CHIEF Minister Mian Shahbaz Sharif has said that the Punjab government has made education its top priority and has taken revolutionary steps for its development.
He said this during a meeting with a delegation of Pak Education Taskforce (DFID) led by its Co-Chairman Sir Michael Barber at the Chief Ministerís Secretariat here on Thursday.
The chief minister said the close liaison and cooperation between Punjab government and Pak Education Taskforce (DFID) would help improve the education sector. He said 40,000 teachers had been recruited in the province on merit and without any political interference. He said for the first time in the history of the country, the Punjab Educational Endowment Fund had been established for ensuring completion of educational activities of the talented students and scholarships were being given to hundreds of thousands of deserving students out of the fund.
The CM said the IT labs had been set up in more than 4,000 schools and an agreement had been made signed with Microsoft for the promotion of information technology while Danish schools were being established for the poor. He said special attention was also being paid to the promotion of extra-curricular activities besides provision of basic facilities in schools. He said efforts were being made for increasing enrolment ratio and modernising syllabi while essay writings and speech competitions were also being held regularly.
Shahbaz said the students getting prominent positions in various examinations and their teachers were being encouraged and the talented students were being sent abroad for study. He asked the co-chairman of Pak Education Task Force to cooperate with the Punjab government for improving the education sector and formulate a course of action with consultation of officers concerned.
Earlier, co-chairman of Pak Education Task Force Sir Michael Barber gave a briefing regarding improvement of education sector and primary education. He lauded the steps taken by the Punjab government for improvement of education sector and said that he would cooperate with the Punjab government for strengthening primary education.
Secretary Education Muhammad Aslam that as a result of the steps of the Punjab government enrolment had increased and the performance of public schools was improving gradually.
Provincial Education Minister Mujtaba Shujaur Rehman, Member National Assembly Saira Afzal Tarar, Punjab Education Foundation Chairman Raja Muhammad Anwar, Punjab Educational Endowment Fund Vice-Chairman Dr Amjad Saqib, chairman Planning & Development and secretary Schools were also present.