KARACHI, June 19: Sindh education minister Prof Anita Ghulam Ali has said maximum emphasis is being laid on awareness and improvement of basic structure of education department in the first phase of education for all programme in the province which will be implemented at a cost of Rs53 billion by the year 2006.

Speaking at a seminar on capacity building, organized by the provincial education department, the minister said the first phase of the education for all (EFA) programme with an outlay of about Rs53.5 billion was being implemented with top priority on improving basic education facilities in the districts.

“Some important powers have been delegated to the districts and schools so that they can plan strategies and propose projects according to their local requirements and environment,” she added.

She stressed upon the teachers to improve their skills and not to follow the traditional indifferent attitude which has been the main cause for high dropout rate.

“Values and attitude cannot be written in any rule book or official notification: it has to be developed by the teachers themselves,” she asserted and added that proposals had been put forward in the forthcoming provincial budget to improve facilities for teachers.

A new policy is being formulated that all requirements of the districts be purchased in their respective districts instead of being centralised in Karachi, while all these developments would be closely monitored by district Nazims and the public to ensure that there is no malpractice.

Highlighting the EFA programme, she said its first phase spanned over a period from 2001 to 2005, amounting to Rs53.5 billion; phase-II from 2006 to 2010 at Rs58 billion; while the last phase with Rs68.5 billion will be executed from 2010 to 2016.

She emphasised the need for better education facilities for special children who are usually treated as a burden on the family. She said it had been reported that 17 institutions in the province were lying inoperative for the last eight years but their teachers and staff were drawing salaries and benefits regularly.—PPI