08 March 2005	Tuesday	26 Muharram 1426

PESHAWAR, March 7: NWFP Governor Syed Iftikhar Hussain Shah on Monday approved a new education policy for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata).

A meeting at the Governor's House decided that the policy would come into force with immediate effect.

The policy envisages development of human resource in Fata as a prerequisite to regional as well as national progress and prosperity. The policy aims at facilitating quality education to produce responsible, enlightened and skilled citizens. It will help Fata integrate into the national framework of economic development.

A policy statement said education for men and women was vital for the socio-economic development of Fata. According to the statement, the service delivery would be improved to attract additional enrolment, and technical, general and post-graduate education strengthened to increase the value of qualification in labour market.

The policy plans to link the level of education of regional colleges and universities to provincial and national institutions. Performance based audit would be introduced in Fata to maintain transparency and accountability in the education system.

The policy targets to bring the quality of education in the region to national level within next five to 10 years. To achieve the objectives, technical education at high and higher secondary institutions in Fata would be introduced, new colleges opened, science subjects in schools and colleges revamped and IT and computer education would be promoted.

The government also plans to open post-graduate departments of IT, English, economics, physics, chemistry, bio-technology, biology and zoology in the regional colleges. Parent and teacher management committees in schools and colleges would be formed to monitor the performance and run the institutions properly.

Speaking at the meeting, the governor underlined the significance of women education, saying that the required infrastructure and other related facilities would have to be created.

Regarding skill development, the governor said the interest of women in this sector was quite encouraging. However, he stressed that vocational institutions for men had to be strengthened. He said human resource could be developed in Fata through realization of the targets.

The meeting was attended by officials of the Fata education department, governor's inspection team chairman Iftikhar Ali Shah and secretary to governor Sahibzada Saeed Ahmad. Fata education director Prof Dr Abdul Rauf gave a detailed presentation to the meeting on the new policy.