ISLAMABAD: National Commission for Human Development (NCHD) has decided to establish 12,000 literacy centres across the country.

Besides imparting education, the NCHD also provides skilled training to students.

“We will establish 12,000 literacy centres with the support of the Planning Commission,” said NCHD Chairperson Razina Alam Khan.

Talking to Dawn she expressed great concern over poor literacy rate in the country where 57 million people are illiterate and 24 million children out of school.

She said the government was alive to the situation and taking some practical steps to bring all out of school children to educational institutions.

Talking about the 12,000 literacy centres, she said PC-I and other documentations of the project had been completed. “In coming months, we will start this project,” she said.

Meanwhile, the government has decided to increase salaries of the NCHD teachers from Rs5,000 to Rs8,000 per month, but were still below the minimum wage of Rs13,000 the government had set in the last budget.

Published in Dawn, March 24th, 2016