KP Governor Iqbal Zafar Jhagra on Friday formally launched the education campaign to enroll 100 percent children in schools in Fata. He said education and knowledge are keys to socio-economic development of the country. He said education was given top most priority and we have already announced education emergency in tribal areas.
He said to make Pakistan developed and sovereign we have to educate every child throughout the country. He urged the tribesmen to play their role to ensure 100 percent primary enrollment in the schools in Fata. He said no efforts would be spared to get 100 percent school children enrolled in Fata. He said education is pre-requisite for the real development of Pakistan. He said all-out efforts are being taken to provide access to education at the doorstep to all the school going children in Fata.
He was addressing the prize distribution ceremony to the position holder students of external examination in 5th and 8th class in Fata here at Governor House, Peshawar. While congratulating the students, the governor said that education is the right of every children and it is the responsibility of the state to provide education. The governor also distributed the certificates to position holder students and congratulated them. He said in the enrolment drive, children aged between 4 and 9 years will be enrolled. He said special steps are being taken to enrol children in schools from April 08 till May 31. The governor said to ensure the attendance of the teachers and other educational staff we have established advanced monitoring system. He said the education emergency has been declared in Fata and said where children in the age 4 to 9 years where more than 400,000 will be enrolled in this and in the first phase of the enrollment drive, 140,000 children would be enrolled in schools in tribal region.
He said during the enrollment drive there will be competition on Agency levels and prizes will be awarded. On the occasion, the governor has distributed the admission form among the children. He congratulated to Fata Education department and concerned team on successful holding of centralized examination for 5th and 8th grades for the first time in Fata.
He also extended felicitations to those boys and girls, who continued their studies and clinched positions in the examination despite the current adverse circumstances and expressed his hope that the children will consistently focus their attention on studies and will prove to be the shining stars of Fata in future as well. He said Fata students have great potential and have the ability to compete with students of prestigious institutions of the country.
The governor said that education is an instrument for socio-economic development of a country adding that the Constitution of Pakistan guarantees free and compulsory education to children. He said in this regard steps have been taken and education sector is on the top of our priorities. He said their focus was on provision of quality education. He said in order to overcome the deficiency of science teachers, an advertisement has already been floated for hiring of 1765 science teachers through NTS which will be completed very soon. Subject oriented approach has been adopted in hiring of teachers and the deployment of teachers will be according to enrolment, he added. He said the induction of these teachers will surely make a positive difference in the qualitative aspect of education.
"Quality of the education can only be determined through regular and proper assessments. This centralized examination is one of the tools to determine the outcomes of the education system. In future, assessment will be a regular phenomenon and all the schools will conduct regular quarterly examinations besides the centralized terminal examination. This will help in the identification of weak areas and need for further improvement.