KHAIRPUR: Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah has said 75 per cent of more than 9,000 schools that had been lying closed for years have been reopened under the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) policy of promoting education.
Speaking at a reception hosted for him by the Khairpur District Bar Association on Saturday evening, the chief minister said that with the assistance of USAID, as many as 120 primary schools equipped with all modern facilities were being established in the province. One of such schools was being established in Korro village of Khairpur district, he added.
Mr Shah said that World Bank had also approved a financial aid of Rs400 million for promoting education in Sindh. He said the PPP government established nine universities, including a medical university in Lyari; and was working on various feasibilities for more medical universities and colleges to be established in upper Sindh.
He said that feudal lords had long been resisting education for girls but carrying forward the mission of PPP founder chief Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Benazir Bhutto, the PPP succeeded in creating awareness in masses and retrieving school buildings occupied by such people to educate girls as well as boys. He said there was now a much higher number of girls getting education across the province.
The chief minister said that his government also establish peace in the province to ensure development at a faster pace and progress in every sector for improving the provincial economy.He said there were certain forces that had been strongly resisting coal exploration and other development activities in Sindh but the PPP government would continue its efforts to make its programme for economic stability a success.
He said his government had launched a programme to alleviate poverty at the union council level. To achieve the goal, thousands of the poor and needy people were being provided financial aid under the Benazir Bhutto Income Support Programme, he added.
He urged the lawyer fraternity to help achieve the goals by putting in their efforts and extending cooperation to the government.
He said the bench and bar had rendered great sacrifices for democracy. The judiciary and lawyers could help strengthen the country’s democratic institutions, he added.
The chief minister announced allotment of 500-square-yards residential plots within Lawyers Colony and an amount of Rs1 million for the Khairpur DBA.
Sukkur Commissioner Mohammad Abbas Baloch and other senior district officials, besides office-bearers and members of the DBA attended the reception.
Published in Dawn, July 14th, 2014