RAWALPINDI, June 3: Over 50 per cent of the centres established under the Ujala Literacy Programme have closed down, sources in the district government told Dawn on Monday.

Under the programme, a project of the Punjab Literacy Commission, 250 centres were to be set up in the district where 22,500 illiterate people, particularly women, were to be educated in three seven-month phases. The project would cost Rs9 million in Rawalpindi district alone.

“The programme has not only resulted in wastage of precious financial resources, but what’s more important is that an important initiative for enhancing literacy is being lost,” a senior personality of the district government said on condition of anonymity.

The sources said 250 centres were never opened and even those that were set up gradually closed down.

Young people from 10 to 20 years of age are supposed to be educated under the programme in eight districts of the province including Rawalpindi. The students are provided free textbooks. The teachers are required to establish the centres at their residences or government-owned buildings. Each teacher is to have a class of 30 students in one phase.

However, the project which has now entered its second phase showed dismal results in the first phase and failed to achieve its targets. “The future of the project does not appear to be any better because of the inherent flaws in the system and the officials’ lack of interest in removing those flaws,” they said.

The sources said the response was reasonable initially, but later the people lost interest in the scheme and dropped out in large numbers.

The supervision of these centres, the sources said, was poor and lacked the vital community participation aspect. Under the system, 10 “mobilisers” were appointed for 25 centres and each of them paid Rs6,000 a month. The programme coordinator is getting Rs10,000 a month.