HYDERABAD, Sept 8: A rally was taken out by education officials, teachers and students in connection with the International Literacy Day observed on Saturday.

Participants in the rally holding banners and placards inscribed with slogans demanding quality education marched from Circular Building to the local press club.

District education officials Ghulam Mustafa Saand, Farooq Leghari and Mohammad Siddique Ghauri led the rally.

Speaking to the rally participants, they appealed to parents and guardians of schoolchildren to ensure admission of their wards to schools, saying that people from low-income groups could change their destiny by getting their children educated.

“If they want a bright future for their families, they must care for their children’s academic career,” they stressed.

They said that 2012 had been declared the year of literacy and education and the education department had already launched a campaign to ensure maximum possible admissions to schools across Sindh in order to end illiteracy. People ought to get education which was their basic right to live gracefully, they said, adding that education was helpful not only in making one’s future bright but also polishing one’s professional skills.

They observed that literacy rate in Sindh stood at 55 per cent, and said that the campaign was aimed at improving by making all-out efforts to provide proper facilities to schoolchildren like free-of-cost textbooks.

Our Badin correspondent adds: The National Commission of Human Development (NCHD) in collaboration with the provincial education department organised an awareness walk in connection with the International Literacy Day on Saturday.

Some 400 people from all walks of life took part in the walk which was led by NCHD general-manager Pir Niaz Jan Sarhandi and other officials including Kulsoom Shahid Qureshi and Ali Ahmed Pinjharo.

Speaking to the walk participants, they stressed the need for promoting education eradicate illiteracy from society. They urged them to join the government in its efforts to improve the literacy rate in the province.

They said that 50,000 illiterate adults were being educated at 2,000 Adult Literacy Centres established Khairpur district.

Fatima Soomro and Allah Dino Mallah also spoke.