APC on education held under ISAPS

In All Parties Conference (APC) on Education held in Lahore under the auspices of Institute of Social and Policy Sciences (ISAPS) and Alif-Ailaan, senior representatives and candidates for upcoming general elections from all Political Parties have shown concern about the plight of public education sector.
Representatives and candidates belonging to Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz), Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, Pakistan People's Party, Jama'at Islami, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (F), Muttahida Qaumi Movement, Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan, Tehreek Tahiffaz Pakistan, Pakistan Muslim League (QA) and Qaumi Watan Party spoke at the occasion and presented their respective party policy on education.
Naseer Ahmad Bhutta, Rehan Rafiq from PML-N, Dr Iftikhar Bukhari, Dr Asif Rafiq from MQM, Mian Waheed from TTP, Hafiz Sana Ullah, Hafiz Naseer Ahrar from JUI-F, Ahsan Rashid, Omar Cheema, Malik Waqar Ahmad, Dr Talat Naqvi from PTI, Dr Musarrat Hassan, Barrister Amir Hassan, Chaudhry Javed Akhtar and Iftikhar Shahid from PPP, Safia Munir Jackson from PML-Q, Zikar Ullah Mujahid and Ali Imran from JI and Azam Danial from Qaumi Watan Party highlighted various issues presented to them by research carried out by ISAPS and pledged their parties would leave no stone unturned for amelioration of the public education sector.
Research Fellow, Ahmad Ali apprised the audience of the statistics that showed the present situation on ground in province and District Lahore. He said that in the district, 60% schools faced drinking water scarcity; the number of drop-out children is 296,000. Ten schools in the district do not have building while in 46 schools, there are no toilets. Ahmad Ali said there were 145 schools which did not have electricity while 909 schools did not have furniture. In 802 schools, there are no playgrounds while 66 schools are without boundary wall those include 30 schools for the females.
He said after lapse of 36 months, subordinate legislation was not done in Punjab after incorporation of Article 25-A in the Constitution that declared education, free and compulsory for all children of age 5 to 16. The financial cost has to be kept in view so that the target of universal education can be achieved. He presented financial projections for next fifteen years.