ISLAMABAD, Feb 1: The Central Development Working Party (CDWP) on Tuesday approved a project worth Rs140 million for the upgradation of 27 federal government secondary and high schools in Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT), Dawn has learnt.

In this connection, a meeting was held here, which was presided over by the CDWP deputy chairman, Akram Sheikh. Under the project, Rs130 million will be spent on civil works, whereas rest of the amount has been earmarked for the recruitment of staff, laboratory equipment, library books etc.

Additional facilities will be provided to 17 boys and 10 girls secondary and high schools. Out of these 27 schools, 22 are located in rural areas while rest of five in urban areas.

The development works include construction of 55 new classrooms, 11 auditoriums, 12 science laboratories, four libraries, seven administration blocks, eight toilet blocks, 6,000 feet of boundary and compound walls.

Likewise, Rs8.2 million will be spent on furniture, Rs0.3 million on library books, Rs0.9 million on science equipments, which will be given to these schools as per requirement.

Besides, Rs2.7 million has been reserved to recruit 17 male and 10 female staff members in various categories. The time limit for the project will be three years. a well-placed source said the federal directorate of education has been asked to complete the project within the stipulated time.

The source said, there had been such projects on the cards but could not be completed due to certain reasons. It is worth mentioning here that Education Minister Lt-Gen (retired) Javed Ashraf Qazi, has embarked upon an ambitious programme of introducing technical education in the country.

In this regard, schools and colleges falling within the limits of ICT will be given priority and are considered a pilot project for the introduction of technical education. The new laboratories and libraries will be set up keeping in view the requirement of technical education.