Plan to address education crisis in country

LAHORE:A group of the leading organisations with the purpose to improve educational standards in the country have collaborated to form Pakistan Action Consortium for Education (PACE) to combine their efforts for accelerating National Progress on Education 2030 Agenda.

The Consortium comprising Teach The World Foundation, Harvard Club of Pakistan, Knowledge Platform, Junior Jinnah Trust and Alight Pakistan will also invite other actors in the field of education to jointly work for the national cause, which will also help the government to achieve sustainable development goal (SDG-4), which aims to “ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.”

“The prevailing situation calls for multi-pronged initiatives to save the future of next generations,” said PACE Co-founder & Chair Shafiq Khan, adding that PACE is determined to create a powerful national movement to drastically change the educational landscape in Pakistan by mobilising all the relevant stakeholders, including government, businesses, donors, philanthropists, nonprofits and education providers.

PACE President Dr Ali Imtiaz said that initial conversations with the key stakeholders had been very promising, and our objective is to address Pakistan’s grave educational crisis while working in unison with the government.

It is pertinent to mention that more than 262 million children are out of school. Six out of 10 are not acquiring basic literacy and numeracy after several years in school; 750 million adults are illiterate, fueling poverty and marginalisation.