Speakers at a consultative meeting held here on Saturday said that federal and provincial governments should immediately take effective steps to implement Article 25-A of the constitution, which guarantees free and compulsory education for all children of the age of 5-16 years.
They were expressing their views on consultation "Education for all and the role of media" organised by Pakistan Coalition for Education. The objective of the meeting was to create a strong liaison between media and civil society to minimise the gap for the enactment of Article 25-A.
They also said that over all education budget must be consistently and substantially increased each year to meet the target of 7 percent of GDP by 2015, as committed in the National Education Policy 2009. They also said that efforts must be taken to ensure that funds allocated for non-salary current expenditures and development projects are efficiently and responsibly utilised. For this purpose, the government must invest in building requisite capacities of all relevant stakeholders.
They said that media should be used effectively for mustering political will and support for literacy at all levels. The same medium can also be productive in terms of post literacy. Board member of PCE Dr Baela Raza Jamil gave a brief overview of PCE. She said that according to the Annual Status of Education Report 2011: 20 percent children still out of school. Learning levels of enrolled children not up to the mark. Significant differences are found in enrolment of boys as compared to girls. She said that it's time to speed up the awareness process and bring together the whole nation to start work for the promulgation of free and compulsory education.
Dr A H Nayyar Board member of PCE stressed that education problem has to be discussed in more channels; Media should participate in order to provide concrete information on education problems. He stressed upon civil society that they should fulfil their commitments. It's time for a action rather than a long debate.
While discussing the agenda on education he said that textbooks must be based on new curriculum that can enhance the capability of students, which can empower the children with new and informative knowledge. He also emphasised on teachers training, which must be done on monthly basis that can support the teachers' skills and their knowledge. He further said that media should play a role with the collaboration of NGO's so that such integration would help us to achieve the goals on education.
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