ISLAMABAD, Jan 13: The government has approved a Rs640 million project to upgrade 377 federal government (FG) institutions and bring them on a par with 19 Islamabad model colleges.

An official source told Dawn that the development scheme was submitted before the Central Development Working Party (CDWP) by the education ministry. The project has recently been cleared by the CDWP in one of its meeting.

The amount for the purpose is likely to be released during the next financial year 2003-04, and the three-phase project will be implemented in four years.

In the first year, 20 federal government schools are to be selected, while another 60 will be upgraded in the next year. The rest of the schools, out of the total 377, will be upgraded in the third and fourth year, respectively.

The project suggested to merge the service cadres of both the FG institutions and model colleges into a common list as per the general seniority rules.

The idea to upgrade the federal government schools was floated by Dr Attaur Rehman, the chairman of the Higher Education Commission, when he was the education minister.

The FG institutions are facing constraints like inadequate educational/professional qualification of teachers. About 555 seats of teachers are still vacant in these institutions, out of which 173 are vacant in boys and 382 in girls schools. The sanctioned strength of the teachers in these institutions, from primary to the secondary level, is 4,588, but only 4,033 seats have been filled.

About 24 secondary schools out of 105 do not have proper laboratories, while 290 class rooms are still required to accommodate the existing number of students.

The students of the FG institutions are also facing shortage of basic facilities like drinking water, toilet blocks, perimeter walls, specially in the girls schools.

The project recommended to place the FG school teachers having graduation qualification in grade 16, and those with master degrees in grade 17.

It also suggested to induct teachers in coordination with the Federal Public Service Commission, while those teachers who have done only matriculation will either be offered golden handshake or reverted to the provincial education departments as per their domiciles.

The project stressed on overcoming the imbalance in the infrastructure of FG schools on priority basis with special emphasis on the construction of science laboratories and classrooms.