Punjab govt empowers youth through education: minister

LONDON: Punjab Minister for Education, Youth & Sports Rana Mashood Ahmed Khan has said that Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has made its mission to empower the youth Punjab through modern education and healthy lifestyle to make them respectable citizens of the fast-changing world.
During a briefing at Pakistan High Commission to the community members, educationists and media on education reforms in Punjab, Rana Mashood spoke about the setting up of Lahore Knowledge Park and youth development initiatives in Punjab.
The minister informed that the Project had been envisaged as the engine for making Pakistan in general and the Punjab province in particular the nodal point in South Asia for connectivity to the global knowledge economy. The Park will be equipped with state of the art facilities and educational infrastructure. The objective is to develop and create linkages and synergies between academia, research and the corporate world in the areas that feed into the local and global industry.
He gave examples that countries such as Korea and Japan had made rapid progress after they established knowledge parks to facilitate their youth. He said that nations progress only through education and there is no alternative to that.
The minister stated that by 2017, all out of school children in the province will be enrolled. He also gave a detailed overview of youth development initiatives as well as tourism promotion activities being carried out under the leadership of Mohammad Shahbaz Sharif. He said that the British Council was supporting Punjab Higher Education Department to achieve its vision of promoting Education through mutual collaborative activities, which can ultimately lead to the betterment of economic condition of the masses in the province.
Rana said that Britain’s DFID was satisfied with the progress being made in the field of education in Punjab. He said that Punjab government has set a great tradition by sponsoring toppers of all Pakistan every year to visit foreign countries. He said that hundreds of students every year will be sponsored to study in some of the best foreign universities of the world and funds for this purpose will be provided by the Punjab government. He said at present dozens of Kabadi players were earning livelihood through playing for international kabadi teams and the credit for this goes to Punjab government for promoting local sports.