ISLAMABAD: The Senate Standing Committee on Federal Education and Professional Training has called on the federal and provincial governments to increase investments in the education sector to improve literacy rate across the country and infrastructure.
The education committee meeting was chaired by Senator Bushra Anjum Butt on Wednesday. Senior officials from the Ministry of Education and Professional Training attended the session and deliberated upon various legislative and administrative matters.
The committee debated the Nippon Institute of Advanced Sciences Bill 2025 and received a briefing from the Higher Education Commission (HEC) chairman regarding the pending salaries of Professor Dr Iqbal Afridi from Jinnah Sindh Medical University.
Secretary Education Mohiuddin Ahmad Wani informed the committee that the ASPIRE programme was launched during the Covid-19 period with a budget of $200 million. The provincial distribution of funds includes Punjab at 40.50 per cent, Sindh at 25 per cent, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa at 18.50 per cent, and Balochistan at 16 per cent, he said, adding that under this programme, the Ministry of Education has adopted National School Health and Safety Protocols.
The Education Committee was told that against a target of 20,000 students in underprivileged areas, 67,168 students enrolled in multi-modal programmes, including 33,673 boys and 33,495 girls. The National Distance Learning Strategy has been approved, and 50,000 students have acquired distance learning skills.
Mohiuddin Wani informed art least 20,000 government schools have been provided with hygiene kits, and WASH (Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene) facilities have been improved in 98 schools in Balochistan.
The committee was further briefed that 292 additional classrooms are under construction, while 716 teachers have been trained under the distance learning training programme. Free Wi-Fi has been provided in 155 schools, and 960 schools have received hygiene and Menstrual Health Management (MHM) kits, benefiting 83,838 students.
Under the admission campaign, 57,256 out-of-school children have been enrolled, and 107 schools have been equipped with learning and science IT lab materials, benefiting 39,664 students.
The committee called for taking pragmatic efforts for more investment in education, particularly in marginalised areas, and stressed the need for sustained efforts to improve educational infrastructure.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
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