Balochistan boosts education budget

Spokesperson says 10,000 teachers being hired

QUETTA:

The Balochistan government has increased the education budget by five per cent to overcome illiteracy and ensure provision of quality education.

A total of 62 schools have been upgraded province-wide while the hiring of 10,000 schoolteachers is also in progress, said a provincial government spokesperson on Friday.

Farah Azeem Shah, the spokesperson, told a press conference that construction of a power plant and airport in Gwadar has been completed which will be made operational on March 23.

Shah said that the government of Balochistan was determined to take all possible measures to end the education backwardness by equipping the youth with quality education.

The provincial government was utilizing all available resources to ensure improvement in all sectors, including education, at every opportunity which aims to ensure the resolution of problems, she underlined.

She said that student learning skills program was ongoing from class two to six which will help children brush up their skills in the early stage of their life so as to help them advance in their educational endeavours later on.

Farah Shah said that the government’s effort was to increase the capacity of the students by making all the resources available while keeping in view the modern-day needs in order to equip the youth with latest education.

She said that 9,396 teachers were recruited, of which 450 IT experts were also hired. A teacher training programme was planned at a cost of Rs605 million to provide these recruited teachers with modern knowledge.

It may be recalled that Balochistan government has decided to make recruitment of teachers at union council level in order to overcome the shortage of teachers across the province.

A press statement issued by education department said that Chief Minister Balochistan Mir Abdul Quddus Bizenjo and Chief Secretary Balochistan Abdul Aziz Aqeeli have taken important decisions for the improvement of education in the province. In order to ensure transparency, the chief minister instructed making the process of hiring teachers online.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 19^th, 2023.