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2.5m children to be enrolled till 2018: CM

LAHOREChief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has said the target of enrolment of every child of the province till 2018 has been fixed and hard work, determination and commitment is required for the achievement of this goal. He was chairing a meeting on Thursday, which reviewed pace of progress towards achievement

By our correspondents
October 23, 2015
LAHORE
Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has said the target of enrolment of every child of the province till 2018 has been fixed and hard work, determination and commitment is required for the achievement of this goal.
He was chairing a meeting on Thursday, which reviewed pace of progress towards achievement of Parho Punjab, Barho Punjab Programme under Punjab Schools Reforms Roadmap. The CM said the target of provision of quality education to all boy and girl students of the province has also to be achieved. Similarly, he said that it has also been decided to enroll 25 lakh male and female children till 2018 under voucher scheme of Punjab Education Foundation. He directed that special attention should be paid to the training of teachers for promoting quality education in the province. He said that besides training of teachers on modern lines at tehsil and district level, refresher courses should also be arranged. He said that there is also a need to pay attention to the performance management.
Shahbaz Sharif directed that Punjab Education minister and secretary Schools Education should take personal interest in the quality training of teachers. He said that funds will continue to be provided by the provincial government for the promotion of quality education in the province. He said that there is a need of effective and continuous measures for providing quality education to children in schools. He said that provision of resources for promoting quality education is a useful investment in the future of Pakistan and there will be no shortage of funds for this purpose. The CM said that attendance of teachers and students in schools has substantially improved, however, there is a need for monitoring of measures taken in this regard. He directed that officers of district administration should personally monitor the target fixed for Parho Punjab Barho Punjab programme and provision of facilities in schools and submit a report in this regard. He said that funds of billions of rupees have been allocated during current fiscal year for the construction and repair of dilapidated buildings of schools and this process should be completed at the earliest through utilisation of these funds on priority.
Shahbaz Sharif said that achievement of target of promotion of education in the province is the collective responsibility and commitment and determination is required to achieve target fixed for 2018. The CM said that educational scholarships will be given to one lakh more deserving but talented children during next one year as this big programme of educational scholarships has provided opportunities of higher education to poor but talented boy and girl students. Shehbaz Sharif and the participants of the meeting paid tributes to Vice Chairman, Punjab Education Endowment Fund, Dr Amjad Saqib for achieving the target of provision of one lakh educational scholarships and lauded his performance.
Special representative of Department of International Development DFID Sir Michael Babar gave a briefing on Parho Punjab Barho Punjab programme and said that Shahbaz Sharif and his team has made commendable progress towards achievement of educational target during a short period.
Meanwhile, Shahbaz Sharif presided over a meeting which decided to arrange an international seminar regarding business opportunities in the province. The two-day international seminar will be held in Lahore in the beginning of November in which investors from Pakistan as well as different countries will participate.
Addressing the meeting, the chief minister said that Punjab had become an excellent province with regard to investment and a highly conducive atmosphere had been provided for local and foreign investors.
public service: Shahbaz Sharif has said that useless sit-ins staged last year caused a huge loss to the country and precious time of the nation was wasted through protest politics. However, he said, people of Pakistan would not allow anyone to undermine national interests through the politics of anarchy as they knew who was serving them and who was creating hurdles in public welfare projects. He said that the victory of Pakistan Muslim League-N in NA-122 had buried the allegation of so-called rigging.
The chief minister said that under the leadership of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, efforts were being made for eliminating terrorism, resolving energy crisis and other problems. He said that service to the people and provision of basic amenities to the masses was the pivot of politics of the PML-N. He said that new records of public service would be set in future. He said that record funds had been spent on development projects in Punjab during the last eight years.
He was addressing a meeting of assembly members and office-bearers of PML-N Lahore, here Thursday. Leader of PML-N Hamza Shahbaz MNA was also present on the occasion. Shahbaz Sharif said that Pakistan was facing challenges of terrorism, extremism, shortage of energy, poverty and unemployment and the government was making the all-out effort for resolving these problems. He said that Army, security institutions and federal and provincial governments were united in the war against terrorism. He said that a historic Kisan Package of Rs341 billion had been given for the development of agriculture sector and prosperity of small cultivators.
He said that revolutionary measures had been taken for the uplift of education, health and other social sectors. He said that metro bus service in Lahore and Rawalpindi-Islamabad had been widely appreciated while metro bus project in Multan was being speedily implemented. He said that work on orange line metro train project in Lahore had also been started. He said that China would make 100 percent investment in metro train project and it was the splendid project of China for the people of Pakistan. He said that elected representatives should strengthen contacts with the people and utilise all their energies for the solution of their problems. He said that assembly members should also play an active role in the promotion of atmosphere of peace, brotherhood and tolerance during Muharam. Assembly members and party workers paid rich tributes to Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif for public service projects and said that people deeply loved Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif and party leadership.
grieved: Shahbaz Sharif has expressed deep grief over the death of renowned religious scholar Dr Nasimud Din Khawaja.