NWFP Education Department comes under fire
PESHAWAR: The NWFP Education Department on Thursday came under harsh criticism for making it mandatory for all the government schools to purchase a complete set of encyclopedia from Parent Teachers Council (PTC) Fund. While moving his Privilege Motion PPP Parliamentary Leader Abdul Akbar Khan said that the said fund was supposed to be used for the benefit of the children but by making it mandatory for the schools to purchase the complete set of encyclopedia, the fund may not be used properly. He said that the children may not be needing the encyclopedia and may be needing some other things which might not be provided to them if PTC fund was used on buying the said item. Joining Abdul Akbar on the debate, Provincial President of PML (N) Pir Muhammad Sabir Shah said 90 percent of the funds being provided to the schools was misused. He demanded an inquiry into the amount of funds already used before allocating it for other tasks. Mufti Kifayat Ullah of JUI said that there were still a large number of schools where the posts of teachers are vacant. He suggested that these posts can be fulfilled by appointing teachers on daily wages by using this fund. He said that spending Rs 10,000 on buying complete set of encyclopedia may be useless. Minister for Education Sardar Hussain Babak defended the decision by saying that the government want to raise the standard of schooling. Abdul Akbar in reply said that he can take his privilege motion back if ministers agrees not to make the decision mandatory for the schools. After Minister Eduction refused to back up from his stance the matter was referred to the committee concerned. Meanwhile, moving her Call Attention Notice MPA Yasmin Zia said that there are almost 54 girls primary schools that are closed. She said that the staff of these schools were taking salaries by sitting in their homes and even some of the staff members are sitting abroad and still drawing their salaries. She also said that an inquiry has also been done into the matter on the directives of Chief Minister which also showed that the schools were closed. The MPA from the ruling ANP said that even after the inquiry no action has been taken against the responsibles.F.P. Report
