The education challenge

In Pakistan, the education sector remains highly neglected as the annual expenditure on education is 2.1 percent of GDP, which is the lowest in the region. Education should be the prime objective of all political parties if they want to resolve national issues permanently. A report by the Pakistan Education Task Force says that one in 10 of the world’s out-of-school children is a Pakistani and about 50 percent of schoolchildren aged between six and 16 years can neither read nor write.
Regional countries such as India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka have made great headway in achieving the Millennium Development Goals on education by 2015. Our politicians should realise that it is education that contributes towards peace, democracy and economic growth as well as improving health and reducing poverty.
Salman Ali
Lahore