Govt to announce 4-year countrywide education emergency today

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will declare a countrywide education emergency for the next four years in a federal conference scheduled today in Islamabad.

According to the 24News HD TV channel, the education emergency will be implemented across the country including Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Kashmir.

In the conference, organised by the Federal Ministry of Education, Chief Ministers and Education Ministers of the four provinces will also participate under the chair of Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif.

As per the channel report, the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) government has decided to set a goal of increasing the education budget to five per cent and enrol more than 15 million children in schools in the next four years.

As per the data of the federal education ministry, more than 26 million children are out of school in Pakistan and the government is willing to reduce this number to less than 9 million.

Punjab Education Minister Rana Sikandar Hayat held a special meeting with the delegation of the teachers of the Afternoon School Program (ASP) on Tuesday and said the PM will announce the educational emergency in Pakistan today as the situation in most districts of the country is alarming.

He said every child will be given equal educational opportunities and all public schools will be made standard schools in the PML-N government.

The teachers informed the Punjab Education Minister about their issues related to low salary packages and promotion system.

Reporters: Rozina Ali, Aima Khan, and Junaid Riaz