Punjab Governor Chaudhry Mohammad Sarwar has approved Insaf Afternoon Schools Programme.
In Punjab, schools will also open in the evening. Under the programme, classes will also be held in evening shifts in government schools. The government had included the project in the development schemes in the annual budget of the current financial year.
Under the development programme, government schools will now operate in two shifts with routine classes in the first shift while evening classes will be held in the schools after the morning shift.
An amount of Rs3.27 billion had been allocated for the project. In the first phase, classes will be held in 3,956 schools for primary level and it will continue till nine months.
It will be followed by classes up to middle and matriculation and more schools will be included. The government will provide Rs15,000 for teachers to work in the evening while the minimum salary in the province was Rs20,000.
In addition to this, the government had allocated a budget for nine months while the additional budget will be allocated in the next financial year.
Read Early morning schools to launch soon
Punjab Education Minister Murad Raas said the PTI-led government was launching the new programme and work on it will begin soon. He claimed that the initiative would increase enrollment in schools and help children who go to work in the morning to study in these schools.
He further said that work on this project had been completed and discussions had been held with the teachers and now this project had entered the final phase.
He stated that reforms were being made in the education system by the provincial education department. “Classes are being conducted in morning shift in the schools and usually the schools close in the evening after the morning shift ends.
The PTI-led government has started evening shift education in these educational institutions.
The move will not only enable low-income children to study, but will also help children who support their families to continue their education.”
He elaborated that schools had been identified across Punjab and now classes will be started in them and enrollment of children will be done. “This initiative will increase the enrollment of students which was reduced.”
Reportedly, in the past, such experiments had failed which were run by the previous governments under the name of Nai Roshni schools and afternoon schools. Such projects were launched under former minister Muhammad Khan Junejo and former chief minister Shahbaz Sharif but reportedly did not work out.
However, the project may work in a few areas but was still being run by the government.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 21st, 2021.
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