A District Level People’s Education Assembly 2013 was held here on Saturday. Political representatives, district representatives, academia, educationists, teachers, civil society representatives and media were present on the occasion.
The assembly was organised by Centre for Peace and Development Initiatives (CPDI), in collaboration of Pakistan Coalition for Education (PCE). The assembly was hosted and conducted by CPDI Programme Manager Syed Kausar Abbas, whereas EDO (Education) Qazi Zahoor ul Haq, PTI MPA Asif Mahmood, PML-N MPA Tehseen Fawad and Education Planning Director Syed Saleem Raza were present on the education. Article 25 (A) of the constitution that states that the state is responsible to provide free and compulsory education for the children from 4-16, was discussed in detail in the assembly.
Syed Saleem Raza said that last year for the Rawalpindi District, Rs5 billion were allocated that were further categorised into salaried and non-salaried budget. This year Rs7 billion has been allocated for Rawalpindi District for education.
EDO education while speaking on the education said that now they are talking about the age ranging from 4 to 16 that is the eligible age for studying in school and college. “Our government is already taking education as its top priority. Government has launched consolidation scheme in which the schools near to each other would be merged together to form different classes in villages. Our government in the last two years has given a road map for improving missing facilities in the schools emphasising on presence of the teachers as well as the presence of students in the school. This year also we are working on the missing facilities and each district is sensitised in this regard. By October 31st, we would rationalise teachers, but teachers then raise hue and cry and reach MPAs, MNAs to put pressure on EDO to reverse the decision,” he said.
Tahseen Fawad while speaking on the occasionsaid that Danish Schoolsestablished by Punjab Government are compatible with Atchison College in every regard. The only criteria to get your child enrolled in this school is merit.
Arif Abbasi said that PTI government’s top priority is education. “There is a need to see that after taking the salaries of teachers of the allocated budget what is left to be spent on education. It’s astonishing to see that Rs3 billion is being spent on Danish Schools, this money could have been utilised in providing the missing facilities in existing schools at grassroots level. Gradually after strengthening the existing infrastructure they can work on building extensive institutions,” he added.
The assembly concluded with the question and answer session in which the spokespersons answered the queries.
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