ISLAMABAD: Education Minister Balighur Rehman on Friday said achieving 90% literacy rate in the country is the government’s top priority.He was addressing the seminar titled, “Developing National Action Plan”, towards achieving 90% literacy rate as envisaged in vision 2025. Planning, Development and Reforms Minister Ahsan Iqbal also accompanied the Education minister. “To achieve any target, a vision is required, and we are very proud that the government was the first one to introduce the ‘Vision 2025’ under the dynamic leadership of Ahsan Iqbal. Unfortunately we could not achieve our educational goals but we are working towards it, as all provinces have increased their spending on education,” he said. The minister said that the government should not set unrealistic goals, as it has to keep in view other constraints as well. “According to article 25A, it’s our collective responsibility to educate each and every child in the country. Education without character building and civic sense is nothing, so we need to focus on these areas as well,” the minister added. He said the Pakistan Social And Living Standards Measurement Survey (PSLM) figures regarding the country’s literacy rate is not accurate, however the figures obtained from the Academy of Educational Planning and Management (AEPAM) are accurate and should be relied upon.According to the AEPAM survey, literacy rate in the country has increased to 60%, which is still low as compared to other countries. The minister stressed on focusing on adult literacy programmes as there are many people who are unable to complete their education due to multiple reasons. “Therefore, I have given the task to the National Commission of Human Development (NCHD) to introduce accelerated learning programmes, which will be beneficial for masses. We should also give special attention to female literacy/education,” he added. Speaking on the occasion, Ahsan Iqbal said, “We need a breakthrough performance in the field of education, while out of box ideas are expected from highly skilled and able people. I congratulate NCHD, UNICEF and the Ministry of Education for taking these initiatives and hope that better and workable outcomes would come out soon.” Later in the day, Ahsan Iqbal attended the “Consultative Workshop on Development of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Strategy for Schools”, arranged by UNICEF.He admired the efforts of UNICEF for taking up the initiative and said that around 64% of children have access to water and 61% of children have access to sanitation, so the government needs to work on this area. “I am happy to announce that we are working on the National Minimum Education Standards (NMES). Everything that has anything to do with education, be it teacher, building, furniture or sanitation facilities at schools, will be included in NMES and will strictly be implemented throughout the country. It is our responsibility to provide these basic facilities to our youth as it can have great impact on their performances.