Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Ameer Haider Khan Hoti on Monday announced construction of 1000 primary schools in next three years under President fund to give further impetus to education. The chief minister further said literacy ratio in the province has significantly increased due to government's successful measures for promotion of quality education.
Addressing the school admission campaign in the collaboration of Elementary and Science Education Department, UNICEF, UK and DFID, the chief minister said that President Asif Ali Zardari was taking keen interest in education sector and his government has decided to construct 1000 primary schools under the three-year programmes to bolster primary education.
He said out of these schools 70 percent would be for girls as they are the most important segment of society. Appreciating the close co-operation between Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government and other donor agencies for promotion of education, the chief minister said that his government was also working closely with federal government to enhance literacy and discourage drops out ratio.
The chief minister assured that the funds received from donors for promotion of education would be transparently utilised and the admission school campaign would be extended to all districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The chief minister urged the international community and donor agencies to generally contribute for promotion of education projects and other important sectors so that the infrastructure damaged or destroyed due to militancy and terrorism could be rebuilt on modern lines.
He said repair and reconstruction work in addition to construction of new primary, middle, high and colleges under way in the province and cadet colleges and university has been constructed in Swat district. He said the government was giving special attention to women education and several programmes including stars of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have been launched to achieve the desired objectives.
In areas where government schools are not available, he said, several projects are being initiated under public private partnership to educate the deprived children in private schools. He said 2005 earthquake, 2010 flood and militancy in Swat had badly affected educational infrastructure and the government was working day and night for its rebuilding. Senior Minister Rahim Dad Khan, Minister for Finance Engineer Humayun Khan, British High Commissioner to Pakistan Adam Thamson and Canadian High Commissioner besides other officials were present on the occasion.