KARACHI - Feudal mentality is the major hurdle in improve literacy rate and unless we give a serious attention to this important sector our dream of a prosperous and self-sufficient Pakistan cannot be materialised.

Pakistan is still a poor and backward country because the rulers here have neglected education in every government, said Pasban e Pakistan President Altaf Shakoor while addressing a meeting at Sindh chapter secretariat on Friday in connection with the International Literacy Day.

He said in Sindh almost 99 percent of government fund are wasted due to corruption and inefficiency, adding this has hit hard the education in this province.

He said due to low literacy and poor standard of education in government-run institutions, our youth cannot compete in open job market.

He said the youth is our most precious asset and to save them from crime, narcotics and terrorism should be our main responsibility. He said the family-run political parties of Zardaris and Sharifs have given nothing to this country, saving corruption and destruction.

He said still feudal are the patrons of corruption and crime in Sindh province. This has resulted in poor literacy and swelling armies of uneducated children.

He said education should be treated as a tool of awareness. He said to take full benefit of the CPEC projects we have to prepare a workforce that is well-educated and well-trained. He stressed the need for also educating prisoners and sending lecturers and professors to deliver lectures to them. He said the reforms of our jail system are now overdue.

He called for a uniform education system for the children of both poor and rich. He asked to control rising fees of private schools and improving educational standard of government institutions. He asked that political parties should also give a serious focus on education instead of wasting their energies in petty disputes.