Forty top position holder students from all over Pakistan currently on a study tour of European universities returned to their homeland on Monday. The position holders were accorded warm welcome at Lahore Airport.
Provincial Minister for Law, Education, Sports and Tourism, Rana Mashhood Ahmad Khan, Member Punjab Assembly Tahia Noon, Secretary Higher Education Department Punjab Abdullah Khan Sumbal, Secretary Schools Education Abdul Jabbar Shaheen and Chairman Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education Lahore Dr Nasrullah Virk alongwith other senior officers received the 40- member delegation of position holder students.
Talking to media after receiving the position holders, Rana Mahhood Ahmad Khan highlighted the education-friendly vision of Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif and lauded his keen interest in promotion of both elementary as well as higher education in Punjab through allocating ample monetary resources to reform the education sector in Punjab.
The minister said "the study tour of 24 world fame foreign universities by the toppers of our education boards from Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan, KPK, Gilgit-Baltistan, AJK and FATA not only help strengthen inter-provincial harmony but this tour of the educational institutions of the developed countries help induce tolerance, peaceful co-existence and build confidence in the personality of the young students."
Rana Mashhood Ahmad Khan advised the toppers to behave like role model for the other students as they had availed a golden chance to observe the best practices in the field of education being practiced in the world. It was responsibility of the government to give exposure to the shining students as Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif had given VIP status to the toppers of various educational examinations. "We are investing in the future of Pakistan because the brilliant position holders will become our future leaders in various sectors of the society. In the days to come, the best inventors, business tycoons, nuclear scientists and exemplary statesmen will emerge from these extraordinary intelligent groups of students."
A number of 23 boy students and 17 girl students among the top position holders presented the daily diary report of their study tour to the Minister Education Punjab. The Minister appreciated the efforts of the brilliant youth and claimed that three public sector universities of Punjab had found place in the top 500 universities of the world and the government of the Punjab had fixed the target to achieve remarkable position in 100 Asian rankings also in the next two years. The establishment of 'knowledge park, Lahore' would definitely help achieve that target, the minister added.