KARACHI, June 2: The Sindh Chief Secretary, Fazlur Rahman, has called for launching a campaign to motivate the rural population to get their children of 5 to 9 years of age admitted to educational institutions to help promote literacy ratio in Sindh. Chairing a briefing session of the Sindh Education Department, the chief secretary asked the education secretary to submit an admission campaign plan in this regard by June 20 for its implementation from the last week of the month.

During the briefing, Education Secretary Mohammad Hashim Leghari informed that as per the incentive programme of the Sindh government, free textbooks were being provided to all primary school children and scholarships for all middle school girls. He said school management committees were being strengthened with assigning of additional powers and financial allocation.

Similarly, 12,000 primary school teachers and 2,000 head teachers were being trained under a teacher’s training programme.

Giving salient features of the incentive programme, Mr Leghari also referred to award of merit-cum-poverty scholarships, endowment fund Rs600 million released up to 2004-5, merit scholarships of Rs2.4 million for intermediate students and merit scholarship Rs2.5 million for matric students.

Other features of the programme included, ADB assisted decentralization elementary education project (DEEP) costing Rs5.88 billion, appointment of meritorious 3,500 school specific teacher on contract basis, recruitment of 7,500 school teachers, recruitment of lecturers on merit through SPSC, appointment of non-teaching staff.

The education secretary said as per an analytical study, the existing literacy rate in Sindh was 50 to 71pc in urban areas and 35pc in the rural areas.

In the briefing recommendations were also proposed for opening of 6,000 new schools, increase in ADP allocation, provision of books and uniforms up to class 10, appointment of teaches purely on merit basis, extensive teaches training programme (English, Math and Science), to bring technical institutions of education, labour and social welfare departments under one umbrella and establishment of libraries in educational institutions of all levels. —APP