LARKANA: Inaugurating the admission process for year 2014 in Government Pilot Higher Secondary School here on Wednesday, Sindh’s Senior Education Minister Nisar Ahmed Khuhro said the provincial government was set to launch early childhood education from July with the recruitment of 8,000 female teachers to enrol students from three years of age.

He said India would achieve 100 per cent literacy rate by 2017 where the number of early childhood schools was around four million.

“We have planned to enrol children of three to the school under the programme and for the very purpose the fiancé department was taken on board,” he said. He admitted not attaining the set target of enhancing literacy rate by 2015, which is hardly 57 per cent while India is progressing to elevate it to 100 per cent.

“It is a maiden effort to computerise admissions from class-one in Sindh,” he said, adding that the very data would be linked up with Nadra and PTCL with parents and teachers’ signatures and thumb impressions of children on admission cards. It would help assist in effectively detecting fake enrolments and facilities for students, Mr Khuhro said.

“We can fight for seeking scholarships for girl students on the basis of very data,” he said. He cited the example of fake data of 25,000 students’ enrolment in Nawabshah district which on scrutiny was found 22,000 only.

He said the next year admissions of class-II would be computerised with the sole object of assessing the reasons for ‘dropouts’.

It irked him when somebody criticised ‘our education system’ and talked of seven million children out of schools, Mr Khuhro said.

He asked teachers to come forward in re-opening the closed schools, and vowed to face landlords for the cause. He warned students and teachers to work hard as he would not allow anyone using unfair means in the coming examinations. He said copy culture was destroying education like cancer. Reform Support Unit Sindh programme manager Ms Saba Mehmood said: “We have to stop bogus enrolment and put in efforts to minimise the dropouts.”

On the occasion, admission cards of two girl students were filled and duly signed by teachers and parents.

Director Education Syed Rasool Bakhsh Shah also spoke in the programme attended by officials of the department from Larkana and Sukkur division.