PTI politics has turned education into an industry: Siraj

Jamaat-e-Islami chairman Sirajul Haq questioned the government's educational policies, asking why 30 million children are out of school in the country despite the government's boasts of an educational revolution.

"Education has become a business in the society . consequently of the PTI-led government's anti-education and faulty policies, as well as previous ruling regimes," Siraj stated at a meeting of the Islami Jamiat Talaba on the occasion of its 74th Foundation Day at the University of Karachi.

He claimed that 30 million children of primary school are not enrolled in educational institutions because children from poor households have no choice but to work to support their parents and family, while children from the power elite are aided at upper class schools in the country and overseas.

A ordinary person in the community, according to the JI leader, is unable to pay the fees of a professional college due to the current economic situation. "The public sector institutions were deprived of basic infrastructure, including bathrooms," he said, adding that Pakistan's educational budget was the smallest among regional countries.

"It is completely illogical that in the country, an 18-year-old man is liable to vote for a legislator but does not have the ability to vote for his delegate in his own educational institution," he says, adding that "the lack of student unions resulted in a drastic increase in educational issues." In terms of the PTI administration's performance, he stated that while PTI officials claimed to have brought about a revolution in the education and health sectors, the PTI-led government has damaged both sectors in just three years in power.