May 21, 2002	Tuesday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 8,1423

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MANSEHRA, May 20: The district Nazim of Mansehra, Mohammad Azam Khan Swati, has said that the district government is determined to meet the requirements of the educational institutions and added that the district government had already spent major part of the development funds on the education sector.

He was speaking at the inaugural ceremony of the Information Technology department of the Government Polytechnical Institute on Monday.

The director of technical education and manpower, Saifullah Khan Barki, and senior English instructor Akhtar Aziz also spoke.

The institute was established in 1995 at Dhodiyal and shifted to the building of the technical training centre in Mansehra early this year. A modern laboratory equipped with 36 Pentium-4 computers has been set up there.

The lab has been provided with networking and will soon be given an Internet connection. The lab will offer short courses besides diploma in Information Technology.

Mr Swati announced a Rs200,000 grant for the institute and said that if it could not be arranged officially, he would pay it from his own pocket.

Referring to the non-availability of water at the institute, the Nazim assured that he would take up the issue with the works and services department.

The director of technical education and manpower said that there was no dearth of talent nor was there any scarcity of resources in Pakistan. “The only thing we need is to guide the youth to the right path and to utilize our resources in a proper and organized way,” he stressed.

He said it was a joke that the Mansehra institute had been set up in three rooms of a school in Dhodiyal.

He said it was an irony that equipment, worth millions, meant for the Mansehra institute had been purchased by the staff of the polytechnical institute of Abbottabad and dumped in a godown but could not be utilized due to non-availability of the college building.

Referring to a students’ demand, Mr Barki extended the term of Technical Vocational Course from one year to two years. He promised the establishment of sub-offices of the technical board at the district level for the convenience of students.