Start of Montessori classes in public sector schools a revolutionary step: Marriyum

ISLAMABAD: Minister of State for Information, Broadcasting and National Heritage Marriyum Aurangzeb said on Thursday that the government had taken several measures for bringing the standard of public sector schools at par with the private sector, and launch of Montessori classes at public sector educational institutions was a revolutionary step towards that direction.

Speaking as chief guest at Parwan Kit distribution ceremony at a local girls college, she said that the education sector had been neglected during the past two decades, but the present government as per vision of the prime minister was taking all possible steps to provide best educational environment to the students.

She said that the purpose of Prime Minister's Educational Reforms Programme was to improve infrastructure of buildings of educational institutions and to make available all modern facilities to the students.

She said that start of Montessori classes would provide every resident of the area the opportunity to have his wards admitted in the public sector schools instead of paying heavy fees of the private school systems.

She said that when the government decided to involve private sector for improving the education standard, certain sections of the society raised hue and cry maintaining that the educational institutions were being privatized.

They actually misunderstood the government initiative as the cooperation of the private sector was being sought only in regards to training programme of the teachers.

The minister said that quality education was the main component of PM's education reforms programme in which the main focus was on the training of the teachers.

She said that a grant of Rs 2 billion had been released in order to equip all the public sector schools in Islamabad with modern facilities during the coming summer vacations.

Under the reform programme, busses had also been provided to the educational institutions to resolve transport problems of the students.

She disclosed that these buses would be linked with GPS system and the parents would be able to know the location for the bus and even the name of the driver.

This feature was being introduced in Pakistan for the first time and the present government could rightly claim the credit for it.

She said that the government was investing in human resource development as it was vital for the success of mega projects such as China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). The Minister also appreciated the provincial governments for paying attention towards the so far neglected health and education sectors.

She said the textbooks of Punjab Textbook Board had been digitalized in order to ensure their easy access to the students and teachers and the other provinces were replicating the same.

Parliamentary Secretary for Capital Administration and Development Division (CADD), Maiza Hameed in her speech said that after the launch of PM's Educational reforms programme the quality of education of public sector schools had improved and now the parents were preferring to educate their children in public sector schools and colleges.

She said that the Parwan had done a good job in training the teachers of the public sector schools and this cooperation would continue in future as well.

Adviser to Prime Minister on Educational Reforms Initiatives Ali Raza said that it was responsibility of the government to ensure education for all children. He said that Parwan National Centre of Excellence on Early Childhood Care and Education had taken a very good initiative by handing over pre-primary class kits to the head teachers of Federal Directorate of Education.