Punjab Education Minister Rana Mashhood Ahmad Khan has declared ‘enrollment emergency’ in Punjab.
Under this emergent programme, 1 million kids will be enrolled every year in public and private sector schools and the target of hundred percent enrollment of children from five to nine year of age will be achieved in a phased manner.
The minister said this while talking to staff members of the provincial secretariat of Punjab Educational Endowment Fund (PEEF) on Monday. The minister emphasised the need to transform the educational institutions into a source of knowledge instead of merely a tool of degree awarding machines. Investment in education was considered the best investment in the world. “If we want Pakistan flourish, we should focus on investment in human resource development,” he added.
Khan said that a sum of Rs 230 billion had been allocated in the current fiscal year for education which amounts 27 percent component of the total budget. He praised Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif for making the merit scholarship programme under PEEF a successful project under which 15,000 intelligent and deserving students have been awarded educational scholarships worth Rs 2 billion in the last four years. He disclosed that the Punjab government would distribute educational scholarships worth Rs 2 billion to 9,000 students on the basis of merit in the coming year.
PEEF Chief Executive Officer Dr Kamran Shams briefed the minister regarding transparent mechanism of scholarship distribution.
