Media urged to promote literacy in society | Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF)

Pakistan Press Foundation

Media urged to promote literacy in society

LAHORE: The role of the media should be now changed to promote new ideas for educating the children of the country, UNESCO Pakistan, specialist Arshad Saeed said on Saturday.

He was addressing a forum for the promotion of literacy in Pakistan at a local hotel, organised by the Pakistan Association for Continuing and Adult Education and UNESCO.

Saeed said that the governments had been decreasing the education budget, instead of increasing it.

“The budget for education in fiscal year 2010-2011 was only 1.8 percent of the GDP, while the United Nations had asked governments to allocate 4 percent of the GDP for the education sector,” he added.

He said that the governments should follow the article 37B of the constitution of Pakistan, which says, “Remove illiteracy and provide free and compulsory secondary education within minimum possible period.”

He said the governments of Pakistan was internationally committed to achieve the education for all goals, none of which according to the UNESCO Global Monitoring Report 2009 would be achieved by Pakistan if literacy continued to be given low priority.

He said it was time that the influential print and electronic media, which had made great contributions in various fields turns its attention to the need for accelerated literacy promotion. Journalists from various media organisations participated in the forum.
Source: Daily Times
Date:11/14/2010