Budget allocations: Educationists urge govt to deliver on Article 25-A

Merely increasing the amount is not enough: speakers.

ISLAMABAD:

Merely increasing allocations for education is not enough. The delivery of these promises should be prioritised to transform the nation into a literate, moderate and progressive society.

These were the opinions of speakers on seminar on ‘Budgeting for Rights: Examining Post Devolution Fiscal Spaces’ organised by Center for Civic Education in conjunction with Alif Ailaan — a national education campaign.

Speakers spoke about fiscal federalism and the need to focus on fundamental rights, particularly the fundamental right to a free and compulsory education for all Pakistanis between five and 16 years of age, as defined in Article 25-A of the constitution.

National Party Central Vice President Dr Ishaq Baloch, MNA Shafqat Mehmood of the PTI, Mosharraf Zaidi of Alif Ailaan, and CCE Executive Director Zafarullah Khan were the speakers at the event.

“If Pakistan is to truly achieve education for all, we need a check-and-balance system to ensure valued-based allocation and implementation of this budget,” said Khan.

“Unless the millions of out-of-school Pakistani children are given access to education, we as a nation cannot succeed,” said Dr Baloch.

Discussing the PTI’s education plans for Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Mehmood said, “We want to ensure that all classes of society have access to the same quality of education.” Quaid-i-Azam University Vice Chancellor Masoom Yasinzai appreciated the ‘slight’ increase in the allocation for education in the recent budget.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 25^th, 2013.