Caretaker Chief Minister, Najam Sethi has said that Punjab Education Foundation (PEF) is playing an important role in equipping the children of poor families with education. He said, no doubt, education is the path to development of any nation and the country.
He said that the dream of development and prosperity could be materialised by equipping the boys and girls with education. He said that education was an effective tool for eliminating problems like poverty, unemployment and extremism. The Chief Minister said that providing education to the boys and girls of deserving and less-privileged families was the basic responsibility of the government and the role of Punjab Education Foundation, in that regard, was commendable.
He expressed these views while presiding over a high level meeting at Chief Minister's Secretariat, Wednesday. Secretary Schools Education Muhammad Aslam, Secretary P&D Arif Anwar Baloch, Secretary Information Amjad Hussain, Special Secretary Finance Dr Arshad Mehmood, Chairman Punjab Educational Endowment Fund Dr Amjad Saqib and Educationist Dr Zafar Iqbal Qureshi attended the meeting.
The meeting reviewed the programmes of Punjab Education Foundation. Managing Director, Punjab Education Foundation, Ambreen Raza gave a briefing about the educational programmes of the foundation. Najam Sethi said that the solution of problems being faced by the country lay in the promotion of education. He said that education was the only effective tool through which problems like poverty, unemployment and extremism could be overcome. He said that provision of resources for providing education to new generation was a beneficial investment.
The Chief Minister said that various educational programmes launched by Punjab Education Foundation for the deserving male and female students of the province were continuing successfully and millions of such students were benefiting from these programmes. Managing Director, Punjab Education Foundation, Ambreen Raza, giving briefing, informed that more than 11.5 lakh deserving students of partner schools, were benefiting from the educational programmes of Punjab Education Foundation in 36 districts of the province.
She disclosed that Rs 400 per month was being paid to the parents of deserving boys and girls through voucher scheme of Punjab Education Foundation for bearing their educational expenses. She told that the programmes of imparting training to the teachers of partner schools of Punjab Education Foundation meant for their capacity building were also continuing successfully.