‘Data about Punjab schools made public to improve education system’

LAHORE: Punjab Education Minister Rana Mashhood Ahmad Khan has said that good governance and transparency are foremost priorities of the Punjab government.
To ensure this initiative, data about more than 52,000 government schools of the province has been made public so that civil society and parents of students themselves can participate in process of monitoring. This initiative will help in achieving Chief Minister’s vision of “Parho Punjab-Barho Punjab”.
He said this while addressing a press conference at Arfa Software Technology Park, according to a handout issued here on Wednesday. Chairman Punjab Information Technology Board Dr. Umar Saif was also present on the occasion.
Addressing the press conference, the minister said the Punjab government took lead among all provinces by allocating record 27 percent budget for education and now the data about schools were being made public first of all. He said that 950 Monitoring Evaluation Assistants (MEAs) had been recruited for school monitoring and latest computer tablets had been provided to them. They monitor each and every school at least once in a month. Disciplinary action against 19,000 teachers had been taken yet on reports of these MEAs, he added.
He said that “Parho Punjab-Barho Punjab” initiative was running successfully. Parliamentarians and bureaucrats are adopting schools which will have long lasting impact. He said that expatriates would be able to adopt schools after availability of monitoring data. He said that a strategy was being evolved to address the challenges of more than 52,000 schools of the province through public-private partnership. Chairman PITB gave detailed briefing about availability of monitoring data.
He said that DFID was monitoring this data as external auditor and it was presented to the chief minister after every two months. He requested citizens and parents of students to identify flaws in online monitoring to improve education system of the province.