PESHAWAR: Minister for Higher Education and Local Government Meena Khan Afridi on Friday reviewed the overall performance of the Higher Education Department at a meeting.
An official handout said that the minister chaired the meeting that also reviewed the ongoing initiatives of the department.The newly appointed Secretary Higher Education Dr Israr briefed the meeting on key developments, achievements, and future plans of the department.
The meeting was informed that the Finance Department released Rs325 million for the Insaf Female and Orphan Education Card initiative.Over 55,000 students has benefited from this programme so far by receiving financial relief in the form of fee concessions through the education card, the meeting was told.
It was briefed that recruitment for 2,110 positions in degree colleges had been advertised against which 36,585 applications had been received.A total allocation of Rs10 billion has been earmarked for public sector universities, out of which Rs6.5 billion has been released so far in two phases.
It was shared that, on the directives of the Higher Education Department, four job fairs were organized across the province, during which various companies conducted interviews of more than 1,000 students, providing them with employment opportunities.
To enhance the capacity of teachers in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education, an amount of Rs341.58 million has been allocated.Under this initiative, 2,250 master trainers will be trained to improve the quality of STEM education in the province.
Speaking at the meeting, Meena Khan directed the officials that public libraries across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa be modernized to meet contemporary educational needs. He announced that 18 public libraries would be renovated at a cost of Rs250 million to provide a better learning environment for students and the general public.The minister instructed the officials that a request be submitted for convening a Board of Governors (BoG) meeting to resolve the principal-related issue of Edwardes College.
