Minister Education Punjab Mian Mujtaba Shuja-ur-Rehman said that education is the top priority of the provincial government and the government has taken new initiative in the field of education. Daanish schools would spread knowledge in every nook and corner of the country and would remove poverty and ignorance from backward areas and a new era of progress and development will usher in, he added.
He said that 6 Danish Schools have been running the province whereas, 8 Danish schools will be completed in August this year besides 8 Danish schools will be set up in next financial year with a cost of 2 billion. He expressed these views, while talking to a delegation of Lancaster University UK that include Professor Mark E. Smith Vice-Chancellor, Professor Robert Mckinaly, Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Professor Steve Bradley, Pro Vice-Chancellor and faculty members of COMSATS Institute of Information and Technology besides Secretary Higher Education Dr Ejaz Muneer and other high ranking officials.
He said that provincial government will spend rupees 195 billion on education during next fiscal year. He told that Punjab government is provided all out co-operation to the local campuses of UK universities. He said that largest number of students is getting higher education in UK universities. The Minister assured the delegation all out co-operation and assistance for local campuses of UK education institutions as they are playing vital role in promoting standardised higher education in the province.
He said that Punjab Government aimed to set up women universities in Bahawalpur, Multan, Sialkot and Faisalabad so that new opportunities of higher education for the women could be further enhanced. He said that government has recruited 36 thousand schoolteachers and 30 thousand subject specialists purely on merit. In the result of education friendly policies of the present government the literacy rate has been raised from 58 percent to 62 percent in four years.
Mujtaba Shuja-ur-Rehman said that government has step up endowment fund with rupees 10 billion, talented and deserving students are getting scholarships for higher studies. He told that Punjab Government has provided a sum of Rs 10 billion to promote school education in the marginalized strata and 1.5 million deserving students in the 36 districts would be benefited during current year. He told that a sum of Rs 46 billion will be spent on the school education sector to elevate it according to international standards.