ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Saturday announced to launch literacy movement along with a package of incentives to ensure maximum enrollment in schools.
In his address to a conference on Unfinished Agenda in Education in Islamabad on Saturday, he said that there is national consensus on the need to reform and modernize the education sector to bring it at par with national priorities and international standards.
The prime minister said that the government is trying to achieve 100 percent literacy rate in three years .He said that the government will double the education budget in four years.
Sharif said that recently a national plan of action has been launched in collaboration with the provinces to achieve the education related targets. He said that education will also be made an important component of government’s development programme.
“Our education policy must prioritize the education of female. We must ensure women participation in the decision making process,” the prime minister said. He said that women are already playing a prominent role in the education sector and other fields of life.
The prime minister said that more than half of country’s population is below twenty five years of age and the future of the country is directly linked with the proper education of this lot. He said that without education the demographic dividend will turn into a burden.
In his remarks, UN Secretary General’s Special Envoy on Education Gordon Brown appreciated the steps taken by the incumbent government for the promotion of education. He said that it is encouraging to see that the government wants to double the budget of education.
Brown offered all out support to Pakistan to achieve the targets in the education sector, and said that several countries and institutions are coming up with assistance to help Pakistan meet the goal of each child in the school.
