LAHORE: Punjab Chief Minister Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif said on Saturday that Punjab Schools Reforms Roadmap (PSRR) was yielding encouraging results, as attendance of teachers and students, and educational facilities improved substantially.
Chairing a meeting to review the PSRR here, the chief minister expressed satisfaction over the pace of implementation on the programme. While, Department for International Development (DFID) UK, Special Representative Sir Michael Barber gave a detailed briefing on the roadmap.
Like Punjab Health Reforms Roadmap, the chief minister said that a system of punishment and reward should be fully adopted in the PSRR, adding that officers of districts concerned would be held responsible for showing unsatisfactory performance, therefore, no effort should be spared to achieve educational targets set upto 2018. He said that DCOs and EDOs Education of the districts would be fully encouraged for showing best performance in achieving educational targets.
He said that provision of resources for equipping new generation with education was not expenditure but a useful investment for a bright future of the country. He said, there would be no shortage of resources for promotion of education that was of paramount importance to overcome terrorism, extremism, poverty and unemployment from the country.
"Education is an effective weapon for decreasing tendency of extremism, and constitution of a civilized and peaceful society," he observed.
He said that in view of importance of education, Punjab government had taken effective steps to spread education in every nook and corner of the province, and the PSRR was a part of this process. He reiterated that Punjab government would continue to provide billions of rupees resources for improvements in education sector.
The chief minister directed Education Minister and Secretary Schools Education to visit the districts running below targets and steps should be taken for accelerating the pace of implementation on Punjab Schools Reforms Roadmap there. He said that a coordinated and effective teachers training programme was of vital importance for capacity-building of teachers and educational standard could also be improved in schools through implementation on this programme.
He directed the quarters concerned to pay full attention towards quality education in schools and a coordinated system for teachers training should be evolved and implemented immediately, besides arranging refresher courses for teachers at tehsil and district level.
The Punjab government has distributed laptops worth billions of rupees on merit for empowering youth, he said and added that a programme had also been chalked out for giving tablets to male and female students on merit, besides setting up digital libraries across Punjab.
While, Sir Michael Barber said that Punjab Schools Reforms Roadmap was being forwarded successfully under the leadership of Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif. He added that Punjab government's steps for quality education proved fruitful and had also been appreciated in India.
Punjab Education Minister Rana Mashhood Ahmad, Chief Secretary and high-ups of relevant departments were also present.
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