Govt to launch Khidmat Card for girl students

Students to get Rs1,000 per month in 16 districts of South Punjab

LAHORE

Punjab School Education Minister Rana Mashhood Ahmed Khan has said that the schools department will launch “Khidmat Card” scheme to provide monthly stipend of Rs1,000 per month to female students in 16 selected districts of South Punjab under its Zaiwar-e-Taleem programme from 15th of March.

Presiding over a meeting in this connection here on Friday, the minister said female students of 2,977 public schools of these districts would get the stipend. He said the programme would be inaugurated by Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, adding the programme was aimed to spread the light of knowledge in remote areas and encourage parents to send their daughters to schools.  Rana Mashhood said the amount would be paid to parents of the students through Khidmat Card and the same would be transferred directly to the accounts of the girl students. He said students from Class-6 to Class-10 would be awarded the stipend for which necessary data had been collected.  

energy-efficient   buildings: Punjab Minister for Industries, Commerce and Investment (ICI) Sheikh Alauddin has said that designing and constructing energy-efficient buildings is important to save energy and overcome the issues of global warming, environmental pollution and decreasing natural resources of energy. 

He said this while addressing the second international seminar “Energy Efficient Building Design” arranged by the Architecture Department of Lahore College for Women University (LCWU) here on Friday. 

The other speakers included LCWU Vice-Chancellor Dr Rukhsana Kousar, Prof Dr Norbert Lechner and Dr Salman Azher of Auburn University, Alabama, USA, University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore, VC Dr Fazal Ahmad Khalid and UET Architecture Department head Dr Arif Khan. The minister said Pakistan stood among top countries that consumed highest energy in domestic sector which was more than 45 percent while the energy deficiency was gravely affecting economic growth and industry sector. Under such circumstances, it was prime responsibility of architects of the country to come forward with the innovative solutions for energy-efficient designs of buildings and their construction with effective material. Dr Norbert Lechner said, "We should focus on the low cost and easy to apply energy-efficient design strategies." Dr Salman Azher said using state-of-the-art technologies for construction of energy-efficient buildings could save sufficient energy that could be used for industrial purpose.