MULTAN (APP) - Minister of State for education Ghulam Fareed Kathia said Wednesday that government intends to elevate allocation for education sector uplift up to 4.6 percent of GDP or Rs 60 billion but expenses being incurred on war against terrorism were a big hurdle in its way. While addressing the 22nd Pakistan history conference at Bahauddin Zakariya University (BZU) here, the minister said that despite financial troubles, incumbent government allocated Rs 22.7 billion for education sector this year which was far above allocations made by the past governments and was a step forward towards fulfilling development related promises. He said that Higher Education Commission (HEC) serves as the engine of socio-economic justice and development and that is why the government was giving priority to HEC initiatives. He said that ratio of people opting for higher education was low in Pakistan i.e 4.6 percent compared to 7 percent in India and 12 per cent in Malaysia. However, government wishes to elevate it from 4.6 to 10 per cent by the year 2015, Kathia added. He said government expects that higher education system will help promote tolerance in society and eliminate extremism. Ghulam Fareed Kathia said that education sector uplift was facing many problems including lack of liaison and coordination among the intelligentsia and officials. He said that governments commitment to education sector uplift remained strong. He added that the Prime Minister has announced many development schemes most importantly the 100 foreign scholarships for BZU, Rs 30 million funding for Saraiki Area Study Centre, funding for Gilani Law Colleges besides upgradation of existing and establishments of new departments in the university. He said that PPP believes in people-friendly initiatives as per vision of ZAB who advocated empowerment of the poor. Kathia added that Mohtarma Shaheed Benazir Bhutto was committed to social justice and protecting rights of the people and social justice was among the top priorities of the government. He said that government was trying to ensure easy access of the people to quality higher education and harmonize it with present age requirements. Ghulam Fareed Kathia said that government was fully aware of the importance of history and many schemes relating to rehabilitation of monuments besides research have been approved. Government will continue to provide funding for such initiatives.