HARIPUR, April 19: The provincial government has earmarked Rs1 billion for a literacy project and opened 18,000 literacy centres across the province and 900 more were being planned for Haripur and Abbottabad.

This was stated by Sector director of the NWFP Elementary Education Foundation Mr Obaidullah during a Literacy Conference held here on Wednesday.

He said that the fund had been allocated for Literacy For All.

District nazim Yousaf Ayub Khan, academics and social workers attended the function.

Terming the overall literacy ratio in the country unsatisfactory Mr Obaidullah said that it was very low in the region, adding that about 50 million children below the age of 10 had no schooling at all.

He said that the government intended to bring the literacy rate to 86 per cent by 2015.

District nazim Yousaf Ayub Khan said that the district government would set up a literacy centre and a skill development centre at the union council level, adding that teachers’ salary would be at least Rs4,000.

Criticising successive governments in the past for neglecting the education sector, he said that the funds received by the district government under the education sector reforms programme would be used to improve the sector.

Mr Khan praised the provincial government’s efforts to improve literacy and assured his support.

He said that a feasibility plan for an engineering university for Haripur had been approved and chairman of the Higher Education Commission Dr Attiqur Rehman would formally approve the project after visiting the site of the proposed university.

Dr Faiza Rasheed, Attiqur Rehman, Taj Karim, Maqbool Hussain, Sheikh Javed also spoke at the function.