Ten percent quota has been especially reserved for the deserving students of private schools in the Punjab Endowment Fund to facilitate the private sector. These students would also be eligible to apply against the general quota of merit.
This was stated by Chairman of Chief Minister's Taskforce on Elementary Education Muhammad Anwar while addressing teachers' consolation ceremony at The Punjab School, Township, on Saturday. He said that the government is spending Rs 117 billion on different educational projects in the province.
He said that for this education sector reforms program, Rs 4 billion is being utilised on provision of missing facilities in schools. The government is committed to provide every possible facility in the schools. It has provided 85 million textbooks to school students. Punjab government has also given training to more than 1,70,000 teachers with an amount of Rs 1.5 billion, he said. The purpose of this training, provided at the levels of district and tehsil with the collaboration of Directorate of Staff Development (DSD), is to sensitise them about latest teaching modules, he added.
Anwar said that 1,90,000 contract teachers have been made permanent by the government so that they could perform their duties with a peace of mind. He said that the government is committed to develop 'knowledge society' as it's the ultimate mantra of core values of social development. Despite government's efforts to promote education, lot more is still needed to be done and for that private sector should diligently come forward to lend a helping hand in it. "Knowledge is virtue while ignorance is a vice," he added.