PESHAWAR, Dec 12: Provincial Minister for Education Fazal Ali Haqqani has said that the government has encouraged increase in the number of women educational institutions in the province and provided free books to students.

Addressing a ceremony held under the auspices of Unicef here on Monday, he said that the government had been striving to discourage corruption and had employed hundreds of teachers on the basis of merit. He said those employed on merit could steer the children in the right direction.

The minister said that the government was seriously pondering over ways to introduce reforms in the education sector.

He said that NWFP was ahead of other provinces in education sector and added that donor agencies had also reposed their confidence in the policies of the government, which was working with dedication for the general welfare of people.

WORKSHOP: The Environment Protection Agency is holding a workshop on Thursday to review work completed on estimating the quantity of persistent organic pollutants in the NWFP and assess the need for further input.