Literacy drive for KP’s merged districts approved

PESHAWAR: In a bid to enhance the literacy rate in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, particularly in the merged districts, the provincial government has approved a  literacy campaign titled “Ilm Tolo Da Para”.

The approval was given at a meeting of the Provincial Task Force on Merged Districts held here with the caretaker Chief Minister Justice (R) Syed Arshad Hussain Shah in the chair.

Initially, the campaign would be launched in merged districts, and would be extended to those settled districts having low literacy rate. Under the campaign, a comprehensive plan has been chalked out for admitting out of school children of merged areas to schools.

Moreover, children belonging to merged districts with age group of five to sixteen would be specifically targeted for enrolment.  

The meeting decided to upgrade the public sector schools on need basis in merged districts while teachers belonging to merged districts but posted in other districts would also be repatriated to the districts of their domiciles.

It was also decided that an inquiry would be conducted regarding missing facilities in public schools while action would be taken against contractor in case of non-construction of facilities mentioned in the PC 1 of any school.

The meeting also decided to constitute a committee for aligning the academic curriculum with market needs and requirements of modern era.

Briefing about various aspects of literacy campaign, the participants were informed that the campaign has been designed jointly by the Pak Army and education department Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. It was disclosed in the meeting that currently, 55pc i.e 10,00000 children are out of schools in the merged districts adding that only 44pc i.e around 8,00000 children are enrolled in the schools in merged areas. It was further informed that at current, 74pc girls are out of schools in those districts. The authorities told that under the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Literacy Campaign, initiatives would also be taken to ensure availability of teaching staff and missing facilities in the government schools.

Apart from this, rationalization of schools in merged districts would be carried out and all the surplus schools would be converted into Technical and Vocational Centers.

Similarly, initiatives would be taken to identify the ghost schools and teachers in those districts. As an effort to increase literacy rate in merged areas, special incentives would also be given to the teachers and students.

The plan also include the initiatives for introducing formal education in seminaries (Deeni Madaris) whereas cooperation would be sought from Ulema, elected public representatives, civil society and all other stakeholders in order to make this literacy campaign successful. Besides, an effective monitoring mechanism would be placed to ensure implementation of the plan in its latter and spirit.