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President directs establishment of 6 industrial zones
KARACHI: President Asif Ali Zardari Monday issued directives for setting up of a teachers’ training university in Sindh besides establishing 6 industrial zones after setting up a ‘captive power plant’ near gas fields.The President chaired two separate meetings in Bilawal House pertaining to education and power in the Sindh province.
The meetings were attended by Chief Minister Sindh, provincial Ministers and senior federal and the provincial government officials.
He called for structural improvements in the funding, management and oversight of educational institutions in Sindh to boost education both qualitatively and quantitatively in the province.
President Zardari also called upon the Sindh government to develop its separate power policy as permission to provinces to develop power projects under 50 megawatts (MW) has already been given in the Power Policy of 2002.
Briefing journalists Spokesperson to President, Farhatullah Babar said that the President also directed to call another meeting within a month on these issues in which the relevant ministries will give briefings on the progress made in the implementation of the directives.
He said that the pathetic state of education came to light when the briefing on education was informed that out of 11 million school age children in the province only 6.4 million were enrolled leaving over 4.5 million children out of schools.
Twenty percent of the schools have no building at all, 45% comprise only one or two room and over 60% schools have just one or two teachers.
Similarly, 60% of schools in the province have no access to safe drinking water, the briefing was informed.
“The province is faced with education crisis”, the President remarked adding, “this situation must not be allowed to continue and needs to be changed through structural improvements”.
President Zardari tasked the provincial Education Minister to prepare a comprehensive and workable plan and propose steps to meet the education emergency in the province.
Courtesy www.geo.tv