Education endowment: ‘Pakistan’s literacy rate needs to improve’
GCUF building new campus on 200 acre site.
FAISALABAD:
Pakistan’s 58 per cent literacy rate needs to improve quickly, Government College University Faisalabad (GCUF) Vice Chancellor (VC) Dr Zakir Hussain said on Tuesday.
He was addressing a scholarship distribution ceremony of the Punjab Educational Endowment Fund (PEEF) at Iqbal Auditorium of University of Agriculture (UAF).
Hussain said the rate had to equal the literacy in developed countries to meet the demands of a changing world.
He said Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif’s scholarship programme for needy and talented students was an important step.
He said poverty and a lack of awareness meant education remained a much neglected sector. He said the spending on education must be increased to up to four percent of the Gross Domestic Product.
He said an increase in literacy would lead to a decrease in poverty. He said it was parents duty to educate their children.
He said as many as 20,000 students currently were studying at the GCUF. He said the university had started to build a new campus on 200 acres near the city.
He said as many as 1,000 students of the varsity were getting funds from PEEF. He urged other provinces to launch similar projects.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 26th, 2012.
Pakistan’s 58 per cent literacy rate needs to improve quickly, Government College University Faisalabad (GCUF) Vice Chancellor (VC) Dr Zakir Hussain said on Tuesday.
He was addressing a scholarship distribution ceremony of the Punjab Educational Endowment Fund (PEEF) at Iqbal Auditorium of University of Agriculture (UAF).
Hussain said the rate had to equal the literacy in developed countries to meet the demands of a changing world.
He said Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif’s scholarship programme for needy and talented students was an important step.
He said poverty and a lack of awareness meant education remained a much neglected sector. He said the spending on education must be increased to up to four percent of the Gross Domestic Product.
He said an increase in literacy would lead to a decrease in poverty. He said it was parents duty to educate their children.
He said as many as 20,000 students currently were studying at the GCUF. He said the university had started to build a new campus on 200 acres near the city.
He said as many as 1,000 students of the varsity were getting funds from PEEF. He urged other provinces to launch similar projects.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 26th, 2012.