PESHAWAR: Chief Minister Mahmood Khan has said that over 2.4 million students of the government schools would be provided new furniture in two phases, which would cost Rs6 billion.

He was addressing a function held in connection with the provision of new furniture to public sector schools here on Friday, said an official statement.

The chief minister said that provision of furniture to schools in the province was an important development to ensure availability of missing facilities in these schools.

He said that during the last eight years unprecedented reforms had been introduced in education sector, which were yielding encouraging results.

Mahmood Khan directed the officials of Elementary and Secondary Education Department to ensure the provision of new furniture to schools within the given timeframe.

He said that in view of the increasing demand for new schools and to effectively address the issue of dropouts, second shifts programme had been introduced in government schools. He said that thousands of students had been enrolled in these schools under the second shift programme, adding that teachers were being hired through parent-teacher councils for the purpose.

He said that education card would soon be launched in the province to extend support to the needy students.

Published in Dawn, October 23rd, 2021