Pakistan pushes education initiative

The new government of Pakistan plans to introduce a uniform education system in the country by integrating all prevailing systems into a standard system. In February, 16 political parties signed a joint declaration on “Education For All” (EFA), which called for more than a 10% budget allocation for the education sector. EFA is an international movement and Pakistan is signatory to the EFA Declaration and has promised to achieve EFA targets by 2015.

The EFA targets included early childhood and care, primary education for all, life skills, a 50% increase in the adult literacy rate, elimination of gender disparity in education, and improving the quality of education. Pakistan also plans to set up one girls school in each union council and to promote a culture of reading. Read more about the initiative in The (Pakistan) Daily Times.