‘Implement the law to achieve MDGs’

LAHORE: The country faces several challenges when it comes to providing good quality education to all children, Sabir Baig from Plan International Pakistan said on Friday.

He was speaking at an orientation session on the implementing of the Punjab Free and Compulsory Education Ordinance, 2014. Human Rights Minister Khalil Tahir chaired the session organised by Plan International Pakistan. “We don’t have enough schools. The standard of education in most schools is also not good,” Baig said. He said it had become almost impossible for Pakistan to achieve the millennium development goal of providing universal primary education. “The legislation on free and compulsory education shows that the provincial government is serious about providing free education to every child,” Baig said.

Khalil Tahir said he was happy to see the media, lawyers and civil society taking interest in education for all. He assured the participants that he would convey their concerns to the authorities concerned. “I will ask them to draft rules under the Act,” the minister said.

The participants demanded that the government raise the education budget to 4 per cent of the gross domestic product.

They agreed that drafting rules under the Act would help provide free education to every child.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 8^th, 2015.