PESHAWAR Dec 5: NWFP Minister for Education Maulana Fazle Ali Haqqani has said the government is taking appropriate steps to promote education in the province.

Speaking at a ceremony to inaugurate a mosque, a branch of the Allied Bank and a cafeteria on the premises of the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education, Mardan, on Tuesday, the minister said considerable money was being spent on providing free basic education to deserving students.

The minister said the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal government had provided free textbooks and uniforms to 500,000 students. He claimed that child labour had been controlled in the province.

Twenty new colleges, including 14 for girls, had been established in the province, he added.

He said Rs200 each was being given to students and a special allowance of Rs1,000 was being paid to teachers serving in schools in remote areas of the province.

The minister announced one month’s pay as honorarium for the employees of the Board of Intermediate and Secondary.

In his welcome speech, BISE chairman Fazle Mehmood highlighted activities and achievements of the board and said efforts were being made to provide all possible facilities to students under one roof.

Later, the minister for education presided over a meeting of the board.

The BISE chairman briefed the minister on policies and procedures for conducting examinations.

Mr Haqqani said that for matriculation examinations, the requirement of middle standard certificate had been waived and now students could appear in the examinations by simply producing birth certificates. — APP