The National Assembly was informed on Thursday that the reports of substantial decrease in the education budget for the current  fiscal year are incorrect.  Responding to a question during Question Hour today, Parliamentary Secretary for Federal Education and Professional Training Farah Naz Akbar said the non- developmental budget has been increased by 13 percent and development budget by 69.79 percent.  She said the allocation for Islamabad Model Education Institutions has been increased by 27.56 percent.

Responding to another question, Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Azam Nazeer Tarar said the bidding process for the privatization of the Pakistan International Airlines will be launched afresh and better bids are expected. He said an earlier bidding process was conducted wherein Blue World Consortium submitted a bid of ten billion rupees against minimum expectation price of 85 billion rupees. The highest bid offered by the Blue World Consortium was considered by the Privatization Commission Board which was rejected.

The government is trying to achieve a hundred percent literacy rate in the Islamabad Capital Territory. Responding to a question during Question Hour, Parliamentary Secretary for Federal Education and Professional Training Farah Naz Akbar said around 80, 000 out of school children have been enrolled under Zero Out-of-School children campaign launched last year. She said evening shift classes were started in 23 schools across different sectors of Islamabad. Additionally, a school meal programme was implemented to incentivize increased enrollment.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan (INP)