Strengthening technical education: Punjab government to set up Rs 500 million SDEF

The provincial government has decided to set up Skills Development Endowment Fund (SDEF) with initial capital of Rs 500 million to improve and strengthen the technical education sector in the province. This was told by the Chairman Chief Minister's Taskforce on Elementary Education, Raja Muhammad Anwar, while presiding over a meeting of school education dept. at his office here on Sunday.
The meeting was attended by School education dept. officials, educationists and teachers. The meeting reviewed promotion of technical education in the schools.
At the outset, Raja Anwar said that special efforts are underway to strengthen the school education. He maintained that promotion of school education will strengthen the entire educational system and it will help to achieve the goal of quality education. He told the meeting that Rs one billion for science labs. in government high schools and Rs 500 million for IT education in elementary and high schools are provided to the education dept. It will help to bridge the digital divide in the society, he hoped. Besides this, provision of mission facilities in schools is another priority agenda of the Punjab government, he informed.
Raja Anwar said that promotion of vocational and technical education would help to create opportunities of self-employment at the grassroots. Besides strengthening the existing institutions, setting up of technical and vocational institutions for the girl students in the province is another important policy agenda, he concluded.