

She said her government had been implementing reform, expansion and modernisation work of 23 polytechnic institutes including three women polytechnic institutes across the country under the ministry of education side by side introducing computer courses in the 32 vocational training institutes with a view to meeting the demand for skilled manpower.

She said a total of 15 thousand male and female youths were getting necessary training at 12 technical training centres under the Ministry of Labour and Employment. She said another 22 technical training centers including five for women at five divisional headquarters were being set up which will create room for another 18 thousand youths to receive training on job-oriented disciplines. Such training centers would also be set up in 444 upazilas in phases, she added.

Khaleda said there were huge demands of people with technical knowledge both at home and abroad. A technically skilled worker can easily find his job even in the limited job employment market, she said.

The prime minister who flew in here yesterday to inaugurate two important development projects told the audience that her government was pledge bound to turn the economically important city into commercial capital as per BNP's pre-election pledge through necessary infrastructure developments.

"Programmes are underway to elevate the port city into a commercial capital and we are going ahead with the plan" the prime minister assured the elite and political leaders of the port city who attended the meeting.

She later allocated Tk 5 lakh for the development of Chittagong Home Economics College.

Earlier, Khaleda unveiled the foundation stone of the country's second women Polytechnic Institute here formally.