LARKANA, April 19: Sindh Minister for Education Dr Hamida Khuhro has expressed concern over the high ratio of children not going to schools and said that the situation has become alarming as 50 per cent of children in the province are not enrolled. Terming computer know-how the need of the hour, she said that the present government was considering to introduce computer education at the primary level.

She was speaking at a function held to mark the inauguration of a computer-training centre established at the United Memon Jamaat, Larkana in collaboration the Karachi-based Ko-Ordination Group, a non-government organization.

She said that a plan was underway to establish computer labs and career counselling centres in every nook and corner of the province to promote Information technology so that the youth could compete in the new technological era.

She said that it was high time to make immediate progress in computer literacy because the market was not ready to accept computer illiterate manpower.

She was of the view that children should be taught computer at the age of seven and eight so that the country could produce software engineers and meet the requirements of international market.

She said that the main hurdle in spreading the computer literacy was low and interrupted electrical supply at the rural of Sindh adding that her ministry has planned to demand from the Federal Government for providing facilities of generator along-with computers for un-interrupted power supply.

The minister said that assistance of PTCL would also be sought for supplying low-cost cable network in the rural areas so that people could get access to world easily.

On the occasion Mr.Hanif S.Kalia, the chairman of KRG, said that the country needed to enhance its education budget as Pakistan was spending a small amount of its budget on education.

He suggested establishing career counselling centres in educational institutions and introduction of information technology as a compulsory subject in schools. He said that computer literacy should be made compulsory for qualifying in government jobs. Dr Saira Bano, secretary of KRG, said that the KRG had established several computer centres in urban and rural areas of Sindh, including Karachi and Hyderabad.