ISLAMABAD, FEB 5 (DNA) – Muhammad Hanif Mughal, Chairman of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Shadbad, said on Monday that all the major political parties are misguiding the masses about education in their election campaign.

He said that no government can double the education budget with the current income, and the slogan of creating a university in every district of the country is unmanageable.

Political parties are also promising billions in subsidies to the masses, which is not possible in the current situation as the IMF will not allow any such move, he added.

Dr. Muhammad Hanif Mughal said in a statement issued here today that political parties are claiming to change the fate of the nation, but any such thing is unlikely.

As usual, the politicians are making promises that cannot be fulfilled in the current scenario when a country is dependent on the IMF for its survival.

He claimed that economic development is impossible without the advancement of education, but policymakers have always ignored this.

Similarly, leaders are trying to lure the masses by telling them about subsidies worth billions of rupees, but the fact is that in the presence of the IMF, subsidies will be impossible.

Dr. Hanif Mughal said that currently, about two percent of the GDP is spent on an important sector like education. How can a country whose tax revenue is 9 to 10 percent of GDP increase its education budget by 100 percent or even more?

He said that the claims about increasing the education budget are not new. Political parties have been making such claims for decades, but after coming to power, this promise is forgotten.

The quality of education can only be improved when the revenue is increased for which the government will have to tax property, agriculture, wholesalers and retailers etc. which seems impossible, he observed.

He said that a major party claims to build a network of schools in the country. The other is talking about giving laptops and other items. Yet another party is claiming free food and free books for children, while the fourth party is talking about an end to co-education.

In the recent past, the ruling party has resorted to the policy of a uniform education system across the country, but now it seems that it has abandoned that policy.

PTI and PPP are also claiming to build a university in every district. In a country where there are 250 universities, their degrees are not recognised anywhere. Where millions of youth are unemployed, instead of establishing new universities, there is a need to improve the quality of existing educational institutions.