Anjuman Araiyan Pakistan (AAP) organized an educational convention and scholarship distribution ceremony at Dera Mian Saeed, Wahdat Road near Multan Chungi on Sunday where a resolution was presented and adopted unanimously that the government should declare the next five years as “Education Reforms and Implementation Years” and at least 5% of the total national earnings must be spent on the education sector.
Over 5,000 social activists, academicians, doctors and citizens form all sections of the society attended the ceremony. AAP former chairman Mian Muhammad Muneer, newly elected president Mian Muhammad Saeed, secretary general Malik Amin Araien, Lieutenant General (R) Ghulam Mustufa, scholarship committee chairman Mian Shafiq, Chaudhry Zulifqar and Arshad Gurki addressed the ceremony.
Saeed presented the resolution and said that Pakistan had faced both internal and external threats and one of the major reasons for the emergence of these threats was a lack of uniform education system and inconsistent educational polices besides a very low investment in the education sector.
He said due to the lack of education and awareness, some external forces were using Pakistanis as suicide bombers. He said in order to regain respect for the country and its citizens, the government as well as the private sector should focus on academic reforms in the next five years. Saeed said India had left Pakistan far behind in the field of education, technology and good repute only because soon after independence, India implemented educational reforms.
He said Pakistanis could fight external threats but not internal enemies and added that only education and awareness were the tools to fight internal threats. He said the time had come that Pakistan must set education as a priority and pressed upon the government to spend at least 5% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on education.
Seed said that the Anjuman had been working on various social welfare projects in Pakistan as well as the United Kingdom without any bias or discrimination towards members of other castes and its motto was to promote collective welfare of the society and country. Other speakers also emphasized on a need of education promotion in the country and equipping the youth which comprised 60 % of the country’s total population. Earlier at the AAP annual general meeting, Mian Muhammad Saeed was elected as the new president of the organization.
