December 5, 2003	Friday	Shawwal 10, 1424

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ISLAMABAD, Dec 4: Education Minister Zobaida Jalal has said Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan should root out major causes of terrorism, sectarianism, mutual misunderstanding and poverty in the region by declaring jehad against illiteracy.

She was speaking at a two-day sub-regional ministerial meeting on Education for All (EFA) at a local hotel on Thursday. The programme attended by education ministers, all the provincial education ministers, member countries’ academicians, educationists and civil servants, was organized by the ministry of education in collaboration with Unesco.

Ms Jalal said the countries of the sub-region were facing many challenges in the education sector, including growing disparities, persistent gender gap, low participation and high dropout rate at the primary level, inadequate quality education, illiteracy and poverty.

She said education and literacy of refugee children and displaced people was another serious issue of the sub-region. She suggested the meeting to evolve an effective mechanism and strategies to overcome the challenges so as to achieve the goals and targets of EFA within the stipulated time.

The minister also highlighted Pakistan’s efforts in comparison to what has been done in Iran and Afghanistan in the field of education. She said the country had taken a number of initiatives for promotion of EFA, particularly for the disadvantaged and vulnerable groups of population.

She said the EFA national plan of action had been formulated and launched in consultation with the principal actors of EFA, down to the district level.

She said EFA units at national, provincial and district level had been established to facilitate the implementation of the EFA plans.

The minister informed the meeting that for the first time in the history of Pakistan, the education sector reforms (ESR) had been integrated into the interim-poverty reduction strategy paper. Moreover, she added, free and compulsory primary education was being enforced in a phased manner.

She said the country was making efforts for promotion of EFA in the region, which had been recognized by the international community.

She hoped that the sub-regional meeting would become a milestone not only in strengthening brotherly relations among the member countries but also in achieving the goals of EFA in an effective manner.

Ms Jalal offered help and support to Afghanistan in developing an EFA plan, and teacher training programme, capacity building and financial and technical assistance to other member countries.