Punjab Education Minister Mujtaba Shuja-ur-Rehman said on Tuesday that education is a priority for the provincial government.
Talking to a delegation of students and dignitaries, Rehman said acting on the directions issued by Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, a 40-member delegation of position-holding students will visit Turkey, Germany and England in June on a 4-week tour on which Rs 4.5 million will be spent.
He stated that Rs 1 billion was being distributed as a stipend among female students from remote areas to encourage them to get an education.
Mujtaba added that the government has step-up an endowment fund with Rs 8 billion to award scholarships for higher studies to deserving students. He said that 2.5 million students were receiving computer education every year in the province through the IT promotion programme initiated by the Punjab CM. He added that as a result of the education-friendly policies of the present government the literacy rate has risen from 58 percent to 62 percent in four years.
Rehman said the Punjab government has provided a sum of Rs 10 billion to promote school education in the marginalised strata and that 1.5 million deserving students in 36 districts will benefit during the current year.
He said Rs 46 billion will be spent on the school education sector to elevate it up to international standards. The government has recruited 36,000 school teachers and 30,000 subject specialists purely on merit, he added.
