KARACHI, Feb 25: The Sindh education department has so far been able to utilize 32 per cent of Rs1,000 million allocated for annual development programme, it was observed at a meeting of the department chaired by Sindh Education Minister Dr Hamida Khuhro on Saturday.

The minister was informed that the department expected to get Rs800 to Rs900 million during the next four months for ADP activities. The Sindh government had earmarked Rs340.068 million for 31 new educational schemes and Rs659.319 million against 37 ongoing schemes.

The minister asked the officials to put up a plan that in future all the primary schools were developed with 5 to 6 rooms so that children of every class up to the fifth standard could get separate classrooms.

She noted that in the existing networks majority of the primary schools comprised 2 to 3 rooms and as such it became difficult to provide a proper learning environment to the students of two separate classes in a single room.

After a presentation made on the federally assisted project on IT/Computer Science, Dr Khuhro asked the director concerned to make it a point that at least 20 per cent of the laboratories under the project were readied for inauguration by the end of March.

The director of IT project, Dr Alamdin Bhullo, had informed the minister that 206 computer laboratories were being established in secondary schools for which recruitment process of 206 IT teachers and 206 lab assistants had been completed while the procurement of computers and other related equipments would be completed in the month of March.

The chair was further informed that 300 shelters less schools were being given buildings. According to the last census of schools conducted by the Sindh education department, there were 11,782 schools, including 11,322 in the rural areas where classes were being conducted in the open.

Sindh Education Secretary Ghulam Ali Pasha, Special Secretary Aftab Ahmad Maneka, additional secretaries Riaz Memon, Dr Nawaz Shaikh and Deedar Murtaza were also present in the meeting.

The project director of the Decentralized Elementary Education Project launched a couple of years back, with the support of the ADB, informed the meeting that under the project costing Rs5,880 million, the civil work of upgrading of 300 primary schools to elementary or middle schools would be started soon, while during the current fiscal 22 English medium schools would be constructed.

The education minister expressed concern over the World Food Programme funded project which was meant for provision of edible oil to girl students of 500 schools in five districts and said that there were certain complaints about mismanagement in the distribution of edible oil, said an official source.

Stressing the need for teachers’ education, Dr Khuhro said that there was a need for bringing basic changes in the business of elementary colleges responsible for teachers’ training. She called for revamping of Bureau of Curriculum and Extension Wing of the education department.

She also ordered for measures for taking back the control of institutions of special education from district governments and also reviewed complaints against private educational institutions and directed the authorities concerned to take strict action against those schools which were violating the related rules and were allegedly extorting money from parents with one pretext or the other, added the source.