Quality of education at govt schools has improved: Marriyum Aurangzeb

ISLAMABAD: The curricula used at public schools have improved with their help of expertise employed from the private sector, Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Marriyum Aurangzeb said on Thursday.

"There was a time when public schools in Pakistan were going through a challenging period," she said while talking to the media at a ceremony. "It was at that time the private sector played its role to fill the gap in the quality of education of the two sectors."  

She added that it was a task of a thing for the government to make people understand they were not privatising the public schools but were only taking help to improve the way education was imparted at those institutes.

"It was a historic step as the quality of education improved," she maintained. "Through the public-private partnership we were able to train teachers."

Besides, the minister added, they were working on starting an initiative to provide early education, just like the system at private schools where there is a nursery class before primary level schooling begins. People from low-income backgrounds who cannot afford to pay hefty amounts in fees would be able to help their children get an early education, she added. "We are also trying to create an environment in which children would want to attend school."

Moreover, she added, the prime minister did not wait for the budget and released Rs2 billion out of the Rs3 billion allocated for school buses. "Some of these buses have been put in use."

Marriyum maintained the government will soon launch an initiative, geographical information system, under which issues pertaining to travelling to school would be dealt with. "There are many people in rural and urban Islamabad who find it difficult to get their children to and from school every day."

Parents would also be able to locate whether their child has left the school and at what speed the vehicle is being driven.