ISLAMABAD, Sept 20: The government will soon revive the defunct scholarship schemes to send a maximum number of students for education abroad, Education Minister Zobaida Jalal said here Saturday.

The government is utilizing its resources to promote basic education in the country,” the minister said while talking to a delegation comprising teachers and students from Balochistan.

Ms Jalal said all the local and foreign defunct scholarships would soon be revived while the defunct cultural and scholarship exchange programmes with various countries would be expedited.

The finance ministry had imposed a ban on foreign scholarship schemes in 1997 due to which no student could be sent abroad for higher education during 2000-03.

In UK alone, there are more than 6,000 Pakistani students studying there either on Pakistan-funded or foreign scholarships, she added. Only last year, 30 Pakistani nominations were sent to the Common Wealth which were likely to be approved this year.

About the cultural exchange scholarships, she said last year 92 scholarships were awarded to the students while 90 scholarships were awarded to foreign students who were completing their courses in different universities of the country.

The minister said that though a lot had been done in the education sector, still more efforts were needed to increase the literacy rate in the country.

“The policies formulated by the education ministry are students- and teachers-friendly,” she said, adding that for the first time in the history of Pakistan parents and civil society organization had been consulted before formulating policies concerning education.

“It is in the interest of the nation that every concerned should be consulted before introducing a policy — a practice being exercized in democratic countries,” she observed.

She said teachers would soon enjoy a professional cadre in which even a primary schoolteacher would get promotion to grade 20. Besides, teachers would be sent to foreign countries, including the US, to get a state-of-the-art training in modern teaching methods.

She said the education ministry was also working on a policy under which teachers would be posted in their home districts to save them from physical and mental hassle.

The minister urged students and teachers to fulfil their responsibilities as the future of the country was dependent on them.