RAWALPINDI, Dec 6: Federal Minister for Education Zobaida Jalal on Saturday said that over 270,000 literacy centres would be established in the country under the education sector reforms.

She was speaking at a literary festival 2003, organized by the district government Rawalpindi at Fatima Jinnah Women University here.

The minister said education sector had greatly benefitted from the devolution of powers to district governments.

For the first time in the history of the country, she said, a healthy change in education sector had been felt by all.

She said the federal ministry of education had initiated many target-oriented programmes, from the union council level to the Islamabad capital territory.

The minister said the policies of the government had been linked with employment generation.

Zobaida Jalal criticized the past political governments for pursuing the policies which she said were meant to produce mere degree holders.

She said the present government would provide maximum employment opportunities to the educated youth of the country.

The minister said Pakistan should allocate major chunk of its financial resources to education sector, besides the assistance which it was getting from donor agencies.

She appreciated the role of international organizations in assisting and providing facilities to the education sector of the country.

The minister said the biggest challenge before the government was to provide quality education.

The minister lauded the role of the Rawalpindi district government, particularly Nazim Raja Tariq Kiani, in promoting literacy.

She said that after the devolution plan, the bureaucracy was playing the role of a major catalyst to positively change the social fabric of the country through education.

A high-profile media campaign would soon be launched to create awareness among the public about the importance of education, she added.

Later, she visited the stalls set up at the festival and distributed prizes among the successful participants.—APP