GUJRAT: Gujrat secured the fifth position in top performing districts of the province in terms of promoting education which is an improvement in its ranking as it was at 33rd position by the end of March 2017.

The Punjab government announced the top performing districts in terms of promoting education in its fresh ranking released on Thursday for the period starting from July 1 to Sept 30. According to the ranking, Pakpattan district stood first, Bhakkar second followed by Jhelum at third with Toba Tek Singh at number four.

Rawalpindi division is once again at the top among the nine divisions of Punjab regarding the same index in the education sector.

The districts are evaluated through the quarterly review in accordance with performance evaluation index (PEI) of the Punjab Education Sector Reform Program (PESRP) Programme Monitoring and Implementation Unit (PMIU).

The Gujrat district has achieved a remarkable position in the ranking by improving from previous position at number 11 for the period starting from April 1 to June 30 while it was at 33rd position from January-March 2017.

Gujrat Deputy Commissioner Muhammad Ali Randhawa, Jhelum Deputy Commissioner Iqbal Hussain Khan and Bhakkar’s DC Dr Bilal Haider have commended the education departments of their districts on their performance.

The performance in education sector is being evaluated on the basis of district’s working on improvement of teachers and students’ attendance, provision of basic facilities, reconstruction of the dangerous buildings as well as improvement in the ratio of new admissions.

Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif approved the reward for the administrators and chief executive officers of the district education authorities (DEAs) of the top ranked five districts as well as divisional commissioner of the Rawalpindi division who are entitled to receive a reward equivalent to their two months gross pay as per the finance department’s policy.

Published in Dawn, November 11th, 2017