Punjab Education Minister Rana Mahshood Ahmad Khan has said that good governance and transparency are foremost priorities of Punjab government. To ensure this reality, data of more than 52 thousand government schools of the province has been made public so that civil society and parents of students themselves can participate in process of monitoring. This initiative will help achieve Chief Minister's vision of "Parho Punjab-Barho Punjab".
He said this while addressing a press conference at Arfa Software Technology Park, Wednesday. Chairman Punjab Information Technology Board Dr Umar Saif was also present on the occasion. While addressing the press conference, the Minister said that Punjab government took lead among all provinces by allocating record 27 percent budget for education and now the data of schools are being made public first of all. He said that as many as 950 Monitoring Evaluation Assistants (MEAs) have been recruited for school monitoring and latest computer tablets have been provided to them. They monitor each and every school at least once in a month. Disciplinary action against 19 thousand teachers has been taken yet on reports of these MEAs, he added. He said that "Parho Punjab-Barho Punjab" initiative is running successfully. Members Parliament and Bureaucrats are adopting schools which will have long lasting impact. He said that expatriates will be able to adopt schools after availability of monitoring data. He said that a strategy is being evolved to address the challenges of more than 52 thousand schools of the province through public private partnership.
Chairman PITB gave detailed briefing about availability of monitoring data. He said that DFID is monitoring this data as external auditor and it is presented to Chief Minister after every two months. He requested citizens and parents of students to identify flaws in online monitoring to improve educational system of the province.