26 June 2004	Saturday	07 Jamadi-ul-Awwal 1425

PESHAWAR, June 25: NWFP Minister for Information Technology Hussain Ahmad Kanju has said that admission ratio at public sector schools has showed an improvement this year because of provision of free textbooks at primary level by the government.

"The provincial government is taking concrete steps to enhance the literacy rate," he said while addressing students of the NICE College and Coaching Academy here on Friday.

Mr Kanju said despite shortage of funds the government had accorded top priority to the education sector and allocated a huge amount for the promotion of literacy in the next year's budget.

He said due to the transparent award of scholarships from the Zakat and Ushr fund, many deserving students had been able to continue their education.

The minister maintained that the government had taken steps to provide free education to women and enhance the literacy rate among women.

He said in this regard establishment of a separate women medical college and a women university had been approved, while postgraduate classes for girl students had been started in all the women degree colleges of the province.

In his speech, Director of the academy, Dr Maqbool Shah said that besides FA/FSc classes, three-year diploma courses in different disciplines were also offered to the students.

Earlier, the minister visited various sections of the academy and inquired about the educational and coaching facilities being provided at the institute.