LAHORE, Oct 29: The major challenge being faced by the Punjab government is to increase the literacy rate and decrease the drop-out ratio.

This was stated by Punjab Minister for Education Mian Imran Masood on Wednesday while briefing army officers at Corp Headquarters 10-Div.

He said that some 40,000 posts were still lying vacant in the education department despite appointments of 13,000 new graduates teachers.

He said:” education is an important tool to safeguard the ideological and geographical boundaries of the motherland.”

He said the government had recently updated the curriculum of classes VI to XII.

Apart from the allocation of Rs21 billion for development of education sector, he said the Punjab government had also managed to get $200 million from the World Bank to further improve the existing facilities.

He said that some 151,000 PTC teachers had also been trained to impart quality education.

He said the government had also started working on provision of necessities in educational institutions through the Chief Minister’s Education sector Reform Programme. Funds for the purpose had already been distributed among district government, he added.

He said the government had also developed strict vigilance network to closely monitor the development work.