Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Anisa Zeb Tahirkheli said on Thursday the government was committed to achieve 100 per cent literacy rate by the year 2015.
"The government has significantly increased the budgetary allocations for education in the budget for 2005-06 and was making serious efforts to create more fiscal space to take the education sector allocations to four per cent of GDP."
The state minister was speaking as chief guest at an Inter Collegiate English Debate titled "The Evil That Men Do Lives After Them: The Good Is Interred With Their Bones" held here at FG College for Women F-7/2.
Students from Margalla College F-7/4, ICG F-6/2, FG College Kashmir Road, IMCG F-6/2, FG College G-10/4, OPF College F-8/2, ICCW F-10/3 and Govt College 6th Road spoke with arguments for and against the proverb, taken from a drama of Shakespeare.
Aqeela Asad from FG Margalla College for Women clinched the 1st prize and a trophy, followed by Alina Khial from FG College Kashmir Road and Maliha Shah from OPF Girls College securing 2nd and 3rd positions, respectively. While Barina Sabir from FG Margalla College for Women got consolation prize.
Mrs Shujaat Hussain, Mrs Rashid Saleem and Mrs Humaira were judges of the competition.
The Minister of State appreciated the zeal and enthusiasm with which the students participated in the competition.
She said the youth of today were full of abundant talent and such competitions give them an opportunity to express themselves fluently and elegantly on thought provoking topics.
Such competitions provide students a chance to explore various aspects of life regarding history, philosophy, politics, cultural affairs, religion, literature etc, which help them to broaden their horizon of knowledge, Anisa Zeb added.
All debaters impressed her, as they were all forceful and commendable in their arguments for supporting their viewpoint on the topic. Expressing her views on the topic, Anisa Zeb said, "The good prevails even after one's death."
She said students and the faculty was doing very well and manifestations of Thursday's debate showed that colleges were doing an excellent job in training youth and the quality of education being imparted to them was commendable.
The Minister of State, who also did her FSc from FG College for Women F-7/2, said the host college was looked upon and considered the most prestigious college of the capital. Anisa Zeb on the occasion also awarded prizes to the position holders of competition.
The College Principal Dr Tayyaba Siddiqui presented her a college crest. Later, the Minister also witnessed an inter-collegiate painting competition in the Fine Arts Department of the college with a theme "Calamity Brings Unity", selected in context of the recent earthquake.