PAT symposium calls for hiking education budget

Speaking at a pre-budget symposium organized by Pakistan Awami Tehreek, Secretary General Khurram Nawaz Gandapur stated that a nation has no future without education. Pakistan is the only country where the education budget is reduced every year instead of being increased. He said that there are reports that the budget for the promotion of higher education for the next fiscal year will be reduced from 65 billion rupees to 25 billion rupees.

“It seems that there is no place for education in the planning of the Planning Commission,” he said.

During the symposium, Central Information Secretary Noorullah Siddiqui expressed his views, stating that the nation has been constantly told that prosperity would come from motorway, metro bus, and orange train projects. All these projects, he said, have been completed, and trillions of rupees have been spent on them. The nation should be informed about how much the economy has strengthened, how much unemployment has decreased, and how much prosperity has been achieved.

He emphasized that nations prosper by spending on education rather than on roads, fancy buildings, and projects. He also mentioned that the representatives of the public have no role in the budget process. Budgets, he said, are now made by foreign financial institutions, and assemblies only put their stamp of approval on them.

Raja Zahid Mahmood, Arif Chaudhry, Hafiz Ghulam Fareed, Dr. Sultan Chaudhry, and Makhdoom Gulzar Hussain Shah also shared their thoughts during the budget symposium.

Raja Zahid Mahmood stated that their demand is for 5% of GDP to be spent on education, which is currently less than 2%. He recalled a slogan from the time of the atomic bomb development, "We will eat grass but make our defense invincible."

He said that today, we should resolve that "we will eat grass but eliminate the darkness of ignorance." He remarked that the nation is practically eating grass nowadays.
Arif Chaudhry commented that the absolutely ignorant rulers from the stone age are not allowing the nation to emerge from the darkness of ignorance. He said that every country that has developed has allocated a significant portion of national resources to the promotion of education and research. He asserted that ignorant and mentally impaired rulers are neither leaving the nation alone nor letting the darkness of ignorance end.

Arif Chaudhry urged the youth and the nation of Pakistan to collectively increase pressure on the rulers for the development of education. National resources should be spent solely on education and research, he added.