MULTAN, May 10: The district government will complete development schemes worth Rs95.8 million under its education package by the end of the current fiscal.

This was stated by district Nazim Shah Mahmood Qureshi while speaking at a press conference here on Friday. He said as many as 359 elementary and secondary schools would benefit through the education package.

He said in the elementary education sector, some 28 shelterless schools would have their buildings by the end of the fiscal with a cost of Rs19.96 million, while buildings of six other schools, which had been declared dangerous, would be reconstructed with a cost of Rs4.16 million.

An amount of Rs12.6 million would be spent on the expansion of 50 schools; Rs2.63 million to provide toilet facility to 57 schools; Rs0.52 million for the provision of drinking water in 40 schools; Rs3.86 million to build boundary walls of 27 girls schools; Rs9.524 million to provide different facilities to 34 schools; and Rs4.35 million to provide furniture to some 87 schools.

On the front of secondary education, science laboratories of 20 schools were being improved on modern lines with a cost of Rs12.58 million. The district government had planned to impart technical and vocational training at 10 secondary schools with a cost of Rs20 million, while 124 adult literacy centres would be established with a cost of Rs4.34 million. Likewise, Rs1.2 million had been earmarked for scholarships to talented students.

The Nazim said a piece of land had almost been located to establish a home economics college for girls, while EDOs of revenue and education had been directed to make a list of the available state land in Multan city in order to hand over plots on lease to education institutions in the private sector, serving the middle and lower-middle strata of society.

The Nazim claimed that the Multan district government would be first in the province which would have utilized 100 per cent of its development funds by the end of the fiscal. He said Multan had utilized 70 per cent of its development allocations by the end of April, 2002.