The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government on Saturday introduced a container school at Peshawar’s central jail, with an aim to provide basic education to prisoners.

The programme titled ‘Literacy and Informal Education’ was jointly launched by the elementary and secondary education departments of KP and a Dubai-based non-governmental organisation.

KP Minister for Education Atif Khan inaugurated the programme at the central jail. “Prisoners are ignored and have no facilities in jails,” Khan said.

Sharing details of the programme, he said that majority of the prisoners at the Peshawar’s jail are uneducated but interested in education.

“We have picked a prisoner who is a former student of the University of Sydney and now he teaches his fellow prisoners,” he added.

There will be 30 students in a class and the duration of the basic course will be four months, added the minister.

“After completion of their course, the prisoners will be appearing in an examination and will be awarded certificates so that they can continue their education later,” said Khan.

"This is a good idea and through education, the criminal mentality of the prisoners can be changed."

The education minister said the education department would extend the programme to other jails of the province.

A container library was also set up and different books, novels, newspapers will be available for the prisoners.