HYDERABAD: School education secretary Abdul Aziz Uqaili said on Thursday that 1,000 headmasters, who were appointed on merit, were trained for the first time in supervising, managing and making full use of allocated funds since the schools’ budget was often allowed to lapse in past and not spent.

After having received the specific training, the headmasters would perform their duties efficiently and bring about a significant change in the management of schools, said the secretary at a press conference at Shahbaz Building.

He said that 2,000 posts of headmasters were lying vacant and of them only 1,000 were filled through a test. The other 1,000 would be filled in the same way within four months, he said.

He said the government took initiative to improve the education system, maintain transparency and make up for shortcomings, including functioning of closed schools, meeting shortage of teachers etc.

He said that biometric system had been introduced in all districts and checked by 29 monitoring units, while a policy had been formulated to induct teachers after a qualifying test.

The secretary said that a total of 2,078 closed schools were now functional and the government was working day and night to improve infrastructure, enrolment and other development schemes of education. The government had allocated Rs11.5 billion for the schools’ budget during this year, he said.

Earlier, the secretary presided over a meeting with Hyderabad commissioner, all deputy commissioners, district education officers, education officials and other officers concerned.