KARACHI: Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah has expressed his displeasure over the state of education in the province as 55.6 per cent of children between the ages of hve and 16 years are out of school.

He was presiding over a meeting at the CM House here on Wednesday which was summoned to review the status of public sector education in the province.

The meeting was attended by Education Minister Jam Mehtab Dahar, chief secretary Rizwan Memon, principal secretary to CM Sohail Rajput, education secretary Aziz Ugaili, finance secretary Hassan Naqvi and others.

The chief minister said he was not happy with the state of schools in the province as education was one of his government`s top priorities. He added that the dropout rate of children from schools was quite disappointing and discouraging.

Mr Shah directed the educationdepartment to select 15,000 primary schools, maintain a proper teacher-student ratio there and monitor their education through proper surveillance and inspection. This process would definitely improve education at the primary level.

`Similarly, 1,000 secondary and higher secondary schools may also be selected for the same purpose,` he noted.

`It is surprising that government schools which are being managed by private partners are providing satisfactory education and are producing good results,` the chief minister observed.

Earlier, education secretary Aziz Ugaili informed the meeting that the enrolment target for primary had been fixed at 77pc while 65pc was achieved.

He further said that enrolment target for middle school had been set at 45pc while 35pc was achieved and the target for secondary had been fixed at 35pc while 25pc was achieved.

Mr Ugaili added that the literacy rate was 60pc while the target had been set at 70pc for 2018.Reception for Syedna Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah hosted a reception for spiritual leader of Dawoodi Bohra Jamaat Syedna Mufaddal Saifuddin at the CM House on Wednesday evening.

Speaking on the occasion the Bohra Jamaat chief said that over 31,000 foreigners visited Karachi to listen to his sermons, making the congregation of over 70,000 people.