Punjab Chief Minister, Shahbaz Sharif has said that the dream of rapid progress and prosperity of the country can only be achieved by imparting modern knowledge and providing latest technology to the younger generation and, in order to achieve this target, the Punjab government is following a comprehensive programme of promotion of information technology in the Punjab province. He said that no amount of resources, spent upon the builders of the future, on their education and training, can be termed sufficient.
The Chief Minister called upon the younger generation to eliminate the rotten system of corruption, loot and plunder and kickbacks, and, instead, should build a Pakistan where there is predominance of honesty, merit and trust, and where no corrupt person can ever think of plundering the national resources.
Shahbaz Sharif was talking to a delegation of brilliant male and female students, who called on him on Saturday. He said that the younger generation is the guarantee of Pakistan's bright future as, the world over, only those nations have achieved the destiny of progress and prosperity which have equipped their younger generation with modern knowledge, as well as spent all out resources.
He said that information technology is an accepted reality in the modern world, due to which, the world has now been transformed into a global village. The CM pointed out that the Punjab government has taken revolutionary steps for promotion of information technology and, in its first phase, it has distributed 1,25000 laptops among the brilliant male and female students, through a completely merit-based transparent system. He said that, during the current fiscal year, laptops, worth Rs 4 billion, would be distributed by the Punjab government. The Chief Minister said that laptops would also be distributed among the special children during current fiscal year according to the policy of the Punjab government throughout the province. He noted that the government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has also chalked out a project of laptops distribution among the brilliant students, which is appreciable.
Shahbaz Sharif observed that setting up of Punjab Educational Endowment Fund, for the first time in the history of the country, is a revolutionary step, through which financial assistance is being provided to thousands of students, to enable them to continue their studies. He said that brilliant students are not only being rewarded and given encouragement, but they are also being sent abroad on study tours regularly to observe how the famous educational institutions of foreign countries work.
The CM said that setting up of IT University in Lahore is also a hallmark in promotion of information technology. The students' delegation paid glowing tributes to the Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif for taking unprecedented revolutionary steps for the betterment of education sector. They observed that for the first time laptops have been distributed on the basis of merit alone, whereas IT labs and initiatives for promotion of curricular and extra-curricular activities are highly praiseworthy.