PESHAWAR, Feb 3: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Elementary and Secondary Education Department has decided to put in place a new monitoring system to check the performance and attendance of teachers and students in all schools of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, according to sources.

They said that for this purpose "Independent Monitoring and Data Collection Unit" (IMDCU) would be established on provincial level in secretariat of education department.

"Each monitoring and data collection officer will visit three schools a day and cover all schools falling in his circle in a month," said an official of the education department.

The sources said that under the new system, over 28,000 primary, middle, high and higher secondary schools would be visited each month by monitoring and data collection officers. They would also report about condition of the school buildings besides recommending repairs or construction of new facilities, if required.

Initially, the IMDCU would be functioning as a project for two years, the sources said and added that it could be extended based on the positive results.

The finance department has already approved the plan that would cost Rs650 million. The United Kingdom's Department for International Development would provide the funds for establishing the monitoring system, the sources said.

Education Sector Reform Unit's director in the secretariat of education department would head the IMDCU on provincial level the sources said and added that officers in grade-17 or 18 from the provincial management services group or district management group would supervise the system on district level.

In this connection, the sources said, 465 monitoring and data collection officers would be recruited. Motorcycles would be provided to male monitoring officers while conveyance allowance would be given to women officers for visiting schools.

Presently, assistant sub-divisional education officers have been working as monitoring officers, but they were only for primary schools, said an official. However, the ASDEOs rarely visit these schools, particularly in rural areas, owing to shortage of transportation facilities, he said. The official said that according to rules it was obligatory on them to visit at least 16 schools in a month, which was not possible under the present circumstances. He said that only influential ASDEOs district education offices were drawing the transport allowance.

During visits to the schools, the monitoring officers would check the attendance of teachers and students. They would also sit in classrooms with students during lecture of their teachers. The official said that this would the academic atmosphere in government schools. He said that the monitoring officers would also keep check on the funds being spent by the parents teachers councils on repairs of schools.

The monitoring and data collecting officers would submit monthly reports to the secretariat of education department. They would keep the education department informed about the actual dropout rate, enrollment of students, shortage of teachers, missing facilities and other problems in government schools.

The circle areas of these officers would also be changed on rotation basis in order to countercheck data of respective areas through different officers to ensure transparency, he said.

In the light of data and other information gathered, the chief minister would hold meetings with district education officers and authorities of the education directorate and secretariat after every two months. The DEOs would be answerable to the chief minister if their performance was not satisfactory, he said.