LAHORE: The Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) government is contemplating a plan to provide free uniforms to the students in public sector schools.
Talking to APP here on Sunday, GB Information Advisor Shams Mir said that steps were also being taken to provide food for students in schools in Gilgit-Baltistan. He added that the present government deserved a credit for initiating merit-based recruitments in the education sector in the province.
He further said that schools and colleges were being upgraded and quality education was also being ensured. He added that the present government had also reduced budget execution seasons from four to two in a year.
“Previously we got funds in four quarterly instalments and could not utilise most of them because, in GB, we cannot work in winter seasons,” he said. “We have also increased budget utilisation up to 100 per cent,” he said.
Previously, until the year 2009, the fund utilisation was around 20 to 30 per cent, but now, it had increased up to 100 per cent, Mir said. “We make our accounts almost zero every year,” the advisor added.
The advisor further said that “till the year 2009, our Annual Development Programme (ADP) volume was of just Rs6-8 billion but now it has increased up to Rs20 billion”. This is all because of the generous support from the federal government, he added.
The federal government has announced setting up of the second biggest university in the province, Mir said and added that the university would be named as Baltistan University and it would be set up in Skardu. The funds for the university have been released and work will be started on it shortly, he added.
