LAHORE: Punjab School Education Minister Rana Mashood Ahmed Khan has said that the Punjab School Education Department will hold the largest ever sports festival for school children from March, in which 1.5 million school children will take part.
Talking to media persons, he said that the largest ever school children sports festival, including 1.5 million Punjab school children, was being launched in partnership with the United Kingdom (UK) Sports department and the UK government.
To a query, he said sports were an antidote to racism and intolerance in the society, adding that sports also ensured a healthy society.
To another query, the education minister said that UK was the largest donor in the education sector in Punjab and all funding was made possible due to the unshakeable confidence of the UK government in the governance model in Punjab.
He said the British would also fund Punjab School Education Department to provide vocational training education from class 8th onwards in all public schools of Punjab.
He said teacher training module was the largest in the world in school education and 450,000 teachers were provided training under different programmes, while adding that the training was started on University College London (UCL), Cambridge and Oxford model. “Digital libraries would be launched in all public sector schools in Punjab from the month of March,” he said.
Commenting on out-of-school children, the provincial education minister said the negative image regarding high number of out-of-school children was improved by a great deal by the education department, adding that out-of-school children between the ages of 5-9 years were being re-enrolled in public schools. “All children between the ages of 5-9 would be enrolled in schools from the next academic year,” the minister claimed.
About the low-performing public sector schools, the education minister said more schools would be given to the well-reputed private schools network for improvement in education standards, adding that initially 4,300 low performing schools, where enrolment was under 20 and the annual result was from 0-20 per cent, were handed over to private educational organisations.
He said the overall results of students had improved by 80 per cent while the attendance had risen to 90 per cent at previously low-performing schools.
About introducing literature on child-abuse in the school curriculum, the provincial minister said the syllabus had been designed in consultation with religious scholars, psychologists, educationist and other stakeholders, and would be introduced in books at primary, elementary and secondary levels from the next academic session. He further said that a booklet on child abuse would be made a part of the curriculum in private schools and all madrassahs, besides the public sector schools. “Awareness campaign on child abuse would also be run across the Punjab province,” he added.