Public education: Minister says good governance is govt’s chief priority

Data of 52,000 public schools shared

LAHORE: Education Minister Mashhood Khan on Wednesday said that good governance and transparency were the foremost priorities of the government.

The minister was speaking to journalists at the Arfa Software Technology Park.

He said data of 52,000 public schools province-wide had been made public in line with the government’s priorities. Khan said the initiative had been taken to enable civil society and students’ parents to become a part of the monitoring process.

He said this would help realise Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif’s vision of Parho Punjab, Barho Punjab.

Khan said the government had taken the lead among the provinces by allocating record funds for the education sector in the budget and making schools’ data public.

He said 950 evaluation assistants had been recruited to monitor schools.

Khan said they had been provided the latest computer tablets.

He said the assistants had been inspecting every school at least once a month.

The minister said disciplinary action had been taken against 19,000 teachers on the basis of their reports to date.

He said the Parho Punjab, Barho Punjab had been running successfully.

Khan said lawmakers and bureaucrats had been adopting schools under the initiative.

He said expatriates would be able to do the same after monitoring data was made available.

Khan said a strategy was being devised to overcome challenges confronting public schools province-wide by fostering public-private partnership.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 9^th, 2015.