Staff Reporter
Sindh Minister for Information and Labour Saeed Ghani has said that education and health had always been at the top of the PPP’s Sindh government’s priorities. He said that was why whenever the people of Sindh voted for Pakistan People’s Party to serve them the party spent extensively on these two important sectors. The minister was speaking on Monday as a chief guest at the inauguration ceremony of Government Secondary School, constructed in collaboration with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in Yousaf Goth, Surjani Town. Ghani said that just as the people of the USAID, the parents, the teachers and the students were happy for becoming part of this important event, he was too extremely happy to be here in this inauguration ceremony. The minister while acknowledging the efforts of the United States Agency for International Development said that the Agency was helping the Sindh government immensely under the Sindh Basic Education Program in improving not only the infrastructure or the condition of the schools, but also the quality and the standard of education in these schools throughout the province. He told the audience that the USAID was spending $ 155 million in this regard while the Sindh government was paying for the remaining costs. Ghani said there were 112 schools which were being refurbished with the help of USAID and hoped that by next year, all these schools would be fully functional. In addition, the minister said that there were nine thousand schools across the province which had been identified by the Sindh government for refurbishment and he hoped that all these schools would also be fully functional by next year. Appreciating the Sindh Government’s Public Private Partnership Initiative, Ghani said that it was a milestone because it had not only brought a lot of improvement in Health and Education sector, but also in the infrastructure and development of various projects meant for improving the living standard of the people. He said that that the Sindh province had been rated among the top most provinces of the region, where many projects had been successfully completed under the Public Private Partnership initiative. Thar Coal Project was one of the best examples of the projects completed under a Public Private Partnership initiative, the Minister added. Ghani said that just like saving a life was like saving humanity, educating a child was like educating a generation. Addressing the children of the school, Ghani said that they should consider themselves extremely lucky to be here, as he never in his life could get this kind of opportunity for receiving standard education, or the school like this one to study.
