A week-long School Enrollment Campaign has been started from Wednesday (today) during which parents would be motivated to enroll their children in schools, said a senior official of education department in Pakistan Administered Kashmir (PAK).
Speaking at news Secretary Education Schools, Raja Abbas said school enrollment rate in PAK is 98 percent which would be brought to 100 percent through concerted efforts by teachers, parents and social sector organizations.
Saying that a comprehensive plan has been prepared to introduce sweeping reforms in education sector, Secretary said right to education bill has been drafted and sent to government for necessary legislation.
A 35 point reforms agenda is being implemented to improve performance of educational institutions. The reforms including introduction of uniform curriculum across the board, merit based recruitment of teachers through Public Service Commission, linking promotions and perks of the teachers with better results of the students and regulating the functioning of private educational institutions, he added.
He said that unnecessary school vacations have been curtailed, teachers have been directed to wear a gown and the students of all the government run school would wear identical uniforms.
The education department, he disclosed is collecting data of all the private educational institutions to regulate their functioning. The secretary said that a five billion rupee project funded by Islamic Development Bank is being implemented to construct 277 educational institution destroyed by 2010 devastating flood.
While 60 state of the art school would be setup in all ten districts of PAK. Under this project six model schools would be constructed in ten districts of the state. Replying a question, Secretary Education said serious steps are being taken against the ghost schools and so far 100 such schools has been discovered in PAK and action was taken against them.
He said absence of uniform educational system is the biggest hurdle in national progress and prosperity and it is also hampering our efforts to create sense of national unity and national cohesion among the students. The Secretary said second Enrollment Campaign would be start in PAK after summer vacations.