PACADE calls for free, compulsory primary education

Pakistan Association for Continuing of Adult and Development of Education (PACADE) has called for making primary education free and compulsory under the constitution 1973 throughout the country. The call was made by President, PACADE, Inayatullah while addressing a press conference here at Peshawar Press Club (PPC) on Saturday. Sofia Malik, a representative of UNESCO was also present on the occasion.
The dwindling literacy ratio, he said could be swelled through prioritising education as top and compulsory substance in the country, saying progress and development couldn't be possible without a literate society. He said that the targets and goals set for promotion of education were far behind due to giving least importance to them.
Inayatullah said that the National Plan of Action has been launched to get the target of 68 percent of education by 2015 under the millennium development goal (MDG). However, he said that they are also lagging behind to achieve the MDG in context of literacy as ratio decreasing day by day instead of making any progress to compete globally.
Quoting education survey 2007, he said that the education ratio was about 57 percent in Punjab, 59 percent in Sindh, 45 percent in Balochistan, and 50 percent in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Inayatullah was pessimistic about literacy rate as compared to neighbouring countries. In India, he said literacy rate stands at 70 percent, China with 99.2 percent, while Pakistan education far behind from them with 57 percent.
Regarding the elementary education centres, he said that more than 5,000 centres have been established in Punjab, 3,000 in Sindh and around 4,000 in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. The purpose of the centres was to focus on adult and primary education to enhance the literacy rate in the country, he explained. He stressed the need for highlighting the government functionaries and mobilising masses about pathetic picture of the education through media in the country. "We didn't pay much attention to education sector, which was the biggest dilemma of the nation," he said.
The government allocates just 2 percent of the GDP, which was also not fully injected for the purpose, he maintained. About 10 percent of the entire budget is obligatory to meet the international standard of the education, he explained. He emphasised for focusing on adult literacy to boost up education ratio and meet the international obligations and target set under the millennium development goal. The political consciousness is imperative for making improvement in education sector across the country, he demanded. PACADE president said the UNESCO had launched advocacy programme for sensitisation and mobilisation of all stakeholders for jacking up literacy rate in the country. Preliminarily, he added that the programme would be determined by engaging media to highlight the gaps and hurdles before the progress of education sector. There was need for adequate financial allocation for improving literacy rate, he added and said that the progress and development could not be possible without educated society.