TIMERGARA, April 9: Pakistan People’s Party Senator Ahmad Hassan Khan on Monday urged teachers, parents and students to act together for enhancing educational standard in the country.

He was addressing the inaugural ceremony of a private English medium girls’ college at Talash as the chief guest.

Former Jamaat-i-Islami MPA Muzaffar Syed, educationist Mohammad Rahim Haqqani, advocate Hassan Khan, managing director of the Dua Girls College Zahoor Alam and Principal Habib Mohammad Khattak also addressed the function, where parents and notables were present in large numbers.

The PPP leader said the country’s real development was linked with quality education and that illiteracy, which had been the root cause of militancy, terrorism and unrest in the country, couldn’t be eradicated until literacy rate was improved.

He said special attention should be given to the girls’ education, while educational institutions in the remote areas should be established for them.

“An educated woman can produce an educated family. We have been doing a lot to provide quality education to our children. We have distributed textbooks valuing billions of rupees to students of government schools,” Mr Hassan said.

Former JI MPA Muzaffar Syed asked parents to make strong coordination with teachers for improvement of education and said private educational institutions had been providing assistance to the government in minimising its burden.

Former adviser to chief minister and educationist Rahim Haqqani called for uniformity of school curriculum and demanded introduction of one syllabus for all schools in the country so that the existing discrimination could be eradicated.

Also in the day, Water and Power Action Committee, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, convener Amir Nawab urged the government and Wapda to exempt Malakand people from fuel adjustment surcharges.

Mr Nawaz told a news conference at Timergara Press Club that Malakand Hyde Power Project had been adding 121 mega watts of power to the national grid but locals had been denied electric supply. He said the power station had been producing electricity from water but billions of rupees had been collected from consumers of Malakand in the name of fuel surcharges.

“Under the 1973 Constitution, people of Malakand have a claim to the station’s production,” he said.

Mr Nawaz criticised Nepra for charging locals Rs10 instead of 50 paisas and threatened that people would agitate if they’re not exempted from fuel surcharge.—Correspondent