Moalims

ISLAMABAD: Minister of State for Education and Professional Training, Muhammad Balighur Rehman Friday said that present government is committed to achieve the target of Vision 2025 under the leadership of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

He was attending the seminar on developing National Action Plan towards achieving 90% literacy rate as envisaged in vision 2025 along with the Federal Minister for Planning Development and Reforms Ahsan Iqbal. He said that the federal government as well as the provinces have increased their spending on education for the promotion of education sector. He said, “We should not set unrealistic goals as we have to keep in view other constraints as well. According to article 25-A it’s our collective responsibility to educate each and every child in the country.”

He said education without character building and creating civic sense, was useless and urged to focus on these areas as well. Pakistan Social and Living Standards Measurement (PSLM) survey regarding the literacy rate, he said was not accurate as the staff has taken sample survey which could not be accurate but figures obtained by Academy of Educational Planning and Management (AEPAM) were accurate and based on facts and emphasized to rely on their figures. According to AEPAM survey literacy rate has increased to 60% but still it’s very low as compared to other countries, he remarked.

The minister stressed the need for focusing on adult literacy programmes as there were many people who were unable to complete their education due to many reasons. He said a task has been given to National Commission of Human Development (NCHD) to introduce Accelerated Learning Programmes, which will be beneficial for masses. He added a special attention should be given to girls literacy. Speaking on the occasion Ahsan Iqbal said, “We need a breakthrough performance in the field of education.” He added out-of-box ideas are expected from such highly skilled and able people attending this conference.

While appreciating the event he congratulatbd NCHD, UNICEF and Ministry of Education for taking these initiatives and hoped that better and workable outcomes would come out. Minister of State for Education also attended the Consultative Workshop on Development of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Strategy for Schools arranged by UNICEF. He admired the efforts of UNICEF for taking up this initiative. He said that Islam gives immense importance to cleanliness as it is part of the faith. He said “Around 64% of children have access to water and 61% of children have access to sanitation so we need to work on this area.” He informed that the government was working on National Minimum Education Standards. “It is our responsibility to provide basic facilities to our youth as it has great impact on their performances.”

News Reference