KARACHI, Dec 3: Speakers at a symposium on educational problems of Lyari here expressed concern over declining literacy rate in the town due to poverty and inflation and called for early steps to provide jobs to people.

The session, presided over by Prof Ali Mohammad, was addressed among others by former provincial legislator Rafiq Engineer, social and political activists Abid Brohi, D.M. Danish, Anwar Bhatti, Shakoor Shad and Akhtar Ali Baloch.

They were of the view that most of the youths could not continue their academic activities due to inflation and high cost of living and they were forced to struggle for economic survival.

No significant progress in the education sector was witnessed in Lyari except that some structures were raised on the premises of the existing schools, they said. The speakers warned that the future generation would be deprived of basic education if drastic action was not taken to arrest the declining graph of academic activities in the area. They said economic progress in the area which would result in poverty alleviation was a must to check the drop-out rate.

They pointed out that a large number of students used to go to colleges in Lyari a decade ago. But the situation changed for the worse and the educational institutions could retain only a few students from Lyari because majority of the area people could not afford to pay the constantly increasing tuition fee.

Prof Ali Mohammad said there was a time when a number of schools had started operating in the locality but due to the current law and order situation and economic reasons the schools had faced closures and the poor students of the area suffered.

Only the well-to-do could afford to get higher education as tuition fees for law classes ranged between Rs12,000 and Rs15,000 and the poor remain largely uneducated just because they could not pay the amount, he added.

Dispelling the impression that Lyari had not played any role in the country’s progress, he said the town produced a number of national figures who rendered great services for the nation despite the fact that the locality had always been ignored in the past.

The speakers criticised the education department for being least concerned about the functioning of schools and colleges. They said the department was more interested in raising concrete structures than ensuring holding of academic activities. Academic activities in the newly-built structures were yet to take off, they added.

They demanded establishment of a law college and more technical institutions in the town.

The symposium was organised by the Lyari chapter of the Rotary Club, Karachi.