Punjab spending 26pc of budget on education’
Lahore : 11 September : The Federal government has decided to launch a new TV channel which would aim at promoting education.
This was disclosed by the Punjab Education Minister Rana Mashhood Ahmed Khan while addressing the participants in a Technical Workshop in 21st century held under auspices of Pakistan Association for Continuing & Added Education (PACADE) here on Tuesday at Quaid-e-Azam Library, Lahore.
According to a handout issued here, the workshop was attended by UNESCO country director Dr. Kozu Ke Nagata, Punjab Literacy secretary Dr. Pervaiz Ahmed Khan, PACADE president Inayat Ullah, Dr. Amjad Saqib, Prof. Sajjad Haider, Prof. Tariq Ismail, Prof. Faheem and Dr. Hafiz Muhammad Iqbal besides other eminent educationists and environmentalists.
Punjab Education Minister Rana Mashhood Ahmed Khan emphasized the need to educate the common lot, both illiterates as well as the so-called educated segment of the society, about how to live peaceful life with the sense of co-existence. For this purpose, the government will utilize all available means including media so that the people of Pakistan are aware regarding promotion of education for all.
Education transforms a man into a useful human being and there is a lot of difference between a human being and being a human. This is why the investment in education is considered as the most beneficial investment in the world, the minister added.
He informed that the Punjab government under the dynamic leadership of Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif had allocated 26 per cent of the provincial exchequer to promote education in Punjab. In the current fiscal year, the total budget for education sector was Rs.226 billion which would be enhanced during the next five years to Rs.451 billion in a phased manner.
He said that the average literacy rate in the world happened to be 86 percent. We will achieve 86 percent literacy rate in the coming three years, he said. Rana Mashhood stressed the need to impart technical know-how and social skills to the new generation so that they could be enabled to benefit the worldwide employment chances available to the skilled persons. He disclosed that 28,000 public sector primary schools would be provided with the missing facilities throughout Punjab during the current fiscal year which would cost Rs.8 billion.
In addition to that, 15,000 new class rooms would also be constructed in the next three years with the collaboration of DFID which would help reduce dropout rate in the province, the minister concluded.
Earlier, Secretary Information and Culture, Punjab, Momin Agha, while speaking in the workshop, stressed upon the need to utilize electronic and print media, SMS technology and social media to promote literacy at larger scale.The news.