Sindh Chief Minister (CM) Syed Qaim Ali Shah has said that Pakistan Peoples’ Party (PPP) government is keen to promote education and has provided Rs14 billion in the current financial year to the provincial government.
He said this while addressing a foundation stone laying ceremony of Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Chair, a project costing Rs 41 million and Date Palm Research Centre costing Rs 57.283 million, at Shah Abdul Latif University (SALU) Khairpur. The CM said on the occasion that the government wanted Pakistani varsities to compete with world class universities. He said the provincial government allocated Rs 14 billion for education sector, while the past governments had allocated only Rs 4 billion for the same purpose.
He further said that SALU was a gift of late Zulfikar Ali Bhutto to the masses of this area. He also said that after the passage of the 18th amendment, the education sector was devolved to the provinces, while adding that establishment of a Provincial Higher Education Commission was also in progress.
CM Qaim said that the NFC award was a landmark achievement of the present government. Previously the funds were divided on population basis, but now the NFC award was being distributed on the basis of multi-criteria including resource generation, he added.
Furthermore, he said that under this formula the Sindh government had received an amount of Rs 55 billion, which previously stood at Rs 23 billion.
Moreover, the CM said that seven universities had been established in the public sector of different districts of Sindh with a cost of Rs 400 billion.
CM Qaim said that 4,000 schools out of a total of 7,000 closed schools in Sindh province had been made functional. He said the government was paying Rs 3,450 stipend to poor girl students especially in the remote area of Tharparkar and Dadu districts.
Later, the CM announced a housing society scheme for SALU employees on the land available with the university. He also announced the release of pending aid in grant amounting to Rs 311 million for the university and an additional grant of Rs 9 million.
