Govt may hire 700 new teachers for ICT schools

Missing facilities in public schools to be provided through Rs800m project

ISLAMABAD: Even as the education system in the federal capital struggles to pay thousands of daily-wage teachers every year, a federal minister on Friday said that the government was mulling plans to induct as many as 700 teachers for the schools and colleges in the city.

This was disclosed by Federal Education Minister Shafqat Mahmood on Friday while addressing an inauguration ceremony of the newly constructed Kashmir Block at Islamabad Model College for Girls (IMCG) in Sector F-8/1. Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) MNA from the federal capital and former finance minister Asad Umar also attended the ceremony.

Mahmood reiterated that reforming and uplifting the education sector remains a priority for the federal government and that they were making all possible efforts on a war footing in this regard.

As part of this, the federal education minister said that the government has prepared a project concept-I (PC-I) worth Rs800 million to plug missing facilities in the 423 public sector schools of Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT), including Rs80 million to build additional blocks in educational institutions.

K-P to hire 12,000 more teachers

To improve the level of instruction in the schools and colleges of the federal capital, Mahmood said that they will be training teachers in ICT public schools. Moreover, he said that as many as 700 teachers are being inducted in the schools and colleges of the federal capital.

Talking about the out-of-school children in the federal capital, he said that of the 11,000 such children identified during a survey conducted by the Federal Directorate of Education (FDE), they had enrolled 7,500 of them.

"Out-of-school children are being enrolled in schools with an aim to increase the literacy rate across the country," he maintained.

Pakistan has several curriculums; Mahmood said, as he recapped his party’s biggest complaint about the education systems in vogue in the country.

“By combining these curriculums in a uniform education system with a single national curriculum, which will be introduced by next year, will be a great achievement for the present government,” Mahmood said.

Earlier in his address, Umar pointed out that government schools in the federal capital were packed to capacity. Hence, he said that they were working on resolving this issue on a priority basis.

He said PTI believes that every child has equal rights and they must have all the opportunities to grow in life.

The inauguration ceremony was also attended by the college principal, staff and a large number of students.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 19^th, 2019.