February 17, 2003	Monday	Zul Hijjah 15, 1423

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PESHAWAR, Feb 16: NWFP education minister Maulana Fazl-i-Ali has said the government has decided to utilize a substantial part of the non-development funds for the promotion of education, making it free up to matric.

According to the information collected by Dawn from different sources, the students enrolled at high schools in the NWFP, both girls and boys, number 430,678. Each student pays Rs200 as tuition fee and some annual funds.

Maulana Fazl-i-Ali said the provincial government was spending Rs60 million in the education sector. “Now that the government has declared education free up to matric, it has planned to cut down on the non-developmental expenditure,” he added.

A strategy is being shaped, in consultation with the private and public sector educationists, to remove loopholes in the present education system in the province, he said.

He said the task force working for the purpose will ensure punctuality of the teachers in the government-run schools. The district education officers (DEO) will be responsible for the good working of the public sector schools.

The decision to make education free up to matric was taken to provide opportunities to the poor students, because poverty was the key factor hindering the pursuit of education, he added.

“Education for the poor should not only be for free, it should also be of good quality,” head of a government-run educational institution remarked. “Making the education free would not, by itself, promote it,” he added.

“The uniform of a student almost costs Rs350. The tuition fee goes to the provincial government’s kitty while the funds are used in schools by their administration,” headmaster of a government-administered school told Dawn.

The yearly tuition fee of a student in the government high school was meagre, but it was contributing in a small way to the provincial coffers.

The parents, mostly poor, were least bothered about their children enrolled at the public sector schools. Making education free would relieve them of the light responsibility also, said a teacher.

The social and physical environment of the government schools is in dire need of improvement, requiring a big chunk of money.