Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah Announced That His Government Gave Top Priority To The Education

Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah announced that his government gave top priority to the education as its was the most important criteria for individual as well as collective development of a society and a state and it is the basic bedrock upon which whole building of prosperity and human development stands

KARACHI, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 14th Jun, 2019 ) :Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah announced that his government gave top priority to the education as its was the most important criteria for individual as well as collective development of a society and a state and it is the basic bedrock upon which whole building of prosperity and human development stands.

Education enlightens the masses and inculcates the values of tolerance, social justice and democracy. This is why when it comes to allocation of resources, education takes preference over all other sectors, he said.

The allocation for school education is increased in non-development budget from Rs170.832 in year 2018-19 billion to Rs178.618 billion in next financial year 2019-20. Whereas, on development side, Rs15.15 billion are allocated in ADP 2019-20.

"We have developed Sindh Education Sector Plan and Roadmap (2019-23) through a consultative process. The civil society, intelligentsia and academia were taken on board considering them equal stakeholder in development of the society," he said.

He said the new sector plan focused on providing additional classrooms to accommodate fresh entrants to the schools and ensuring a conducive environment in schools in terms of provision of clean drinking water facilities, toilets and compound walls to ensure retention of students especially girl students. Girls' education had been given a significant preference and sufficient funds have been proposed for girls' transportation in the rural areas in order to address the issue of low female participation in the schools.

Sindh Government had also taken steps to bring "Out of School Children" into the educational system. In this connection, Directorate of Literacy and Non-formal Education had been given significant allocation to partner with community-based organizations who would arrange for tutors, while the Government would provide school building in evening hours. The CBOs would be given management cost on 'per child basis.

Public Private Partnership Mode of School Education and Literacy Department has been strengthened to work in collaboration with Education Management Organizations (EMOs) to impart quality education to the students.

He said another area of his Government's focus was early childhood education. Sindh had taken lead over other provinces, and had approved early childhood care and education policy.

The Government had already established 1500 ECE classes in our government schools. It had planned to establish another 1500 ECE classes in the coming financial year 2019-20.

For the purpose of efficient management and evidence-based planning, the School Education and Literacy Department had conducted census of all government schools during January and February 2019 through the use of technology. Now we have real time accurate data available which will not only help to improve decision-making but will also enable us to utilize our resources optimally, he said.

The Chief Minister said that under the School Education; major emphasis during year 2018-19 remained on the "Rehabilitation and Expansion of High Priority 4560 Schools"; The schools which had high enrolment and required adequate facilities of classrooms; washrooms; water; electricity and adequate teaching faculty to encourage better learning environment and create space for additional enrolment.

The School Education Department would complete1437 units by end June 2019. Further, 1973 Government Schools have been provided with Clean and Safe Drinking Water facilities and another 367 schools will be provided with clean and Safe Drinking Water through a new development scheme.

The School Education portfolio has been allocated Rs.15.15 billion for 279 schemes (188 on-going and 91 new schemes). Further the major initiatives incorporated for next year are: Construction of "06" Room Building for 20 Shelter-less Primary Schools Rehabilitation of 113 Dangerous Primary Schools having high enrolment (with Additional Class Rooms and Provision of Missing Facilities) Establishment of 35 Model School Complexes by converting Existing High Schools along with their Feeder Primary Schools into better Learning Centers.

From the "High Priority 4,560 schools" 42schemes both primary and secondary having 1,772 schools would be completed in 2019-20.

About Sindh Education Foundation (SEF), he said, it was earlier able to make a major breakthrough on the side of access; when it increased the enrolment from 256,000 to 550,000 (100%) in a record period of three years.

"We are proposing an allocation of Rs 9.597 billion in the budget of Sindh Education Foundation for the next financial year 2019-20," he said.

Regarding College Eduation, he sadi the allocation for college education is increased in non-development budget from Rs 15.777 billion in the year 2018-19 to Rs 18.094 billion in next financial year 2019-20. Whereas, on development side, Rs.4 billion are allocated in ADP 2019-20.

Major development initiatives in College Education Department for ADP 2019-20 are: 17 new degree colleges are planned to be established in districts of Karachi (Korangi, Malir, West), Hyderabad, Umerkot, Sukkur, Jamshoro, Shikarpur, Jacobabad and in Sanghar.

Construction / rehabilitation and provision of furniture is planned for existing colleges in different districts through different schemes Provision of missing facilities for Gadap and PanoAkil Cadet Colleges has been proposed in 2019-20.

For Universities and Boards , the Chief Minister said the allocation on this account was increased in non-development budget from Rs 9.529 billion in year 2018-19 to Rs.10.585 billion in next financial year 2019-20.

For the Universities and Boards; the Government had earmarked Rs 3.0 billionfor fiscal year 2019-20, through which various initiatives relating to higher education will be financed; such as: establishment of Center of Robotics, Artificial Intelligence and Blockchain - at Sukkur IBA University; establishment of Thar Institute of Technology, NED Campus of Tharparkar; establishment of Sindh University Campus at Badin; and Mirpurkhas.

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