LAHORE: Punjab Chief Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif has said the youth possess great capabilities and they are filled with the passion of serving the country.
Talking to a delegation of the youth in London, the chief minister said dream of development of the country could not be materialised without giving modern education to youth, and added that the Punjab government was following a comprehensive programme of promoting information technology and modern knowledge.
Imparting of higher education had been made possible for every deserving and brilliant student through Punjab Educational Endowment Fund. He said the journey of development could be continued only by making youth the engine of development.
The Punjab government had initiated unique programmes for empowerment of the youth and an investment to the tune of billions of rupees had been made to equip the youth with the latest knowledge.
He said a large number of students were learning Chinese language in different educational institutions, situated in Pakistan and China, while many more students had been sent to Turkey to learn the Turkish language there.
The future of a prosperous and vibrant Pakistan was directly linked with the efforts of the youth. There is no doubt that future of the country was vibrant and Pakistan was moving towards development and prosperity.
"Pakistan belongs to all of us and we all have to make it vibrant and a developed country with our collective efforts. We are required to follow the golden principles of hard work, honesty and trust for national development.
"It is sanguine that durable steps have been taken for promotion of education at grass-roots level along with increase in schools' enrollment," he added.
The chief minister said that the government was speedily moving towards achieving the target of imparting skilled-based education to as much as two million youth and pointed out that lakhs of youth were earning honourable livelihood by benefiting from different skills development programmes.
He said merit was the only way forward for development and therefore, it had been given priority in all development programmes. Competent and eligible people had been recruited through a merit-based system, he said.
He said positive results of different programmes, launched for improving educational sector, had been achieved and reiterated his strong commitment that no dearth of resources would ever hamper the educational and training programmes relating to youth empowerment.
"We have always given priority to public service and our past and present is reflective of the measures taken for public service and national development," concluded the chief minister.