KARACHI, July 20: The Sindh government has set aside Rs.01.0 billion as an endowment fund in 2002-03 budget to extend financial assistance to the brilliant students of the province for higher studies in any university of the country.

Any student who gets admission on merit in any of the university and faces financial problems to continue his studies, will be helped by the Sindh government from the endowment fund, provincial minister for finance, planning and development Dr. Abdul Hafeez Shaikh said here while speaking at the concluding ceremony of the first specialized course on teaching skills development for lecturers on Saturday.

The month-long course was jointly organized by the Sindh education department and National Institute of Public Administration, Karachi. Sixty-six lecturers from all over the province attended the course. The course was part of government’s sectoral reforms programme to improve efficiency of the teachers for imparting quality education to the students.

On state of education that prevailed during last decade, Dr. Hafeez said the situation had deteriorated to such an extent that in 90s the enrolment of children in the schools started declining instead of increasing.

It was a great challenge for this government to bring about drastic changes in the system, he said and added, “we have achieved a remarkable success in this respect through launching special drive for enhancing enrolment in the schools.” The government has also offered incentives to the children and their parents that include distribution of free textbooks, free education up to secondary level and scholarships to every girl to continue her education at least up to secondary level, he said.

Niaz Ahmed Siddiqui, Chief Instructor NIPA, Zareen Qureshi, course coordinator, Faraz Siddiqui and Azra Khursheed, also spoke.—PPI