July 16, 2003	Wednesday	Jumadi-ul-Awwal 15, 1424

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ISLAMABAD, July 15: US ambassador to Pakistan Nancy Powell on Tuesday said the Bush administration and USAID would continue to explore new avenues in the field of educational cooperation between the two countries.

In a meeting with the education minister, Ms Zobaida Jalal, Ms Powell appreciated the efforts of the government in making education accessible to the dwellers of the far-flung areas of the country.

Education Minister Zobaida Jalal said her ministry and its attached wings would continue to improve the standard of education in the country specially in the far-flung and neglected areas.

She hoped that now the elected representatives of the people, ministry of education and the international donor agencies would work closely for the betterment of education in the country.

The minister maintained that she would personally monitor all the educational uplift projects in the country and would urge both the international partners and the donor agencies including USAID to continue their support and assistance for the education sector of Pakistan.

She also told the ambassador that all international donors including UNICEF, JICA, DFID, UNESCO and USAID etc were satisfied with the spending of grants and aid given to the education ministry for distribution to different sectors including the FATA.

Ms Jalal briefed the ambassador on the projects and plans evolved by the ministry and their implementation down to the grass-root level. She told the ambassador that the government was putting in all its effort to uplift the basic education in the country and to introduce new concepts in the system.

She further told the ambassador that the current budgetary allocation for the education sector was a record in the history of the country. “No government prior to 1999 had paid attention to the uplift of education to such an extent. The credit goes to the present government to assign a priority status to the education in the country.”

She also told the ambassador about the steps taken by the government for elimination of child labour from the country and bringing children to the primary schools. She said under the education sector reforms, the primary objective of the government was to make education accessible to all in the country.

She said funds for education were now flowing direct to the districts, where they were properly utilized and strict check was being kept on their utilization. She further maintained that the donor agencies had also expressed their satisfaction over the distribution of funds and their utilization and appreciated a visible change in the present education system.

The minister said Pakistan would meet the target of “Education for All” till 2015, which will be a big achievement. She said much had been done by the last government in the education sector and a lot was in progress, which would be implemented in this regime.