Corporate sector should maximum invest in the education:Raja Anwar

Lahore: The corporate sector should maximum invest in the education through its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) practices to promote and strengthen the education sector reforms program of the Punjab Government as well as to help the poor to access the education without being financially burdened.

Chairman Punjab Education Foundation (PEF) Raja Muhammad Anwar stated this while addressing the Geometry Boxes distribution ceremony at PEF regional office Rawalpindi on Monday. The Geometry Boxes have been doled out by the English Biscuit Manufacturers (EBM) to the PEF-EVS partner schools of Rawalpindi district under its CSR program.

Addressing the function, Raja Anwar said that ensuring equal and continuous access to education for each and every child is the top priority of the Punjab Government. Education gives opportunities to every child to equally compete in the practical life while ignorance
and intellectual backwardness impedes worldly progress and personality growth.

He said that universal primary enrolment campaign has been launched in Punjab to take the out of school children back to schools because education is the most important right of the children. He said that besides provision of free education through Punjab Education Foundation up to matric level to 1.3 million students, more than 30 thousand deserving students in the higher education institutions have been given educational stipends to continue their studies by Punjab Educational Endowment Fund (PEEF). Launch of Daanish School System (DSS) is another landmark achievement of the Punjab Government which has ensured quality education for the poor of the poorest students in a congenial environment, he pointed out.

Raja Anwar further said that Punjab Government provided maximum funds to the education sector during the last five years. During the current fiscal year, Rs. 29 billion were being spent by the provincial government on the school education while another amount of Rs. 88 billion were provided to the district governments for improving the schools infrastructure as well as meeting other expenditures including payment of salaries to the teachers. He maintained that Pakistan can emerge as an economic tiger in South Asia by improving its educational sector according to the needs and requirements of the 21st century.

In this regard, the corporate sector should come forward to lend a helping hand to the public sector to ensure quality education for all children. Earlier, Regional Sales Head of EBM Qazi Qaiser Yasin also spoke and ensured all-out support to the students of PEF partner
schools. Later, PEF Chairman Raja Anwar distributed Geometry Boxes to the students and heads of PEF-EVS partner schools in Rawlpindi.