Surprise visit: Shahbaz Sharif seeks survey of missing facilities at public schools in Punjab

Construction of a new block for school in Fareed Town ordered.

GUJRANWALA:

Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif on Tuesday directed Education Department to conduct a survey of missing facilities at public schools in the province.

He issued the directive during a visit to Government Girls Elementary School in Fareed Town, Gujranwala.

A press statement issued by the government said Sharif was shocked to observe the poor condition of the school.  He directed the department to use the survey findings to plan renovation of public schools. He asked the department to ensure that none of the basic facilities were missing at any school.

The chief minister also expressed resentment at the delay in completion of work various development projects despite allocation of funds. He said condition of public schools could be improved in six months if only monitoring improved.

Sharif ordered that a 10-marla plot adjacent to the girls’ school in Fareed Town be bought to construct another building for the school. He said the primary school would be extended to the new building and classes for middle grades be transferred to a High School located 600 yards from the school.

He directed the officials concerned to ensure that construction of the new building was completed during the summer vacations.

Education minister Mujtaba Shujaur Rehman, Schools Secretary Muhammad Aslam Kamboh, Gujranwala Division Commissioner Abdul Jabbar Shaheen, MNA Khurram Dastagir Khan and MPAs Sheikh Mumtaz Hashmi, Imran Khalid Butt, Shaukat Manzoor Cheema and Khalid Pervaiz Virk accompanied the chief minister.

EDO (Education) removed

Gujranwala Executive District Officer (Education) Riaz Ahmed Suhi was on Tuesday asked to leave the office and report to the School Education Department section officer. A notification issued on Tuesday said Suhi should stop performing duties as the EDO and report to the section officer every day until he was appointed to a new office.

The notification said the action was taken in view of his unsatisfactory performance.

A survey recently carried out by the Public Education Sector Reform Programme (PESRP) had ranked Gujranwala as the worst district in terms of teachers’ attendance at schools.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 16^th, 2012.