ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: The federal government was committed to bring spending on education to four percent of gross domestic product (GDP) by next year, the State Minister for Interior Talal Chaudhry said on Friday.
In his address at a ceremony organized at a Girls College in Islamabad to celebrate International Literacy Day, the minister said that when Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) seized the power in the Center in 2013, spending on education was only 1.5 percent of GDP but the percentage gradually increased.
The minister said that the PML-N government initiated the Prime Minister’s Education Reforms Programme to upgrade facilities in 422 schools and colleges of Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT). He said the government provided international standard of buses to transport students of Islamabad to their schools in a safe and secure environment.
Talal assured that missing facilities in educational institutions of the Federal Capital would be provided by the year 2018 as it was constitutional responsibility of the government to deliver quality education.
The state minister urged students to take their education seriously as Islam stressed on gaining knowledge even if one had to travel to far corners of the world. He also advised that teachers should also focus on character building of their students.
Talal Chaudhry said only those countries were economically successful which attained close to 100 percent literacy and concentrated on quality education.
