SUKKUR: Veteran leader of the Pakistan Peoples Party Syed Khurshid Ahmed Shah has said that he has come back to limelight after a long time and will resume his work for nation building.

Shah told media persons after the inauguration ceremony – his first event after release from jail – for Smart Classrooms and Language Lab at Begum Nusrat Bhutto Women’s University at Arorr in Rohri on Sunday that standard of education had nosedived.

He said: “How can we produce scientists and researchers for the country where more than 75pc children receive education sitting on bricks or in shabby classrooms and where literacy rate is under 30pc.”

He criticised the federal government for its claims of raising literacy rate with a small budget and said that the federal government’s irrational policies were leading nation towards abysmal conditions.

“It is not education to enable one to just read newspaper headlines or write his or her name. The real education invests one with vision, ability to support fellow citizens and staunchness for the sake of truth,” he said.

He said that it was unfortunate that mothers in Pakistan paid less attention towards fundamental education, their own and their children’s. If women were unable to receive sound education then how could they produce an educated generation which would play a role in the progress of the country, he said.

“As a nation, we have no awareness of what is best for the country. If standard of education is raised instead of making tall claims and unrealistic promises then all institutions of the country will improve automatically,” he remarked.

Mr Shah put the blame for battered education system on federal government and said it was duty of state and political leaders to take responsibility for education. The country was so deeply in debt that it was difficult for people of Pakistan to take a sigh of relief any time soon, he said.

He recalled that when he was education minister he had approved a grant of Rs400 million for the establishment of the Institute of Business Administration University in Sukkur.

“I have come to the limelight after a long time. Time passes and only history remains, so I have worked and will continue to work for nation building,” he vowed.

Published in Dawn, October 25th, 2021