April 1, 2003	Tuesday	Muharram 28, 1424

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QUETTA, March 31: Education Minister Zubaida Jalal said on Monday that half of the funds of a $100 million education project under USAID would be spent in Balochistan.

Speaking at a press conference at the press club, she said the project would be implemented in five years.

She said 80 per cent of the amount would be spent on education development in the rural areas of Sindh and Balochistan.

She said the federal government helping Balochistan for increasing literacy rate and education standard in the province.

The minister said funds for education would be distributed among the provinces according to the National Economic Council’s criterion. “The provinces would get 80 per cent funds on the basis of population while Balochistan and the NWFP would be given an additional five per cent funds each,” she said.

She said the government had launched an educational reforms programme, which would continue till 2016. She said improvement in primary education was the top priority of the government.

The minister said teachers’ training centres would be set up, including 135 in Balochistan.

She said Islamabad has made a considerable increase in the education budget and the Asian Development Bank and other international donor agencies were persuaded to assist in the sector.

She said each province would be given Rs1.3 billion for resuming the projects of technical education in 10 schools in each district. The federal government would run the schools and later hand over those to the provinces, she said.

She said the government had started technical education classes in all government schools and it was considering setting up a polytechnic institute in every district.

She said Rs157 million had been approved for setting up cadet colleges in Panjgur and Zhob. She said Turbat, Kila Saifullah and some other cities would get information technology universities soon.

She dispelled the impression that the government was changing the curriculum on the pressure of the United States or the International Monetary Fund. She said the school and intermediate classes’ curriculum had been revised and it would be implemented in three years.