ISLAMABAD: The first meeting of Education Task Force on Wednesday termed the state of affairs in education sector alarming and called for immediate steps to improve the situation. The meeting was chaired by Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Ahsan Iqbal and attended by State Minister for Information Technology Shaza Fatima Khawaja, chief secretaries from all provinces, and representatives from the Ministry of Education, Unicef, UNDP, FCDO, Unesco, the World Bank, ADB, Malala Fund, ITA and Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute. Addressing the meeting, planning minister expressed deep concern over the current state of education which he termed alarming and stressed the need for urgent and immediate actions to bring about improvement in the education sector. Citing alarming data from the Education Index, he highlighted that approximately 25 million children in Pakistan are currently out of school, and the literacy rate stands at a mere 60pc, which is a matter of grave concern. Calls for immediate steps to improve situation Sources said that meeting was told that federal government could allocate Rs25 billion for out of school challenge funds while provinces should also contribute with Rs25 billion and international partners like World Bank, Asian Development Bank, Unicef, Unesco, etc., should also provide Rs25 billion funds to tackle the challenge of out-of-school children in next six years. The meeting discussed that by 2030, the issue of out-of-school children (OOSC) should be addressed at maximum level. Meanwhile, the meeting also discussed that in next 10 years, literary rate should reach 90pc. Earlier, the planning minister emphasised that the government’s aim is not just to enroll children in schools but to provide them quality education. “We must equip every child with basic computer skills and modern technical education, along with establishing state-of-the-art laboratories,” he stated. He further identified teacher training as a significant challenge, underscoring that without improving teacher training, educational reforms will not succeed. Mr Iqbal also called for enhancing technical and vocational education. The planning minister also held the 18th Amendment responsible for the decline in the literacy rate as it devolved education to the provinces in 2010. He stressed the importance of focusing on both education and health, as Pakistan is among the top countries in the world for cases of hepatitis, tuberculosis, diabetes and polio. During the meeting, Ahsan Iqbal acknowledged the contributions of all stakeholders and international partners, emphasising the need for a public-private partnership in both education and health sectors. He assured that the federal government would not leave the provinces to tackle these fundamental issues alone. Besides other, the meeting was attended by Education Secretary Mohyuddin Ahmad Wani, Ayesha Raza Farooq of the National Commission on the Rights of Child Pakistan, Dr Rahila Hameed Durrani, Zahid Ali Abbasi, Dr Amjad Saqib, Shakeel Durrani, Fareed Panjwani, along with representatives from various multilateral organisations.