Govt eyes adoption of Indian strategy to meet labs’ shortage

[Salman]

Govt eyes adoption of Indian strategy to meet labs’ shortage

LAHORE: The Punjab government is considering adoption of ‘Indian Model of Mobile Science Laboratory’ to meet the shortage of labs in public schools, said Education Minister Mujtaba Shujaur Rehman in the Punjab Assembly (PA) on Wednesday.

He announced this during the question hour on Schools Education Department, during which he said that one of the main priorities of the government was to cover lack of science laboratories in high schools.

Addressing the legislators, he gave the example of India that once encountered a similar problem – shortage of laboratories at school level. However, it solved the problem by initiating a ‘Mobile Science Laboratory System’, he said, adding that the Punjab government now aimed to follow and implement the same strategy in order to overcome the crisis.

The minister further informed that the government had planned to establish some 1,000 state-of-the-art labs in different high schools across the province and funds would be allocated for this purpose in the next fiscal budget of 2012-13.

Explaining the expenditures needed for enhancing infrastructure and other facilities in schools, Rehman said that at least Rs 2.5 million were needed to establish one fully equipped science laboratory and an auditorium.

He suggested that members who were objecting over the lack of science labs should spare some amount for the purpose from their development funds of Rs 8 million, if they thought it was an immediate necessity of the schools in their constituencies or areas.

Replying to a query about shortage of science labs in Kasur district, he informed the House that there were 38 high schools and 12 higher secondary schools that were without labs, however, he added that the government aimed to provide the facility to these schools during the next fiscal year.

Speaking on the occasion, Speaker Rana Iqbal Khan, who belongs to the same district, constituency PP-184, announced to donate his development funds for meeting the shortage of labs in schools located in his constituency and directed the education minister to ensure establishment of science laboratories there.

Though the House highly appreciated the Speaker for the initiative, however, some of the treasury members, especially Rana Afzal, raised objections over it. He said that development funds of Rs 8 million were not adequate for development of an entire constituency, hence, the government should allocate more funds in the budget for this purpose.

Answering another query put forward by the legislators, Rehman said that as many as 5,602 private schools across the province were registered while 478 were unregistered.

The government had taken serious notice of the issue, directing the schools concerned to get themselves registered, he said, adding that some 300 schools had registered themselves since then.

He informed the House that the Punjab Cabinet was considering formulating a law regarding regulation of private schools, the bill of which would be presented in the House during the next PA session.

During the Wednesday session of PA, the House passed three amendment bills, including the Bank of Punjab (Amendment) Bill 2011, The Punjab Environmental Protection (Amendment) Bill 2011 and The Punjab Local Government (Second Amendment) Bill 2012. The Punjab government also tabled four new bills, including The Punjab Zakat and Ushr Bill 2012, The Government Sadiq College Women University Bahawalpur Bill 2012, The Government College Women University Faisalabad Bill 2012, The Government College Women University Sialkot Bill 2012 in the House, all of which were referred to the standing committees for further legal procedure.