‘20 million children out of school’

Islamabad: There are around 20 million children still out of school in the country and measures are needed to enrol them, said Federal Minister for Education Shafqat Mahmood on Thursday.

Addressing the High-Achievers (Northern Region) ceremony of Beaconhouse School System at Convention Centre here, the minister said the government had worked out a uniform education policy to ensure a level-playing field for the students of the public and private school system in the country.

He said the ministry was focusing on equitable education system wherein more or less all children will have access to a single uniform curriculum. The minister said parents played a central role in producing go-getters of the society as education was partly done at home and partly at educational institutions.

"Teachers should also be appreciated as students cannot see the success day without their hard work and dedication," he added. He also lauded the efforts of Beacon house School System for bringing out talent of the country.

The minister said there was a deteriorated situation in public sector schools when Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf came to power and since the day one, the ministry was striving to rectify the situation in this sector.

He said the students of private and government schools should get the same facilities to ensure quality education in the country. He criticised the past governments for giving little attention to education.

The minister pointed out that the previous governments particularly allowed the quality of education public schools and colleges to go down, which led to trust deficit with parents. Beaconhouse School System Executive Director Nasir Kasuri, giving an overview of the 2018 results for the Northern region, said as many as 764 high achievers were honoured for their accomplishments in the 2018 examinations.

He lauded the faculty for being the harbingers of excellence and change. Nasir Kasuri said he believed that the job market would change immensely in the next two decades and the school has the objective to enable its students to meet upcoming challenges.