ISLAMABAD, Dec 18: At a roundtable discussion with political parties, organised by Pakistan Coalition for Education (PCE) and Oxfam GB on Tuesday, participants unanimously agreed to increase the education budget to 5-7 per cent of the GDP and backed the idea of a uniform educational system.

Shehla Raza from PPP, Syed Bilal from Jamaat-i-Islami (JI), Jalil Jan from JUI-F, Sheikh Salahuddin from MQM, Fauzia Naz from PML-Q and Hina Manzoor from Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf (PTI) were the key participants.

Briefing the participants, Zehra Arshad, national coordinator of PCE, said as per article 25-A of the Constitution, the state is responsible for provision of free and compulsory education to all children from the ages of five to 16 years.

Unfortunately, education has never been a priority for the government and evidence reflects that official literacy is still 56 per cent with wide gender and rural-urban disparities and high dropout rates across the country, she said.

Quoting statistics Ms Zehra said that 30 per cent children received secondary education, and most importantly, the education budget, which is less than two per cent of the GDP — lowest among South Asian countries — was proof of the deteriorating situation of education in Pakistan.

Deputy Speaker Sindh Assembly Dr Shehla Raza said that education was the backbone of the economy.

The dropout rate is high from class 1-2 and then class 5-6 due to poverty. She revealed that majority of the dropouts were girls.

Syed Bilal stressed the need for a strong educational policy and claimed that if his party (JI) came to power, it would work to bring the literacy rate to 100 per cent.

Abdul Jalil Jan and Ms Banori from JUI-F stressed upon the need for a uniform educational system.

Sheikh Salahuddin said one school should cater to a community of 5,000 people.

He said the MQM would also work to raise the education budget to five per cent of the GDP.

Fauzia Naz of PML-Q said her party was focusing on increasing the number of trained teachers, opening of new schools and increasing educational budget to five per cent of the GDP.

Hina Manzoor of the PTI said there should be no political interference in transfers and appointments of teachers. She said her party had drafted a comprehensive paper to improve the status of education.

Poet, columnist and intellectual Harris Khalique said all parties should focus on uniform education system, medium of instruction, availability of trained human resource, utilisation of the allocated budget and encourage appointment of women teachers at the primary level.