HYDERABAD, June 2: The government should give priority to education by allocating at least five per cent of the GDP for the promotion of this sector said speakers in pre-budget seminar titled “National budget and educational priorities” organized by the Islami Jamiat-i-Tulaba at the press club, here on Sunday.

Assistant Secretary Jamat-i-Islami Sindh Chapter Moulana Abdul Waheed Qureshi advised ministers, advisers and government functionaries to adopt austerity and spare funds for education, reminding the government not to appoint retired Army officers as heads of institutions for they were not trained for the job.

Prof Inayat Ali Khan, educationist and poet called for a uniform policy for whole country with making primary education free but compulsory.

Senior newsman Abdul Hafeez Abid said the PPP manifesto gave priority to education and hopefully being in power, the party would allocate five per cent of the GDP to it. He called for reducing fee structure to enable wards of all classes to pursue higher education.

Hyderabad IJT Chief Ahmed Mazhoor Ashraf criticized both civilian and military governments for not giving due importance to education though some Rs840 billion was collected as Iqra surcharge which never saw the day rather vanished in thin air.

He said Hyderabad was the fifth biggest city with district population of over three million but not single public university or engineering and medical college had been established – a great injustice with the population.