PESHAWAR, April 14: In an attempt to bring the standard of government schools on a par with private education institutions, the NWFP government has declared 300 high schools as model schools in the province to be managed by their own boards of governors. The boards will be independent, autonomous and authorised to take all decisions, including transfers, postings and recruitment and disciplinary actions, said an official handout on Thursday here.

The NWFP Minister for Education Maulana Fazle Ali Haqqani on Wednesday took the initiative as a result of a successful experiment earlier done with a school in Abbottabad where 102 students recently passed SSC examination in A grade bagging both the 2nd and 3rd position in the board also.

These schools will provide an opportunity of quality education to the children of the poor also. To work out details for the said scheme, a committee headed by Secretary of Schools and Literacy has also been constituted.

This is the first step towards bringing the government schools at par with private sector and the scheme will be phase-wise extended to all other schools of the province.