HYDERABAD: Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has said that the provincial government is initiating educational reforms with the aim of achieving desired results towards ensuring quality education for future generations.

He was speaking as chief guest at an impressive ceremony held at the Cadet College, Petaro, near Jamshoro on Tuesday on the 55th Annual Parents’ Day.

He said that improvement in the education system was one of the priorities of the provincial government and in this direction all hurdles were being removed and effective reforms introduced so that quality education could be ensured.

Besides allocating a huge amount, he said, a number of development projects had been initiated in the educational sector. Teachers training programme was also aimed at ensuring that the future generations could meet the upcoming challenges while shouldering responsibility of nation-building, he said.

The chief minister praised college’s efforts, observing that it had always showed remarkable performance in providing knowledge to learners with the best available infrastructure, facilities, faculty and the educational atmosphere.

“The Cadet College, Petaro, has the record of producing men of calibre who got themselves recognised both at the national and international levels,” he said, adding that former president Asif Ali Zardari also passed out from this institution — one of the best in the country.

The chief minister announced a grant of Rs141.6 million for the college and noted that out of it, Rs40 million would be spent on setting up a language laboratory, Rs1.6 million on employees’ welfare and Rs100 million on development schemes. He also announced delivery of two new buses to the college. The CM also inaugurated an indoor shooting range and laid foundation stone of a swimming pool at the college. He took keen interest in an exhibition of club activities as well as PT, Kung Fu, gymnastic, karate and horse-riding shows.

Later, he gave away awards and cash prizes to those cadets and staff who presented outstanding performance.

The chief minister also took the salute at a march past presented by smartly turned out cadets. In his welcome address, Cadet College Petaro principal Commodore Mehboob Ellahi Malik (Sitara-i-Imtiaz military) presented the institution’s annual report and highlighted performance of cadets in the academic, sports and co-curricular activities. He said that some of the development works were completed during the previous year and work on some other projects was in progress.

Rear Admiral Farrukh Ahmed (Hilal-i-Imtiaz military), MNA Malik Asad Sikandar, Sabir Qaimkhani, Sajeela Leghari and Sikandar Shoro were prominent among those who attended the programme.

Later, speaking to the media, CM Shah said that it was in the best interest of the federal government to accept the four demands put to it by PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari for which the Dec 27 deadline had been set.

“If the government accepts the demands, this will strengthen the parliament, and not the PPP or its chairman,” he said, adding that the demands were not political but constitutional and democratic.

Published in Dawn, December 14th, 2016