ISLAMABAD, June 27: The Senate standing committee on education meeting here on Tuesday stressed the need of providing “all necessary infrastructure facilities” in primary schools to arrest the massive 45 per cent dropout rate at the primary level.

Members of the committee told Federal Education Minister Lt- Gen (retired) Javed Ashraf Qazi that more attention should be paid to the needs of the neglected rural areas of Balochistan and Sindh in this regard.

Gen Qazi assured the committee, which had called him to explain to it the alarming dropout rate, that as “illiteracy is the mother of all evils” the new education policy being framed would cover all aspects of education.

The meeting was presided over by Senator Razia Alam Khan. The minister informed the committee that the latest statistics about literacy put Pakistan behind even south and west Asian countries and called for drastic initiatives to overcome the depressing condition.

Mr Qazi said national education census started in November last year, and data had been collected from every nook and corner of the country on educational institutions starting from primary schools to professional universities.

The fresh data would be of great help in sorting out deficiencies in the education sector.

Keeping in view all these concerns, the minister said, national education policy was being reviewed with a view to introducing uniform policies in all the four provinces. Under the new scheme of studies, he said, Islamiyat would be taught as an integrated subject in classes I & II and as a separate complete subject from class III. The subjects of ethics & morality will be taught to non-Muslims in place of Islamic studies, he said.

Replying to a query, the minister said computer education was also being introduced as an elective subject from class IX, and the controversial material would be deleted, as the ministry was busy reviewing syllabus.