Provincial Minister for Education Rana Mashhood Ahmad Khan has said the Punjab government will establish girls’ high schools in each union council in the province.
Besides, as many as 35 thousand new class rooms would also be constructed in government schools in all 36 districts of the province, he said.
He stated this while presiding over a high-level meeting in Bahawalpur which was attended by Provincial Secretary Social Welfare and Baitul Maal Haroon Rafiq, MNA Begum Perveen Masood Bhatti, MPAs Khalid Mahmood Waran, Fouzia Ayub Quresshi, Hasina Naz, DCO Bahawalpur Dr. Ehtisham Anwer Mahaar, EDO Education and other relevant officers of various departments.
He said that the massive financial intervention of 56 billion and 74 million rupees was aimed at sharpening the pace of infrastructural development by opening new girls’ schools in all the 36 districts of the province and adding 35 thousand new class rooms along with other development initiatives in the school sector in the current fiscal year 2016-17.
Rana Mashhood Ahmad Khan urged the officials of the Education Department to synergise all wings of Education Department both to achieve enrollment targets and effectively check the tendency of dropout which is crucial to ensure hundred per cent literacy rate in the 36 districts of the province.
He directed the concerned officials to ensure the fullest implementations of SOP to extend security cover to the academic institutions. To maximise the participatory role of the local community new schools councils would be revitalised which would play their role to promote modern education in both rural and urban areas of the province, the minister added.
The minister was briefed that 31 out of 57 declared endangered schools were being reconstructed in the first phase which would be completed in the next two months. The meeting was informed that Rs 1.3 million have been spent to provide books, notebooks, uniforms and scholarships to the children of brick kiln workers who have been enrolled in different schools.
Later, the minister visited the Government Girls Higher Secondary School Satellite Town Bahawalpur and Government Shohada-e-Army Public Memorial High School Satellite Town and took serious notice of poor cleanliness, tidiness and poor attendance of students in the school and directed the concerned heads to improve their functioning within a stipulated period of one week.
He also suspended PET of Government Shohada-e-Army Public Memorial High School Satellite Town for engaging a student in the process of cleanliness. He also inspected computer lab, science laboratory, control room, class rooms and directed the teachers to place date, name of the subject and the status of attendance at the board of class rooms on regular basis.
The minister urged upon the students to focus their attention to learn modern education and skills to play their effective role in nation building.