PESHAWAR, May 20: The NWFP Governor Syed Iftikhar Hussain Shah has said that the government has given top priority to education and 18 per cent of NWFP’s resources have been allocated for the development of this sector.

Speaking at the annual reunion dinner of the Edwards College Old Students Association at the college premises on Saturday night, the governor said the educational system needs a drastic but positive change to bring it in line with the needs of the new millennium.

“To me education is a beacon of light which guides us in darkness and puts us on the right path and thus enables us to see through the thick and foggy layers of the uncertainties and focus on those probabilities which may present themselves in future,” he remarked.

Keeping in view the importance of education in mind, he said, the government was giving due priority to this sector.

He said women’s education also gets more than due attention in order to raise the female literacy rate, which is very low in certain areas. He however regretted that despite all such efforts the female literacy rate in certain tribal areas is as low as 0.5 per cent.

Highlighting the initiatives taken by the government for the promotion of education, the governor said that the higher education facilities have been decentralized. Fully equipped hi-tech universities have been established at Dhodial, Chakdara and Kohat besides opening new campuses of Engineering University at Mardan and Bannu.

For the first time in the history of the province, he said, the private sector has been encouraged to participate in the dissemination of education and an open and transparent policy has been adopted for its encouragement which has resulted into the opening of four universities in the private sector.

Appreciating the high spirit of ECOSA for giving scholarships to the deserving students, the governor expressed the confidence that their number as well as amount would also be increased with the passage of time.

As for as the government was concerned, he said, the Frontier Education Foundation has so far granted scholarships to the deserving students worth Rs120,000 during the current financial year and the amount will be doubled from the next year.

Appreciating the decision of the college administration regarding launching of Trust Fund in the college Mr Shah said the government would also look into the possibilities to put its own share in the fund subject to its performance and objectives.—APP