F.P. Report
ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Education and Professional Training Shafqat Mahmood Wednesday said the ministry would soon launch a Nationwide Literacy Campaign to increase the Literacy rate by at least 12 percent in next four years.
During a meeting with a high level delegation of Ufone, the minister said that we are thinking of declaring an Education Emergency and will go to cabinet for concept clearance and support in couple of weeks, a press release said.
The minister further informed the delegation that this National Literacy Drive will be a mega campaign in which about 5,000 Adult literary & Skill Centers will be setup in each district of Pakistan, special accelerated learning syllabus will be introduced and a National Literacy Coordination Center will be setup.
“We are planning to engage all the stakeholders including district administration, business community and chambers of commerce and industry, universities and colleges’ students, Benazir Income Support Program and our own attached organizations i.e Basic Education Community Schools (BECS) and National Commission for Human Development (NCHD)”, he added.
He told that a special communication campaign will also be launched before and during the implementation of the Literacy Campaign.
The Minister further said that education is the top priority of this government, adding our main targets are bringing the 25 million out of school children to schools, introducing a uniform education system and curriculum, providing quality education and skill development.
The Federal Education Minister said that Technology will play a major role in the aforementioned four targets and in the National Literacy Drive to resolve the access and capacity issues. “The Ufone must develop and come up with some technological solutions and interventions that can be used in National Literacy Campaign and resolving issues of quality, access and capacity in Education”, added the minister for education. Ufone delegation briefed the minister about the organization and activities of Ufone in general and the technological interventions of Etisalat and Ufone in education sector in particular. The Ufone delegation appreciated the efforts of education ministry and the vision of the Education Minister and agreed to come up with technological solutions in the next meeting.
