KARACHI, Nov 1: There has been an increase in enrolment of students in government primary schools of Sindh from April 2002 to March 2003.

This was pointed out in a report compiled by the Sindh Chief Minister’s Inspection Team. The report states that the enrolment in government primary schools of Sindh increased to 2.875 million from 2.348 million during the period.

The reason for this substantial increase was stated to be the government policy of free distribution of textbooks to the students from Class I to V and the involvement of the community in the school management committees.

The report pointed out that the supply of free textbooks by the government through Sindh Textbook Board was increased from 2.069 million in March 2002 to 2.875 million in April 2003.

The increase in the enrolment has been termed a major breakthrough in the government policies to reduce illiteracy. However, it has been observed that the publicity campaign of the education department is now being done on a smaller scale as compared to the last year.—APP