QUETTA: Balochistan Chief Minister Dr Abdul Malik Baloch has emphasised the importance of Education Management Information System (Emis) to ensure presence of teachers in schools and identify ghost schools and improve the quality of education in the province.

Addressing the launching ceremony of the Emis website, jointly prepared by the Education Department and Unicef, the chief minister said that the aim of the website was to strengthen the system through information enrichment and technical upgradation.

Along with database of the public schools, he said, Emis was designed to contain information about government and private schools and madressah and presence of teachers there.

The chief minister said that the website was the first revolutionary step to improve and modernise the education system in the province.

He also referred to adoption of the National Testing Services (NTS) for recruitment of staff in government departments and said this also was aimed at ensuring transparency and merit in all government departments and to ensure appointment of dedicated, hardworking and honest officials to serve the province in the best possible way and to end corruption in government departments.

“Access to information is necessary in the modern era of technology and the newly introduced system will help ensure transparency in the overall system,” Dr Malik said and hoped that the move would bring about positive change in the province.

The chief minister said that education sector had suffered a lot in the past because of the deteriorating law and order, but now the situation had improved a lot and this would help flourish educational activities in the province and the province would definitely progress with a galloping pace.

“It is a matter of pride for me to work in this system not only as the chief minister but also as a worker,” Dr Baloch said.

Briefing the gathering on objectives of the website, Provincial Secretary for Education Abdul Saboor Kakar said the website would help ensure regular attendance of teachers in schools besides identifying ghost schools.

“This will provide us with solid data to proceed towards a comprehensive plan for secondary and higher education and it is a major step towards modernising the entire educational system in the province,” he said.

Provincial Minister for Information Abdul Rahim Ziaratwal, Adviser on Education Sardar Raza Muhammad Barech and MPA Tahir Mehmood also spoke on the occasion.

Published in Dawn, December 30th, 2014