QUETTA: Balochistan Chief Minister Mir Abdul Qudoos Bizenjo has said that ending educational backwardness and encouraging quality education in the province is priority of the coalition government.

He was speaking at the launching ceremony of the Balochistan Education Support 2 programme under which Rs4 billion would be spent to improve standard of education in the province in five years.

The chief minister formally inaugurated the programme. Provincial Education Minister Mir Naseebullah Marri, Unicef Chief of Education Ellen van Kumthout, EU Head of Cooperation in Pakistan Ovidio Mac and the secondary education secretary also spoke on the occasion.

The chief minister said that all possible support would be given to the Balochistan Education Support 2 programme.

“The government in Balochistan has recently changed,” he said. “We need to work in education and health sectors.”

Reforms will be carried out in 20 districts in five years

Mr Bizenjo said that without education no country could be developed.

“Schoolchildren are still sitting on sacks in Balochistan,” the chief minister lamented. “Teachers have developed the habit of remaining absent from schools and are not ready to serve in remote areas of the province.”

He said that the government would take steps to ensure the presence of teachers at schools.

He said that with the efforts of the government education would soon reach every home across the province and every child will be in school.

Earlier, Education Speci­a­list of Unicef Palwasha Jal­a­l­zai gave a briefing to the pa­r­ticipants on the progra­m­­me. She said that under the programme, various reforms would be carried out in 20 districts of the province in the next five years.

Develop­ment of 3,000 schools and establishment of hundreds of Accelerated Learning Programme centers as well as teacher training were part of the five-year programme, she added.

Under the programme, she said, the monitoring process and planning in the education sector would be continued.

Senior officers of the education department, teachers and members of civil society attended the ceremony.

Published in Dawn, November 25th, 2021