KARACHI, June 5: In the coming budget, the allocation for education should be at least five per cent of the GDP, in order to meet the requirements of this vital sector.

A demand to this effect was made by president of the Sindh Professors and lecturers Association (SPLA), Prof Syed Riaz Ahsen, while addressing a press conference on Thursday. He was of the view that as against the international specifications, the actual expenditure on education in our country came to a mere 2.2 per cent of the GDP, demanding it to be at least, five per cent of the GDP, in the coming budget.

Mr Ahsen said that teachers’ demands, which included demand for an upward revision in salaries, house rent and conveyance allowance, in accordance with the 1994 rate, should be met in the budget.

It was also demanded that the medical allowance for the teachers should be awarded at the rate of 30 per cent. Mr Ahsen maintained that 1,000 vacancies of the lecturers were lying vacant in Sindh.—APP