Punjab Chief Minister Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif has said that the Punjab government made a substantial increase in the funds allocated for education sector in the last fiscal year and more funds would be earmarked for that sector in the next budget.
He expressed these views while addressing a meeting that was held to review implementation of the road map evolved with regard to school reforms here on Thursday, said an official. Punjab Education Minister Mujtaba Shuja-ur-Rehman, Member National Assembly Saira Afzal Tarrar, Chairman Punjab Education Foundation Raja Muhammad Anwar, Secretary Schools, Secretary Literacy and officers concerned were present on the occasion.
He said promotion of education was the top priority of his government and revolutionary steps had been taken for that purpose, including setting up of IT labs in more than 4000 schools of the province, Punjab Education Endowment Fund and Daanish Schools. He also said 40,000 teachers had been recruited on merit first time in the history of the country, which was leaving a positive impact on education sector. "Only properly trained teachers could perform their responsibility of educating young generation and thus special attention was being paid to the training of teachers and special programmes were being conducted in all districts for that purpose," he added.
According to him, district education officers were also being appointed on merit through search committees so that they could play an effective role for the development of education sector. The revolutionary programme of 100 percent enrolment of male and female children in schools in Punjab was also being implemented expeditiously. Secretary Schools Muhammad Aslam Kamboh gave a detailed briefing regarding implementation of the road map for schools reforms.