24 April 2004	Saturday	03 Rabi-ul-Awwal 1425

PESHAWAR, April 23: The provincial government has agreed to give an annual grant to Peshawar University for salaries of 40 teachers and construction of 12 rooms in its schools.

This was decided during a meeting held here on Friday to review the recent increase in fee by the university's administration.

However, the grant-in-aid was made conditional that the university would not increase the annual fee of the schools on the campus. The meeting was attended by provincial Education Minister Maulana Fazle Ali, chief secretary Ejaz Qureshi, MPAs Kashif Azam and Maulana Amanullah and the secretary of the education department.

The chief minister said the government was ready to bear the cost on the construction of 12 additional rooms and salaries of 40 teachers if the university administration assured them that the annual fee of the schools on the campus would not be raised.

However, the chief minister said that the fee of self-finance scheme could be increased as it had nothing to do with the poor. The chief minister said that the provincial government would approach the governor and the prime minister to make a substantial increase in the grant of the university.