Four schools to be made centres of excellence

By Khalid Khattak

LAHORE: THE Punjab School Education Department has identified four schools of the provincial metropolis to upgrade these to centres of excellence under the scheme of model schools.The schools, which would be converted into centres of excellence include Government Central Model School, Lower Mall, Government High School for Boys, Ghoray Shah, Government Comprehensive High School for Girls, Wahdat Road and Government Girls High School, Samanabad.The scheme of converting selected government schools into model schools was introduced by the government in the recent budget while Rs 3,630 million was also allocated in this regard for the Fiscal Year 2008-09. It was also announced that 72 schools would also be provided with dormitories. An official of the School Education Department said a total of 288 schools would be converted into centres of excellence provincewide, adding gender parity would also be kept in view in this process. He added that 144 schools had been included in the scheme in the first phase.He said the department initially had identified four schools from the provincial metropolis while one each at district and tehsil headquarter level all across Punjab to convert these into centres of excellence.He further said the major component of a centre of excellence would include best infrastructure facilities, science labs, IT labs, libraries and dormitories. He said that the department identified schools, which had matched the necessary requirements in this regard including reasonable area of land and good number of students and other.The official said the programme of establishing centres of excellence was basically aimed at restoring lost confidence of the masses in the government schools. He said, “There is a feeling that people prefer to send their children to private schools instead of public sector schools,” adding, “In such circumstances, there is a dire need of taking drastic measures to improve the quality of education being imparted at the government schools.” He said establishment of centres of excellence would also promote a sense of competition between the public schools and the private schools, adding unfortunately at present the government schools were almost out of this competition. Sources however further informed that the department was also considering a proposal to award status of autonomous institutions to the would-be centres of excellence, adding in this case, each model school will have a board of governors (BoG).When contacted, Secretary School Education Department Nadeem Ashraf said PC-1 regarding centres of excellence had been sent to the Planning and Development (P&D) department for approval, adding that best faculty and facilities would be provided at these institutions.He further said that e-libraries would also be introduced in these schools for maximum exposure of students to the computer technology.He added that special halls and rooms would also be constructed in the centres of excellence to organise extra curricular activities. Replying to a question, he said the autonomy of the selected schools was also being discussed these days, adding however, any final decision in this regard would be taken after thorough deliberations. He added the first phase would be completed by June 2009.

Source: The News International
Tuesday, October 14, 2008