HYDERABAD, May 21: The University of Sindh will set up an FM radio station in the department of Mass Communication to broadcast educational programmes and train students of the department. The project was discussed at a meting at the Jamshoro campus on Monday.

It was presided over by acting vice-chancellor Professor Dr Parveen Shah and attended by the department chairperson Dr Rizwana Chang and FM 105 manager Dr Mehmoodul Hassan Mughal.

The meeting decided to approach the National Public Radio of the US and USAID education programme to seek assistance for the project.

The meeting discussed a proposal to seek financial support from the provincial and federal governments and contact philanthropists in this regard.

Approximately Rs5 million was required for the project, it was told.

Primary education

The Society for Protection of Rights of the Child (SPARC) has launched a week-long campaign to enrol 5,000 children in schools in the districts of Hyderabad, Mirpurkhas, Badin and Tharparkar districts.

This was said by SPARC officials Shafiq Kandhro and Sajid Waggan at a news conference at the press club here on Monday.

They said that the standard of primary education was deteriorating in Sindh but the provincial government seemed least concerned about it. They said that the government had taken no initiatives to achieve universal primary education goal under the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

Under the MDGs, Pakistan was to achieve 100 per cent primary school level enrolment and an adult literacy rate of 88 per cent by 2015 but the government estimates showed that the enrolment ratio remained below 60 per cent till 2011, they said.

As compared to other provinces, they said, the situation was worse in Sindh where out of 11 million children of school going age, only 6.4 million (53 per cent) were enrolled in schools. They said that 11,669 schools had no building, 24,470 lacked boundary wall, 26,240 did not have drinking water facility, 22,588 lacked lavatory and 39,616 electricity.