Financial grant is being provided for up-gradation of higher education

Lahore: Punjab Minister for Finance Mian Mujtaba Shuja-ur-Rehman has said that financial grant is being provided for up-gradation of higher education especially to the institutions of women ,whereas, new women universities are also being established in Bahawalpur, Multan, Sialkot and Faisalabad for enhancing ratio of higher education among women. He said that 101 new colleges were constructed while missing facilities were provided to 96 colleges during the last five years.

He told that establishment of 82 new colleges has been planned while missing facilities will be provided in 68 colleges with a cost of Rs. 1470 million. He told that funds to the tune of Rs. 175 million have been allocated for different projects of commerce colleges in the province while Rs. 266 million have been allocated for establishment of new universities.

While briefing to various delegations of party workers,Mujtaba Shuja-ur-Rehman said that IT labs had been set up in more than 5000 high schools and 515 middle schools during last five years. He said that scholarships of 12 billion rupees are being provided to more than 50 thousand students within the country and abroad from Endowment fund. He said that more than 75 thousand teachers had been recruited on merit in a transparent manner for removing shortage of school teachers throughout the province.

He said that modern science lab have been established in one thousand high schools of the province at a cost of one billion rupees. He said that government is implementing a comprehensive strategy for imparting modern education to the students and Rs. 244 billion will be spent on education sector during the current fiscal year which is 26 percent of the total budget of the province.

Mian Mujtaba Shuja-ur-Rehman said that government has finished all reserve seats of self-finance in professional colleges and only talented students are being getting admission on merit.  He said that talented girl and boy students are being given laptops while the male and female students obtaining first position in all the boards are sent abroad on tour to the prestigious universities of the world.

Highlighting the performance of the Punjab government in education sector during last five years, under the dynamic leadership of Chief Minister Punjab Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif, the Finance Minister said that Punjab Educational Endowment Fund has been set up for providing scholarships to poor but talented students to enable them continue their studies. He said that students are studying at LUMS and FAST as the government had given scholarships first time in the history of the province. He said that foundation of a revolution in education sector has been laid through setting up of IT Labs in schools of the province while poorest of the poor students will also avail modern education facilities through the project of Danish School, it concluded.