QUETTA, June 1: Provincial Minister for Education Shafiq Ahmed Khan has said that 11 polytechnic institutes would be set up in Balochistan.

Speaking at the foundation-laying ceremony of the hostel of the Al Hijrah Residential School in Ziarat on Sunday, he said that efforts were under way to provide quality education to students and the PPP-led government was taking revolutionary measures for the purpose.

He admitted that the state of education in government-run educational institutions was miserable and no effective measures had been taken to ensure the presence of teachers and availability of facilities for students.

He said the government paid rent to around 70 schools in Quetta, adding that many schools were without roof and students were studying in the open.

The minister regretted that the absence of teachers was a challenge for his ministry and said that a plan was being evolved to ensure presence of teachers in government schools.

Mr Shafiq said that the provincial government paid the highest amount in terms of salaries to teachers, but despite that the standard of education had not improved. “There are over 66,000 employees of education department across the province,” he said, adding that the government was determined to boost the educational standard from the primary to higher level by adopting special measures.

Referring to the standard of education in the Al Hijrah School of Ziarat, he said that he was impressed to see the performance of students and teachers.

He said that the education department would provide all possible help to the school to solve its problems.

The education minister announced a grant of Rs500,000 for the school.

Major (retd) Ghouri, project director of the Al Hijarh School, Jinnah Campus, and Vice-Principal of the School Tariq Hussain also spoke on the occasion.