KARACHI, Feb 14: Under the Decentralized Elementary Education Project, launched at a cost of Rs5,880 million, as many as 1,200 primary schools would be upgraded to middle-level within nine years, Sindh Education Minister Irfanullah Marwat said on Saturday.

Speaking to officers concerned during a meeting of Deep at his office, he said improvement was visible in education institutions due to the policies adopted by President Gen Pervez Musharraf.

"On president's directives, development projects have been initiated in education department, which will be completed on time and will benefit the province, particularly with regard to achieving the literacy rate targets," he added.

The minister said that books under the new curriculum were being published for the next academic session under the directives of the president. For this purpose good quality paper had been acquired to improve the quality of books, he informed the meeting.

He said the chairman of the Sindh Textbook Board had been directed to complete the work for books on time as no slackness would be tolerated in this respect.

He himself would visit the STB next week to check the authenticity of reports given by its chairman, and to inspect the book publishing work, he added.

He said the government was striving to impart education to all children in the province, belonging to both rural and urban areas.

Sindh Education secretary and Deep project director were also present on the occasion.-PPI