January 22, 2002	Tuesday	Ziqa’ad 7, 1422

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GILGIT, Jan 21: An education foundation would soon be established for monitoring the working of educational institutions in the Northern Areas, NAs Education, Health and Local Bodies Secretary Prof Khawaja Meherdad said here on Monday.

Speaking at the meet the press programme at Gilgit Press Club, he said there were 2,000 educational institutions in the Northern Areas.

Prof Meherdad said that the social action programme schools in the areas had proved successful.

He said that curriculum for class-I and II in English through illustrations had been introduced so that children could be attracted towards the textbooks.

He said new middle and higher secondary schools would be set up and work for a women’s technical college in Gilgit was in the final stage.

He said each year at least five lecturers would be awarded scholarships and Rs150,000 had been earmarked for stipends for school students.

He said marketable subjects would be introduced at Karakoram International University. The university would recruit 486 people and each year 160 students would be imparted education there, he said.

Prof Meherdad said 800 projects were completed under the Khushal Pakistan Program (KPP) in the NAs.

He said 558 village councils had been empowered to monitor development work, identify development projects, check absenteeism in schools and review performance of officials.

He said that under the KPP, about 2,500 people were employed, 800 acres of barren land was brought under cultivation and Unicef had donated pipe worth $50,000 for rural water supply schemes.

He said Rs500 million was being distributed annually among district and municipal councils for the completion of 1,100 development schemes.

About the health sector, he said clean drinking water was being provided through rural water supply programs as 80 per cent diseases in the area were water-borne.

He said that the Northern Areas had been made polio-free and leprosy cases had reduced from 350 to 16. He said a tuberculosis centre had also been set up.

He said that the government had launched Northern Areas Health Project (NAHP) at a cost of Rs50 million and 78 doctors were recruited on ad hoc basis, most of whom got their services regularized through the Federal Public Service Commission.

He said that around 1,500 paramedical staff had been appointed in the NAHP hospitals and 750 beds are available. He said the NAHP had focused on rural health issues, 1,150 lady health visitors were working in rural areas and about 700 were being trained each year.

Khawaja Meherdad said that a children’s ward, an oncology centre and a referral hospital would soon be set up in the Northern Areas.

He said that in the rural areas, traditional birth attendants had been trained and 26 doctors had been relieved for specialization.

He said that 32 ambulances had been acquired with the assistance of the German government and modern equipment, including fluoroscopy machine and free hepatitis and polio vaccines, had been acquired with foreign assistance of Rs500 million.