HYDERABAD, Oct 6: The government should encourage functional education system, especially in remote areas, increase budgetary allocation for education, decentralize curriculum and pay more attention to school education.

These suggestions were made by educationists, social scientists and experts on agriculture and rural development while speaking on the second day of the "All Pakistan Education Conference on Poverty Alleviation Through Education", organized by the faculty of education of the University of Sindh on Tuesday.

The speakers stressed the need for changes in curriculum not only to cater to the needs of the market but also to promote positive values in the society. Dr Aliya Khan of the department of economics of the Quaid-i-Azam University in her paper on "Education and rural development" said education played an important role in human resource development which, she said, in turn led to reduction in poverty.

She also highlighted the importance of agriculture and rural economy in overall socio-economic development of a country. In his paper on "Role of education in poverty alleviation and rural development", the chairman of the agriculture extension department of the University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Dr Sher Mohammad, said rural poverty had emerged as a major issue, particularly in developing countries, during the last few years.

He said low productivity, high population growth and unequal distribution of recourses were the reasons behind poverty. Dr Parveen Munshi of the faculty of education of the University of Sindh in her paper on "Literacy: an urgent need of rural Sindh for poverty alleviation" said literacy was a prerequisite for socio-economic development and a major tool for access to modern source of knowledge.

She said Pakistan ranked low on the human development index, i.e. 144th in the world, and its literacy rate was also very low. University of Balochistan's Dr Nasir Qaisrani presented a paper on "Characteristics of poor people in Pakistan" in which he suggested that non-formal education in remote areas should be encouraged to enhance literacy rate.

Dr Ghaeyasuddin Siddiqui in his paper on "Education for social change" said progress and prosperity of a country largely depended on the kind of education provided to its people.

Presenting a paper on "Poverty alleviation through education for all" Prof Khalid Khurshid of the department of education of the Bahauddin Zakria University, Multan, said to bridge the gap between the rich and poor, especially in education, curriculum and medium of instruction should be made the same for all and students should be given relevant education.

Dr Naheed Zia Khan of the Fatima Jinnah Women's University, Rawalpindi, in her paper on "School education in Pakistan" observed that quality of education in schools played an important role in formation a society.

Prof (Dr) Mohammad Yousuf of the faculty of education, Bahauddin Zakria University, Multan, spoke on "Education and manpower development". He said proper networking of various institutions and facilities should be utilized for manpower development.

Dr Manzoorul Haq, visiting professor of the faculty of education of the University of Sindh, presented a paper on "Education and national development". Prof Nasir Hussain Hamdani, Prof Mohammad Aslam Kambooh, Prof Abida Siddiqui, Dr Shagufta Shahzadi, Benish Usmani, Prof Saleha Parveen and Prof Abdul Sattar Memon also spoke on the occasion.