Academicians, social activists and members of the civil society have expressed “great concern” over the declining standard of education and lack of basic facilities in the schools in Thatta. The matter was discussed in a conference held under the collaboration of Peasants Struggle Forum Thatta and Press Club here on Saturday. Addressing the conference, Chairman Sindhi Language Authority Dr. Mohammad Ali Manjhi said that Education had been turned into a money minting business that has become beyond the reach of the poor. Talking about the standard of education in European countries, he said that education is the top most priority of the governments, where child protection agencies were playing an active role to bring children to schools. He urged that the education system needed to be modernized. During the conference, Pro-Vice-Chancellor Sindh University Thatta Campus Rafiq Memon said that that poor standard of education in the district would leave an adverse effect on the coming generations and added, that if measures were not taken, the district would witness a sharp decline in literacy ratio in the years ahead. Meanwhile, Senior Journalist Dr. Shahid Siddiqui noted that elected representatives, the corrupt coterie of bureaucrats, and untrained teachers were responsible for the declining standards of education in the district. Educational reforms were needed at grass root levels, he urged. Social Activist Lutif Hallo urged that closed schools in the district should be made functional and the teachers must be trained to meet the needs of modern-day education. After the conclusion of speeches, a documentary throwing spotlight on the causes of declining education standard was shown to the participants of the conference.