Provincial Minister for Education Rana Sikandar Hayat has said the government is striving to provide equal educational opportunities to all communities living in the country.
Talking to the media during his visit to Government Pakistan Model High School here on Saturday, he said Pakistan was a peaceful country where followers of all religions were respected. He said the government had set its priority to establish such a model school where students of all communities including Muslims and Sikh could get education easily so that inter-faith harmony and tolerance could be promoted in the country. He said that the schools were facing acute shortage of teachers as no teacher was recruited for the last six years.
However, now the government would overcome this shortage on priority basis, he added. He said that Chief Minister Punjab Maryam Nawaz was working under a vision of Literate Punjab and in this connection no mafia would be allowed to interfere in the education system. He said that encroachments in all government schools would be removed immediately to transform them into model educational institutions across the province.
He said that solid steps would be taken to eliminate harassment incidents in the schools. In this regard, complaint cell and portal would be established to take prompt action on receipt of harassment complaints especially against female teachers. He said that government was also taking immediate steps to provide books on urgent basis whereas booty mafia would be dealt with an iron hand on war-footing so that intelligent students could enjoy fruits of their hard-work in the exams. A test system would also be introduced to appoint Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Education and merit would be followed strictly in this regard, he added. Provincial Minister for Minority Affairs Sardar Ramesh Singh Arora said that Pakistan has possessed the culture of various communities and we are struggling to promote the sense of tolerance and brotherhood. He said that Government Pakistan Model High School has a splendid building which would be preserved after its renovation and rehabilitation. Gurdwara is also adjacent to this school and we wanted to protect and preserve Sikh heritage and promote teachings of Baba Guru Nanak, he added. Both ministers also visited various sections of Pakistan Model School and took briefing about its administration and educational affairs. Deputy Commissioner (DC) Abdullah Nayyar Sheikh, Additional Deputy Commissioner Headquarters Kashif Raza Awan, CEO Education Kashif Zia, District Officer Secondary Education Iftikhar Ahmad Khan and others were also present on the occasion. Later, the ministers also jointly presided over a meeting in Commissioner Office and directed the education officers to improve quality of education.
They said that education officers should visit all schools regularly to check discipline and attendance of the staff in addition to redressing their problems. They also stressed the need of character building of the students and said that education without ethics have not proper benefits. They also welcomed the suggestions and proposals presented by some PMLN leaders and local parliamentarians for improvement in education system and said that their suggestions would be implemented in totol after a thorough consideration.
