1,098 educational institutions to have IT labs by March

As many as 1,098 schools and colleges across the country would have computer labs by March next, the sources said here. They said the Ministry of Information Technology in collaboration with provincial and AJK governments is actively working to make the labs functional at the start of next academic session in March, 2005.
According to official sources here on Wednesday, the tendering process and the purchase of equipment for the labs would be completed soon. These labs are being set-up under a project which would cost Rs 1841.13 million and ensure quality IT education in the country.
Under the project, 1,098 IT teachers, lab incharges and computer labs are being provided to 1,098 government high schools, higher secondary schools and inter colleges in all provinces, AJK, FATA, FANA and ICT for imparting quality IT education at the levels of class IX to XII.
They said the project would cover about 11 percent of the total number of schools and inter colleges in the public sector.
Regarding implementation of the project, the sources said Pakistan Computer Bureau- a subsidiary of the Ministry of IT- and provincial bodies have been asked to recruit IT teachers from within the local councils where the schools were located or from the tehsil if the teacher with required qualification was not available, to promote employment at the grassroots level.
The number of teachers to be recruited is 515 in Punjab, 206 in Sindh, 169 in NWFP, 95 in Balochistan, 26 each in AJK, FATA, FANA and 35 in Islamabad Capital Territory.
The sources said advertisement for hiring of teachers and lab incharges in 129 schools had already been placed in newspapers while tendering process for 129 labs had been completed.
FATA and NWFP were already ahead of schedule in the implementation process while other provinces were asked to expedite the process.
Under the project, teachers to be appointed would be required to possess MSc (Computer Science) or BCS (4 years after FSc/A Level) or equivalent.
They would be employed on contract basis in BPS-17 for three years while the lab incharges would be recruited in BPS-7. After three years, the provinces would take over the project.
The sources said although the schools and colleges picked up under the scheme had the power facility, yet the efforts would be made to provide power generators to schools located in areas noted for frequent and long-drawn power breakouts.