Revamping education: ‘1,200 schools to get LEDs, tablets and free Wi-Fi’

Minister says 2,000 new schools to be set up under a pilot project

DERA GHAZI KHAN: A proposal to induct primary school teachers in grade 14 instead of in grade 9 will be presented before the Provincial Assembly soon, Minister for Education Rana Mashhood said on Tuesday. He was addressing lawmakers, the Dera Ghazi DCO and several education officers at a meeting.

The minister said the government was planning on upgrading several schools in Tribal Areas of Dera Ghazi Khan. Mobile schools, laboratories and digital libraries will be made available to children from Tribal Areas, he said.

Under a pilot project, 2,000 new schools will be set up and LEDs, tablets and Wi-Fi services will be provided to 1,200 schools in the province, Mashhood said. “The idea is to provide students modern implements to obtain a decent education.” He said 30 of the new schools will be opened in Dera Ghazi Khan district. A summary in this regard will be approved this month, he said.

At least four teachers will be appointed at every school, said the minister. Before appointing new teachers, retired teachers can be appointed as coaches by the local administration at Rs7,000 per month honorary salary. In the next appointment policy, 12 marks for relevant union council and eight marks for relevant district council will be allocated in the NTS test so that local residents are given priority in the jobs. On the directions of the chief minister, 150,000 teachers have been appointed on merit, the minister said. Separately, the number of assistant education officers will also be increased for better monitoring of the schools – an AEO will then monitor 20 schools instead of 40 schools.

The minister said no school will be without a proper building by the end of the year. Development projects will be completed by the end of the current financial year. Under new school projects, the government is going to build new schools under the PEEF and Dera Ghazi Khan will get a share from the project.



Mashhood said the government was working on a transfer policy for teachers to facilitate them in case of marriage or divorce. He said because of various initiatives taken by the government, the number of students at schools had risen from 8 million to 12.5m in the last few years.

He said the government was working on providing teachers free health facilities and interest-free loans to buy homes and cars.

Security at schools

Chief Secretary Capt (r) Zahid Saeed said on Tuesday that security arrangements at educational institutes would be re-evaluated before the end of summer vacations. Focal people will be nominated to deal with security matters at schools and colleges.   He was presiding over a meeting of the Administrative Secretaries’ Committee at the Civil Secretariat.

Saeed also directed divisional commissioners to remain alert in case of possible floods. He told officers to use all available resources to ensure the best protective measures.

Home Secretary Azam Suleman Khan briefed the meeting about law and order in the province. He said as a result of effective measures taken by the Counter Terrorism Department and law-enforcement agencies, the law and order situation in the Punjab had substantially improved.

The meeting was attended by Additional Chief Secretary Shumail Khawaja, divisional commissioners and secretaries of various departments.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 27^th, 2016.