By Our Staff ReporterKARACHI: Sindh Education Minister Jam Mehtab Dahar on Monday asked the authorities to replace the schools` power supply system with alternative energy in soonest possible time to get rid of the permanent scourge of loadshedding.

`This is one [of the] most suitable means to divest schools of the incessant power outages,` said the minister while speaking to reporters after holding a meeting with the new education secretary for schools, Iqbal Durrani. `We should speed up converting schools to solar system from grid electricity so that the loadshedding issue could be solved once and for all.

Officials said during the meeting it was decided that the repair, maintenance and supply of missing facilities at public schools should be done on a priority basis.

`No lethargic attitude will be tolerated in education department,` the minister said, adding that the scope of the biometric system, which had effectively identified `ghost` teachers in the education sector, would be spread out in remaining Sindh districts.

A spokesperson for the education department said Mr Dahar asked the secretary to make concerted ef forts to boost enrolment of students and ensure posting of teachers on the basis of union councils, talukas and district as directed earlier.

The officials said the education secretary for schools assured the minister that the ministry`s full potential would be used to put matters on the right track.

Officials conceded that the issues such as enrolment, quality of education, pathetic infrastructure and absence of required facilities remained obstacles in improving educational standards in Sindh.

The minister also asked for improvement in the monitoring system to get better results, the officials said.