Equal opportunity: ‘Free education for students with disabilities’

K-P government lifts age bar on women seeking admissions for degree programmes.

PESHAWAR:

To ensure that everyone is provided equal opportunity, provincial minister Mushtaq Ghani on Thursday announced free education for students with disabilities.

Addressing a conference organised by the Society of Home Economics (SHE) at Archives Hall, Ghani said the government will cover all expenses, including hostel fees and utility bills, in addition to providing wheelchairs and study material to students.

The provincial higher education minister also said the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) government has taken the “historic” decision to lift the upper age limit for female students seeking admission in undergraduate programmes. Earlier, most colleges and universities across the province refused admissions to female students above 25 years of age. “We have made history by removing bars. There will be no age limit for women seeking admission in degree courses.”

This step will now empower women to pursue an education without having to think ‘it is too late’.

Moreover, the minister also announced to set up two new women degree colleges, one each in Abbottabad and Nowshera.

Lauding the SHE, Ghani said the institution will improve academic discipline and community development, adding the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has pledged to provide education to women.

He said that despite financial constraints of over Rs30 billion, coupled with lack of interest by donors and the federal government, the provincial government will continue its mission and utilise its own resources in the education sector.

Also speaking on the occasion, K-P Assembly Speaker Asad Qaisar said nations cannot develop and prosper without having educated women. He said the provincial government has decided to focus on educational institutions for women, and 70% of institutions built in the future will be for women.

On April 8, the provincial government announced to change the medium of instruction for students studying in state-run schools, stating mathematics and general knowledge would be taught in English starting from grade-one.

In addition, the government has initiated the Tameer-e-School programme where a total of 122 state-run schools were identified in the first phase. Shortcomings within the identified schools will be addressed with donations from the general public in and outside the country.

Fourteen thousand schools from the total 28,000 lack basic facilities, including rooms, boundary walls and toilets. The funds generated during the Tameer-e-School programme will be directly allotted to the schools identified on the programme’s website and will then be spent according to proposals of parent teacher councils.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 23^rd, 2014.