KARACHI, May 28: The City Naib Nazim, Nasreen Jalil, has said that the city government was taking every possible step for providing uniform quality educational facilities to the children of the rich and poor alike.

She was speaking at a peace walk organized in connection with the centenary celebrations of the Aga Khan Educational Services at Clifton Beach on Sunday.

She said that the NGOs and corporate sector working for the provision of quality education in the city were being encouraged.

Appreciating the services of the Aga Khan Educational Services rendered in the field of education and research, she termed it as a model for the government as well as for other NGOs working for the deliverance of quality education to the masses in the country.

She said that any substantial effort done in Karachi in any field would hold importance, adding that Karachi held an important position in the economic development of the country and its progress was directly linked with the country’s progress.

She said the present leadership was against dual standards of education and wanted to promote a uniform pattern of education throughout the country so that children of both the poor and rich alike could enjoy the same standards of education.

“The elimination of a feudal and oppressive mindset would extremely be difficult if all the children of this nation were not provided uniform standards of education,” she said.

She requested the Aga Khan Educational Services to coordinate and cooperate with the city government’s schools so that the quality of education could be improved.Discussing the role of history in education and in developing the morale of children, she said that the Aga Khan Educational Services should begin programmes based on the importance of historical assets, buildings and monuments so that children could be informed how their history was and how their nation progressed.

She said that interaction between the city government schools and the Aga Khan Schools should be established through video conferencing.

The Chairman of the Aga Khan Educational Services, Habib Pir Muhammad, highlighting the history of the AKES, said the first school under the Aga Khan Educational Services was established in 1905 in the coastal area of Gwadar.

“Presently, a total of 186 schools are being operated under the Aga Khan Educational Services while it is providing assistance to 200 community schools and 100 government schools throughout the country. A total of 75,000 students are getting education from the said schools,” he said. A large number of parents and children and representatives of NGOs attended the ceremony.—PPI