KARACHI, Jan 31: The British Deputy High Commissioner in Karachi, David Pearey, has expressed his government’s commitment for raising the standard of education in Pakistan.

Speaking at the annual reunion of Chevening scholars on Thursday night, Mr Pearey said that the Chevening scholarship was Britain’s premier award scheme, which operated on a world-wide basis with a current budget of approximately 41 million pounds.

He said that some 2,300 people at present benefited from the award each year, with 50 scholars from Pakistan alone.

He said that the scheme offered master-level scholarships to the brightest and the best present and future leaders, as well as decision- and opinion-makers.

As many as 1,350 applications, he added, had been received from Sindh and Balochistan for this year’s awards. “This perhaps gives an indication of the prestige attached to a Chevening award.”

The various categories in which applicants were invited included business administration, law, human rights and gender studies.

Prof Anita Ghulam Ali, Managing-Director of the Sindh Education Foundation, who was the chief guest, said that the federal education ministry had set the trend and that no policy was framed or instruments of implementation finalized before consultative meetings with the province and stakeholders.

She was of the view that the current focus was on elementary education, that is up to class VIII, especially for girls.

Prof Anita said that in the last three years she had attempted to focus on the public school system, making it children-centred.

Charlie Walker, Director of the British Council, spoke about the Council’s programmes for English language teaching as well as teachers’ training scheme.—APP