‘We tried our best’

Outgoing education minister says missing facilities in schools was biggest challenge

PESHAWAR: As the chapter on their government came to a constitutional close, the outgoing provincial education minister has claimed that his government had done a tremendous amount of work in the sector over the past five years.

Former Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) education minister Atif Khan, in a video message posted on social media on Tuesday, thanked the provincial Elementary and Secondary Education Department who he said had worked hard for the welfare of children in the province.

Atif said that when the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) first came into power in the province, it was hard to see the condition of the sector.

However, with support from ‘dedicated officials who really wanted to improve the education situation in the province’, they tried their best and worked seriously for improving education in the province.

He added that it was the vision of PTI Chairman Imran Khan to invest in building the human capital of the province, which is why the PTI government prioritised sectors such as education and spent billions to give education in the province an overhaul.



Pointing out the challenges in this, he said that the absence of critical facilities was a huge task for them, claiming that past regimes had completely ignored the state of government schools.

With that in mind, Atif claimed that they tried to provide every kind of facility in schools and restore the high standards of education in the province.



Appreciating officials of the K-P education department, he said that they found several officials who worked honestly and wanted to bring changes in education.

“We do not claim to have provided 100 per cent facilities in schools and improved the education system in the province, but we tried our best and succeeded in that mission to a great extent,” the ex-minister claimed.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 30^th, 2018.