Government spending Rs 160 billion on education

Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz has said that the government is spending Rs 160 billion on education at all levels. Addressing a function organised in connection with International Teachers Day (Salam Teacher Day) here on Wednesday, he said that it was the teacher who played a vital role in the promotion of education.
The Prime Minister also gave away 'Best Teachers awards' to the teachers selected from all the four provinces and Northern Areas, FATA and AJK for meritorious performance during last year, and announced that they would be sent for Umra at government expense.
Shaukat stressed the need to raise educational standard to compete with the world and achieve sustainable development.
He said that the government was working to bring the Madressahs into the mainstream education so that they could impart both religious and modern subjects and play vibrant role in the socio-economic development of the country.
"Both religious and modern education are important for the socio-economic uplift of the society," he said and reiterated determination for promoting education and improving the standard to move forward for making the country a really progressive, moderate, dynamic and enlightened state.
He said that knowledge "is an on going process", and quest for knowledge was vital for progress. He called upon the teachers to focus on character-building of students to make them good citizens.
He said teachers' role was critical for quality education that lay the human foundation for sustainable development and knowledge based economy by developing a child's capacity and desire to learn. He said the parents' role was equally important in the education and upbringing of the children.
The Prime Minister said: "We are facing unprecedented challenges, as the world is changing rapidly in political, social, cultural, technological and pedagogical terms and it is a teacher who has to help the students make the sense of all these."
The government, he said, "is focusing on the promotion of education" from primary to higher level with special emphasis on improvement of quality, knowing that no nation could make progress without education.
He said that the government was taking concerted steps to upgrade the skills of teachers, besides enhancing their remuneration, so that they could play a vibrant and effective role in promoting quality education.
The President, Prime Minister, and Minister for Education also made phone calls to their teachers to express thanks and appreciation for imparting them knowledge and taking them to the positions where they are today.
Minister of State for Education Ghulam Bibi Bharwana, Chairman NCHD Dr Naseem Ashraf and Chairman HEC Dr Atta ur Rehman said that teachers were the most important element for ensuring improvement of education. They said that teachers were driving force to materialise the vision of making Pakistan a moderate and enlightened state.