ISLAMABAD: The Federal Directorate of Education (FDE) has proposed a project worth Rs7 billion to upgrade and give a facelift to 170 schools and colleges and the offices of five area education officers (AEOs).

“We have submitted the PC-I to the Planning Commission for approval,” said FDE Director General Dr Ikram Ali Malik.

Talking to Dawn, he said under the project 170 schools and colleges that remained neglected in previous projects under Prime Minister’s Education Reforms Programme will be face-lifted and upgraded.

170 educational institutions to be upgraded, says official

The project called ‘Provision of Basic Educational Facilities in Educational Institutions of ICT’ has been prepared keeping in view the fact that FDE has mostly retained educational institutions handed over to it by the government of Punjab in 1973 and 1985.

Officials in the FDE said a substantial portion of these buildings is in a dilapidated condition requiring rehabilitation.

Whereas the annual repair and maintenance of the buildings is a recurring feature of civil work, there are no funds allocated to schools/colleges to maintain their physical infrastructure. It is only the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) which meets the infrastructural needs of institutions be it rehabilitation of existing facilities or construction of new structures.

The scope of work in PC-I prepared by Planning Wing headed by Saqib Shahab includes rehabilitation of the existing infrastructure in 170 institutions and five AEO offices, construction of 507 classrooms, 148 toilet blocks, 14 bathrooms, two visitor rooms, three receptions, 17 servant quarters, 32 guardrooms, 17 staff rooms, 97 staircases, one workshop, 20 canteens, 39 laboratories, 17 libraries, 26 mumties, 18 computer labs, five admin blocks, four conference rooms, six bus sheds, two common rooms, three auditoriums, four offices, seven principal offices, 13 clerk rooms and three water tanks.

The officials said most of the schools included in the project were located in Nilore sector which remained ignored during such interventions in the past. Under the project, solar power system would be installed in 170 schools to lower the expenditure on electricity.

The project also included provision of 12 high-roof vehicles to schools in the rural areas and hard stations for duty where normal commute is difficult due to unavailability of public transport. Computer labs are to be established in all the boys’ schools.

In girls’ schools, labs are already established by the Universal Services Fund of the Ministry of Information Technology.

Furniture and equipment to be provided to the schools is worth Rs900 million, an IT centre will be set up in the FDE building.

Sources said Prime Minister Imran Khan in a recent meeting with Education Minister Shafqat Mahmood and representatives of Ministry of Education had agreed to provide funds immediately for commencement of the required work.

Earlier, under PM reforms package launched by former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, 200 schools and colleges were face-lifted. Recently, the PC-I of that project was revised from Rs2.7 billion to Rs3.7 billion. The government had allocated Rs800 million for ongoing budget of financial year 2020-21 but during first two quarters, the funds were not released.

Meanwhile, sources said PC-4 for having regular staff and budget for around a dozen institutions has also been prepared and submitted to the Planning Commission.

Published in Dawn, February 2nd, 2021