KARACHI, Aug 31: The United States is planning to upgrade its aid programme in Pakistan to $300 million annually in development assistance. The US Consul General Douglas C. Rohn said on Tuesday that half of the amount, ie $150 million would be for USAID development.

Since its return in 2002, the USAID had provided some $125 million in grants in education, healthcare, economic opportunity and governance. The Sindh and Balochistan provinces were already benefiting from USAID projects.

An education project would provide in-service training to 45,000 teachers in the two provinces, 15,000 of whom had already been trained. School enrolment was up among five to 9 year olds in the nine affected districts of the provinces, while the quality of instruction had improved at 1,200 schools in the districts.

Forty-five master teacher trainers and school administrators had returned from a four-month programme in the US, and 76 would leave in September. They are studying math, science, and English as a Second Language.

About 138 adult literacy centres had been opened under the project in Sindh and Balochistan, and 4,000 out-of-school young people and adults had graduated from these centres.

Birth spacing statistics were improving, as were the numbers for the percentage of births, assisted by skilled birth attendants in 10 districts across the country. NGOs funded by USAID were working in Rawalpindi/ Islamabad, Multan, and Larkana to increase awareness and prevention of HIV/AIDS among young people.

A project to improve fiscal and administrative management of seven health and population projects at the district and provincial level was well under way.

A $3 million science and technology agreement with the US State Department would provide Pakistan with potentially extremely beneficial programmes by offering access to world wide technological systems.