Rawalpindi-All Pakistan Private Schools and Colleges Association Central President Malik Ibrar Hussain on Friday has demanded a substantial increase in the education budget in the upcoming budget 2023-24. And he said that the private education sector should also be facilitated in the budget, where more than 65% of the children are under education. The government has taken concrete steps to bring out-of-school children to school, adopt school children and increase educational progress and literacy rate. The private education sector is ready to cooperate with the government in every possible way for educational development in the country.
Malik Ibrar Hussain said that every year the budget is presented in the month of June, in which the important sector like education is always neglected. It is important that the government increases the education budget significantly this time. The plight of education in Pakistan is different from the rest of the world. Due to poverty, inflation, unemployment, the number of children out of school has increased tremendously. Thousands of children are out of school in Islamabad alone who are pushed to workshops and deprived of education.
He said that in these situations, the government should bring the private education sector together and support them to bring out-of-school children to school. Currently, 65% of children are studying only in the private sector. But the entire budget is spent only for the children of government educational institutions, there is no science lab or other facilities in the private sector, which is creating discrimination in the nation. This practice is a serious violation of Article 25-A of the Constitution. We want progress to be made in educational development under public-private partnership, while the children of madrassahs should also be considered in the national stream.
Malik Ibrar Hussain said that a portion should be allocated for them in the budget, they are also Pakistanis and should be treated equally. He demanded that the budget for the entire education sector, including the higher education budget, should be substantially increased.