PESHAWAR, July 11: NWFP Governor Ali Mohammad Jan Aurakzai on Wednesday approved centres of excellence of education at the school level in the province and Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata).

In the first phase, talented poor students of Fata would be given admission to government schools and colleges.

The governor announced this at a meeting held here to discuss a report containing recommendations and proposals of a special committee formed for this purpose.

The meeting decided to initially focus on providing educational facilities to the students of Fata.

Under the plan, 90 girl and boy students from Fata would be selected for admissions to 11 designated educational institutions, including the Abbottabad Public School, Agriculture University Public School, Durrani Public School, Fazal-i-Haq College in Mardan, Islamia Collegiate School in Peshawar, Malakand University School, Scouts Cadet College in Batrassi, Peshawar Public School, University Public School in Peshawar, University Model School in Peshawar and Wensam College in D.I. Khan, said a handout issued here on Wednesday.

Admissions to these schools will be in class-VII on the basis of a general entry test to be conducted simultaneously in Peshawar and D.I. Khan.

Candidates would be required to submit a joint application form for all the schools indicating their preferences, the meeting decided.

Allocation and allotment of schools will be in the light of preferences and result of the entry test. Eligibility will be on merit and financial position of parents/guardians of the students.

The project will cost Rs6.70 million annually and the expenditure will be initially met from the Annual Development Programme (ADP) of Fata.

The governor said that underprivileged talented boys and girls from remote areas would now have an access to quality education at the government expenses. “We should look beyond to raise the number of seats so that maximum number of poor and talented students could avail his facility.”

He stressed the need for adopting a transparent selection procedure based purely on merit. He asked the Fata Education Foundation to work for generating resources so that in the longer run the burden of expenses did not fall on the ADP.