PESHAWAR, May 30: Chief Minister Ameer Haider Khan Hoti has said that the government is taking practical measures for enhancing literacy rate in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the current enrolment campaign launched in April this year would play a key role in promotion of education at all levels.

He was chairing a meeting held for review of the enrolment campaign in government schools here at Civil Secretariat on Wednesday, says a handout.

In his briefing, Secretary Elementary and Secondary Education Mushtaq Jadoon said that 624,000 children were enrolled in schools last year and as of May 29, 2012 the number stood at 716,000 which showed 12 per cent increase in enrolment. He said that further increase in enrolment was expected till end of the campaign in October.

Provincial Minister for Elementary and Secondary Education Sardar Hussain Babak, Chief Secretary Ghulam Dastagir, and all commissioners of the province, DCOs and EDOs attended the meeting.

The enrolment campaign was launched in April with a goal to send 1.3 million children to schools within a year. The meeting was apprised of the campaign progress and the strategy to be followed till its end in October.

The secretary said that so far Upper Dir had recorded more enrolment of students than any other district in the province. It was decided during the meeting that the DCOs would convene monthly meetings for monitoring of the campaign and pay surprise visits to schools, while commissioners would convene quarterly meetings so as to review matters like attendance of teachers and students.

It was also agreed that the next review meeting at province level would be held in two phases; in the first phase performance of Malakand and Hazara divisions would be reviewed, while the matters of remaining divisions would be reviewed in the second phase.

The participants were apprised that parent-teacher councils would be made more effective and Rs133 million had been released to build additional rooms in schools through such councils. Matters pertaining to water supply, boundary wall, electricity, toilets and lack of other facilities in schools were also discussed during the meeting.

The chief minister stressed coordinated efforts for making the campaign effective and result-oriented. He also sought estimates of funding cost required for provision of facilities in present schools and establishment of new schools in rented buildings in urban areas.