Focus on 100pc literacy rate: CM

LAHORE
CHIEF Minister Shahbaz Sharif has said that provincial government has taken revolutionary steps for promotion of education and special attention is being paid to improve literacy rate and standard of education in the province. He said a comprehensive programme was being implemented for achieving the target of 100 percent literacy rate.In his message on the World Literacy Day, the chief minister said that only those nations progressed which had paid due attention to education sector; therefore, the Punjab government was prioritising the promotion of education. He said billions of rupees had been provided to the education sector and target had been fixed to enrol every male and female child in the province by 2018. He said the Punjab government was not only taking comprehensive measures for achieving the target of 100 percent literacy rate but a programme was also being implemented for imparting quality education to students in schools.
He said the Punjab government had invested billions of rupees in education sector during the last seven years. He said Danish schools had been set up in the most backward areas for providing quality education to the children of the poorest of the poor families. He said Danish school system was operating successfully for the last five years and besides free education, boarding and lodging facilities were also being provided to the children of low income families free-of-charge. He said the government had established Punjab Education Endowment Fund first time in the history of the country and the volume of this fund had reached Rs15 billion; more than 100,000 poor but talented students were getting education in local and foreign education institutions with the help of this fund and all units of the country had been included in this programme. He said that education was the only way to put Pakistan on the road to progress and development and in view of this fact, the provincial government had taken revolutionary measures to bring about a revolution in the education sector.