- Mashhood says provision of quality education on top of government’s priority list
The Punjab government has allocated more funds for education than any other province as provision of quality education in on top of its priority list, said Punjab Minister for Education Rana Mashhood while addressing a press conference at the Directorate of Staff Development (DSD) on Tuesday.
The provincial minister also inaugurated Development Resource Centre at DSD and Teachers Training Resource Centre at Pilot Secondary School Wahdat Colony. DSD Project Director Ehsan Bhutta, German International Development (GIZ) principal advisor Nighat Lone, Dr Digma and British Council Director Tony Fishers were also present on the occasion.
Mashhood said that special attention is being paid to the teachers training and role of the DSD is commendable in this regard. He said that due to best performance, teachers from other provinces are also getting training from the DSD.
He said that Rs 1 billion have been allocated for more than 350,000 teachers of Punjab in the budget.
The education minister said that when the PML-N government came into power in 2013, it immediately doubled the education budget. He said that the government also gave laptops to the talented students of other provinces, cash prizes to the position holders, commendatory certificates and foreign tours were arranged for them too.
He said that the Punjab Education Foundation (PEF) is running 4,500 schools under public-private partnership and this number will increase to 6,000 by the end of this year. He said that 500 new primary schools will be constructed while 4 new Daanish Schools will start functioning in backward areas in the next financial year. He said that additional two billion rupees have been added to the Punjab Educational Endowment Fund. He said that schools are being shifted to solar energy in those areas where electricity is not available. The provincial minister said that the Education department did not return a penny in existing budget and utilised 93 percent budget whereas remaining 7 percent will be transferred and utilised next year.
He said that objection is raised against development projects of Punjab but these projects are for common people and transparency had been observed, adding that the government conducted third party audit of the projects.
Mashhood said that the protesters are not representatives of teachers. He said that all genuine demands of teachers have been accepted and all representative organisations of the teachers and the government are on one page.