LAHORE, May 30: Punjab Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi said on Tuesday the government was taking all possible measures to provide educational facilities to special children as they had an equal right to education. He was speaking at a function held to deliver buses for special children in various districts of the province.

Special Education Minister Qudsia Lodhi was also present on the occasion.

The chief minister said the education sector for special children was badly neglected. When the present government took over, the annual budget for the sector was merely Rs2.1 million, he said, and added the budget had now been enhanced to Rs600 million per year due to which the enrolment of special students had increased by 140 per cent.

Announcing establishment of separate institutions for slow learners, the chief minister said proper mental training of these children required special facilities.

He said in addition to 91 centres already established at tehsil level, special centres would be set up for such children in each of 35 districts by June 2007. The centres would help implement government’s decision to provide syllabus and teaching facilities for special children. As many as 20 such centres would be set up at as many towns during the first phase of the project for which funds had already been allocated. He appreciated the standard of buses provided to special children. —Staff Reporter