There is still time to set aside personal interests: Shahbaz

Says Pakistani nation brave, hard working; strict implementation of merit policy to be ensured in admission to private medical colleges; addresses prize distribution ceremony for position holders

LAHORE: Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has said that imparting quality education and modern knowledge to the younger generation is essential for achieving the goal of self-reliance and a dignified status in the comity of nations.

He said that the Punjab Educational Endowment Fund was set up by the Pakistan Muslim League-N government with a sum of Rs2 billion and the volume of this fund had now increased to Rs17.5 billion. He said more than 1.5 lakh talented boys and girls students of poor families were studying at prestigious educational institutions with the income of this fund. He said the number of such students would increase to two lakhs by the end of December.

He said had such an educational fund been established 70 years ago, the number of children who remained deprived of education would have become engineers, scientists, doctors, bankers and professors.

He said that there was still time to set aside personal interests, mutual differences, sit-ins, lockdowns and efforts to divide the nation and adopt the principle of honesty, hard work and commitment and play due role in changing destiny of the nation.

Shahbaz Sharif said cash prizes of  one billion 25 crore rupees had been awarded for encouragement of position-holder students.  He said that talented students of all federating units of the country had been included in the educational programmes of Punjab.

The CM expressed these views while addressing a prize-distribution ceremony for position-holder students in matric and intermediate examinations at the Aiwan-e-Iqbal here on Wednesday. He gave away cash prizes and commendation certificates to position-holder boys and girl students.

According to a handout, Shahbaz Sharif said that functions were held every year to honour position-holder students in different examinations in which brilliant boy and girl students, their parents and teachers participate from not only from Punjab but Sindh, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan, Gilgit-Baltistan, Azad Kashmir and other parts of the country.

The chief minister felicitated the position-holder students as well as their parents and teachers. He particularly appreciated those parents who despite financial problems provided funds for education and training of their children. 

Shahbaz Sharif said that by starting educational programmes on merit basis, the Punjab government had eliminated the disparity between rich and poor. He said that had Quaid-e-Azam lived for a few more years, Pakistan would have been ahead of India. He said  it was useless to cry over the mistakes of the past but to move ahead with commitment and hard work.

The CM said that the example of Japan and Germany was before everyone which despite defeat in the World War-II achieved prosperity through continuous hard work. He said that 10,000 people after getting education with the help of the educational fund were serving the country as doctors and engineers. He said that there was a need to work hard to transform Pakistan in accordance with the vision of Quaid and Iqbal.

The chief minister said that division of the nation on different basis was due to lack of education. He said that peace was essential for speedy development. He said Operation Zarb-e-Azb had broken the back of terrorists. He said that under the leadership of former Army Chief General Raheel Sharif, Pak Army won glorious successes in the war against terrorism and the time was not far when terrorism would be rooted out.

Shahbaz Sharif said that process of progress and prosperity of the country was continuing under the leadership of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. He said load shedding would end in December 2017. He said that work was also continuing on power projects of 3,600 megawatts which would start energy production from next year.

The chief minister said that Pakistan had been facing different challenges for the last 70 years. He said that Pakistani nation was brave and hard working and could achieve any objective. Shahbaz Sharif said that youths were a guarantee to a bright and prosperous future of the country. He said that government had promoted merit at every level. He said merit policy had been adopted for admission to private medical colleges as well. He said that private medical colleges could earn profit but they would not be allowed to violate merit. He said that strict implementation of merit policy would be ensured in admission to private medical colleges. He said that fee of private medical colleges was being rationalised.

Provincial Minister Begum Zakia Shahnawaz while addressing the function said that under the leadership of Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, education was the top priority of the Punjab government. Provincial Minister for Education Rana Mashhood said that the chief minister eliminated Booti Mafia from examination system in 1997. He said that people of Punjab were lucky as they had an education-friendly chief minister like Shahbaz Sharif.

The position-holder boy and girl students also addressed the ceremony and paid tributes to the chief minister for taking measures for promotion of education.The members of National and Provincial Assembly, chief secretary, Higher Education Commission chairman, educationists, vice-chancellors, professors, teachers, parents, intellectuals and a large number of students attended the function.