Karachi incident shocking: CM

Awards laptop and Rs100,000 cash prize each to two
9th class toppers; Punjab will bear their educational expenses

LAHORE

Whether you become a doctor or an engineer or get any professional qualification, don’t sit home and don’t lock your degrees in cupboards. Fully participate in nation building and pay back to society and nation. Our daughters will have to work hard in practical fields.

These pieces of advice came from Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif who on Tuesday arranged a ceremony in honour of two female students for their exceptional performance in Secondary School Certificate (Class-9th) Annual Examination 2016. 

Noureen Kousar of Gujranwala and Mahzaib Naseem of Multan have scored 504 marks each out of total 505 marks in their respective examination boards in Secondary School Certificate (Class-9th) Annual Examination 2016. 

Shahbaz Sharif awarded laptop and Rs100,000 cash prize to each saying Rs500,000 would also be placed in escrow accounts for each student. The teachers of the students were also awarded cash prizes of Rs50,000 each. He announced that the Punjab government would bear the educational expenses of both the students throughout their academic career. He also announced free medical treatment of the ailing father of Mahzaib Naseem.

The chief minister said an amount of Rs3 to 4 million was spent on getting medical education from a private institution while the same was being offered against few thousand rupees in public sector institutions. 

“The government is providing a subsidy of billions of rupees so that students coming from financially humble backgrounds can continue getting professional qualifications without any discrimination and meager resources.” 

“Therefore, if a girl student after getting medical degree does not serve the ailing humanity, this money is wasted. This is indeed a big challenge as most of the girls after getting professional qualifications remain confined to their homes and do not work side by side men in the practical field.” He said that women would have to play their due role along with men for national progress and prosperity.

Shahbaz Sharif said nothing was more productive and rewarding than investing in education, adding Pakistan could not be put on the road to progress and prosperity without prioritising education. 

“Those having resources send their kids to Europe for studies. But these kids despite so many challenges in life performed exceptionally well. Such kids are our real assets and we ought to acknowledge and appreciate their efforts and hard work,” he added. Shahbaz Sharif further said Punjab Educational Endowment Fund established in 2008 had now Rs20 billion as seed money while 100,000 needy and talented students were being offered scholarships under the programme to study locally and abroad in top universities. 

“Had this (PEEF) been established earlier there would have been more seed money and more opportunities and scholarships for our students and perhaps no child would have remained deprived of education due to lack of resources”, he said and added “By the end of this year, 200,000 students will be getting benefit from PEEF scholarships.” He also said educational endowment funds like PEEF should also be set up in Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sindh and Azad Jammu & Kashmir.

Shahbaz Sharif requested the elements staging sit-ins and protests to come forward and help in the promotion of education and improvement of health facilities. He said 100 percent merit had been introduced in Punjab and examination system had also been made transparent due to which brilliant students like Noureen Kousar and Mahzaib Naseem were coming forward by setting new records. 

The chief minister said it was a coincidence that both these daughters of the nation have got 504 marks. He said it was lamentable that the direction of the nation as a whole had not been proper in the last 70 years and due attention had not been paid to the vital sector of education. He said that due to this fact, talented students of the nation had remained without education due to lack of resources and Pakistan could not benefit from their talent. 

He said the function had been arranged for the encouragement of these daughters of the nation and their teachers. He made an appeal to the daughters of the nation to come into the field after getting education and degrees and play their due role in national progress and development. 

He said that despite his illness, the father of Mahzaib Naseem of Khalid Bin Waleed Girls High School Kabirwala had supported her daughter in getting education and the Punjab government would bear all expenses on his treatment. 

To a question, Shahbaz Sharif said education was the only way to change the destiny of the nation and sit-ins should be staged only for such objectives. He added sit-ins for stopping the process of national progress would be disastrous for the country and would not be permitted by nation. 

Later talking to reporters, the chief minister said that head of a political party, who had been living abroad for decades, made deplorable remarks about Pakistan which were highly condemnable. He said that what happened in Karachi on Monday was a sad chapter in history of Pakistan and the whole nation was in a state of shock. He said this incident was highly deplorable. 

Shahbaz Sharif said law will have to take its course so that no one could make such comments in future against the country. He said as Pakistanis, we owe everything to our motherland and the best way to repay this debt was to serve Pakistan with commitment and diligence. 

Principal Federal Science School Gujranwala Mehmood Ahmed, Principal Khalid Bin Waleed High School Kabirwala Qaiser Nadeem, teachers and parents of the girl students while expressing their views said Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif had taken revolutionary measures for the uplift of education sector due to which students were showing their talent. They thanked the chief minister for encouragement of the children.