ISLAMABAD, Feb 20: The Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaaf (PTI) has come up with what it has described as its ‘education vision’ that seeks to improve the state of education in the country by drastically increasing spending in the sector and adopting local languages as the medium of instruction.

Speaking at a seminar on Wednesday, PTI chief Imran Khan said the party would proclaim an ‘education emergency’ soon after coming into power.

He said the education system could be improved through introduction of mother tongue as the medium of instruction and English as a separate subject. “It has been established worldwide that children learn easily and quickly when taught in their mother tongues,” he said.

Mr Khan said that under the policy the education spending would be increased from Rs400 billion to Rs2.5 trillion by reducing what he described as ‘unnecessary expenditures’ in the budget and diverting funds to the education sector.

The policy, he said, had been formulated keeping in view the poor governance and the abysmally low funding in the sector which had resulted in shocking indicators such as the lowest literacy rates in the region, especially among women. “This education policy was difficult to put together and it will be difficult to implement it. In fact, implementing this will be more difficult than eliminating corruption and terrorism,” he remarked.

Mr Khan said his party wanted to establish a system which would provide equal opportunities to all and eliminate poverty as a barrier to quality education. “Our party believes in one education system for all, to achieve equality and harmony.

“It’s criminal that children of this country have been deprived of quality education.” He said the policy would equally inspire learning at madressahs.

“This is not a political gimmick. Education is the foundation for a new Pakistan.”

On the occasion, Jahangir Khan Tareen said a standardised assessment/examination would be introduced to test students’ understanding, rather than their memory.