PESHAWAR, Sept 28: NWFP Governor Syed Iftikhar Hussain Shah on Saturday claimed that the allocations made for promotion of education in the province by the government were a record in the history of the province and the highest in the country.

Speaking at the concluding  session of a seminar on “Reforms in education” at a hotel by the provincial education department, the governor said: “We have succeeded in disbursing the resources equally, transparently and in accordance with the prescribed criteria among the districts.”

He said that nothing was more important for the government than education, particularly the development of primary and girls education, from qualitative and quantitative aspects.

The number of girls schools, teachers and students was one-third of the total, he said and added that the gap was a legacy of the past.

However, he said, the number of girl students and women teachers  and managers was increasing. 

He thanked the foreign donors for extending their assistance which enabled the provincial government to open schools for girls and provide teachers in the remote areas.

The governor, however, pointed out that the lack of proportional emphasis on secondary and higher secondary education in the past had had a telling effect on the educational structure. He said emphasis had been put on the development of secondary and higher education, resulting in an increase in the number of higher secondary schools and colleges.

He said: “We have started public-private partnership schemes, under which private parties have been encouraged to open classes in the government buildings in the second shift in partnership with the government.”

He said Frontier Education Foundation had been revamped and   revitalized, which had accepted the challenge to open 10 degree colleges for girls in addition to the six opened by it to create more seats of higher education for girls.

Beside this, he said, Elementary Education Foundation was being created with a huge amount as the seed-money.

A large percentage of allocations, he said, went to the promotion of elementary and girls education to remove the gender disparity in the education facilities.

He said Education Employees Foundation had been encouraged to establish institutions of high education, particularly for girls, whereas the Government Workers Children’s Foundation planned to establish primary  and secondary schools to supplement the efforts of the provincial government.

The Auqaf department had been directed to open schools wherever it found suitable place and non-formal institutions were being established in collaboration with federal education ministry for the children not registered in schools, he said.

He said the government had supported the devolution plan and adequate financial and administrative powers had been delegated to the the districts and they were authorized to prepare the district education programmes. motion of education.

Education Minister Syed Imtiaz Hussain Gilani said reforms had been effected in the service structure of the teaching staff and their promotion process had been made automatic.

He said the posting of teachers had been rationalized keeping in view the strength of students in the educational institutions.

He said the school cadre had been restricted to the district level.

The minister said all girls schools would have toilet and boundary walls within the current financial year whereas similar facilities would be provided to the boys schools by the next  year.

The governor also witnessed stalls of textbooks set up by different organizations.