BAHAWALPUR: The Punjab government has approved the proposal of the Cholistan Development Authority (CDA) to lease out the 76 community government primary schools to women teachers who will be provided monetary assistance by the Punjab Education Foundation (PEF) to run these institutions.

The teachers of these schools had earlier opposed the CDA`s move to hand over the community schools to a non-government organisation (NGO) to relieve itself of the responsibility to run the schools in Cholistan. The teachers demanded that the schools should be outsourced to improve their performance and the CDA in consultation with the Punjab government and the PEF decided to give the charge of the schools to the teachers.

CDA coordinator for literacy Mukhtar Ahmed told Dawn on Friday thatit would soon enter into an agreement with the 132 teachers desirous of taking over the schools.

The PEF would also finalise handing over the schools to the teachers each of whom would get Rs550 per student.

Being owners of the schools, the teachers would be responsible for the administrative job as well and ensure that the children could continue their studies in their respective abodes in the desert. At present, there are more than 5,000 children on the rolls of these community schools.

Besides, the coordinator said, there were 10 `pond mobile schools` whose teachers could also benefit from such a scheme. The schools are located around the water ponds and remain mobile particularly in the harsh summer season as the human population along with their cattle moves to green areas for want of drinking water and fodder for their cattle. The classes are conducted at new places.