Countrywide literacy drive to be launched soon

ISLAMABAD: 

In view of a decrease in the literacy rate in the country, the education ministry has decided to launch an educational campaign with emergency plans to start short and crash courses in the provinces as well as at the federal level.

Sources said that the literacy rate had fallen by two percentage points to 58 per cent from 60 per cent.

The recent census revealed that the increase in population had caused a decline in the educational inclinations with the government spending also being a major factor. According to statistics, the government allocated a meagre 2.2 per cent of the GDP for education despite recommendation by Unesco to raise the budget to at least 40 per cent.

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A report said that education had become a provincial subject after the 18^th amendment to the Constitution. The two per cent budget fixed by the federation mostly goes to the Higher Education Commission. The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government is allocating 26 per cent of its budget to education, Punjab 20 per cent, Sindh 19 per cent and Balochistan 17 per cent.

Taking notice of the situation, the federal education ministry has directed the relevant authorities to launch emergency plans. The sources said it had been decided that a literacy emergency would be imposed in the country and short and crash courses would be launched for the uneducated.

An officer of the ministry of education said a roadmap was being prepared for the literacy campaign which would be supervised by the prime minister himself so that it could be implemented effectively.