Punjab Chief Minister, Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi has said that promotion of education has been an important part of his strategy during the last five years as a result of which education sector has strengthened which would leave far reaching impact on socio-economic development.
He said that huge resources have been provided for the financial assistance of government schools as well as private educational institutions through educational programmes of Punjab Education Foundation in backward areas of the province, due to which overall performance of education sector has improved. He said that implementation of historic incentives package for teachers would be helpful for providing relief to the teachers as well as restoration of their dignity and promotion of education.
He expressed these views during a meeting with Federal Minister for Education Lieutenant General Javed Ashraf Qazi (retd) at his residence. Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi said that government is spending Rs 4 billion on the incentives package of teachers, which will benefit 3.5 lakh teachers and they would perform their duty in a better way.
He said that under this incentives package, allowances of primary, elementary, high and higher secondary school teachers, headmasters, science and English teachers have been increased. He said that Punjab Education Foundation is playing an effective role for the promotion of education in private sector through various educational programmes in the province.
He said that a scheme of financial assistance has been started for thousands private schools in 21 backward tehsils of the province which has reduced the financial burden of poor students. He said that Punjab government is spending Rs 3.75 billion for the promotion of private education sector.
Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi said that teachers training programme is going on successfully for enhancing the teaching ability of teachers for the promotion of standardised education under which academic training has been provided to 1,80,000 teachers of public schools and 46,000 teachers of private educational institutions.
He said that teachers are being imparted training under cluster based training programme. He said that besides government schools, free textbooks are being provided to the students of private educational institutions of backward areas of the province due to which number of students is increasing day by day.
He said that attendance of students in the schools, cleanliness of the schools, free distribution of textbooks and presence of teachers have been ensured through effective monitoring system throughout the province.
Federal Education Minister Lieutenant General Javed Ashraf Qazi (retd) said that the federal and provincial governments are endeavouring for the promotion of education sector through collaboration in various disciplines of education including higher education.
He said that the steps taken by the Punjab government for the development of education has improved the standard of education. He said that federal government is also giving incentives to the teachers. He also appreciated the education programme of the Punjab government.