15 October 2004	Friday	29 Shaban 1425

ISLAMABAD, Oct 14: Education Minister Lt-Gen (retired) Javed Ashraf Qazi has said an Education Voucher Scheme with the financial assistance of the World Bank will soon be launched as a pilot project in Islamabad under which $50,000 will be distributed among poor families as an incentive to send their children to schools.

The idea behind the scheme is to increase enrolment rate in the country, he said. The minister was talking to a World Bank mission led by its Chief Economist Shantayanan Devarajan at the ministry on Thursday.

"The government has declared education as the third pillar of the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) by linking poverty alleviation to education," the minister said. He informed the delegation that his ministry had prepared and processed concept papers for setting up of 105 more polytechnic institutes at a cost of Rs7,790 million ($130 million) with the planning commission.

He said the Concept Clearance Committee had approved the papers with the directions that consent for loan acceptance might also be sought from the provinces. At present, 78 polytechnics/monotechnics/colleges of technology are providing education to the students.

The minister apprised the delegation of the steps initiated by the government to reduce poverty through education. He said after devolution of power, the district governments were better placed with the funds flowing without any hindrance to their kitties.

He said an amount of Rs39.329 million allocated in the PSDP 2004-05 for the establishment of 350 community schools in Fata was dispersed and judiciously utilized with an emphasis on girls' education.

The ministry has also decided that all educational plans should include provision of at least one quality polytechnic institute at every district. He said similar institutes would also be set up in phases at the tehsil level.

It would also be ensured that all existing schools should provide vocational training to students. He said these vocational institutes would be linked with the micro-finance banks which in turn would provide interest-free loans to the students on soft terms to start their businesses.