IT promotion programme 2.5 million students getting computer education every year

Minister for Education Punjab, Mian Mujtaba Shuja-ur-Rehman has said that 2.5 million boy and girl students are getting computer education every year in the province through IT promotion programme. He expressed these views at a quiz programme at Children Library Complex organised by Telenor Pakistan on Saturday.
He said the process of distribution of 125,000 laptops among talented students under Punjab Chief Minister's Laptops Award was being completed speedily this year and next year the number of laptops would increase to 300,000. The Minister said the amount of Punjab Educational Endowment Fund which was started initially with an amount of two billion rupees had now been increased to eight billion rupees.
He said that financial assistance was being provided to 35,000 deserving male and female students for higher education under this fund. He said the literacy rate of the province had increased to 62 percent due to education-friendly programmes of the Chief Minister Punjab.
He said the provincial government was working hard to achieve 88 percent literacy rate till 2015, to fulfil the international commitment under millennium development goals. As many as 262,500 students under the age of 4 to 15 years are getting education under non-formal basic education schools, he added. Mian Mujtaba Shuja-ur-Rehman said that Punjab Education Foundation (PEF) was providing grant and scholarships to the private educational institutions and students as the private educational institutions were performing a valuable service in the field of education.
The government was fully aware of its responsibility in developing educational sector by providing the basic education and this was the reason that government had launched primary enrolment campaign to achieve 100 percent literacy rate in the province, he added. Secretary School Education Muhammad Aslam Kamboh, Chairman Punjab Text Book Board Mukhtar Ahmad Naul, Executives of Telenor Company and a large number of students attended the programme.