Punjab Government to set up state-of-the-art libraries in every district

Lahore: Provincial Minister for Education, Rana Mashhood Ahmed Khan has announced to set up state-of-the-art libraries in every district headquarters of Punjab while for the study loving students, mobile digital libraries would be established in old buses of the big cities which will help promote “book friend movement” in the province.

 He was addressing the inaugural ceremony of 2-days Children Literature Festival held in collaboration with more than a dozen non-governmental educational welfare organizations including Organization of Education and Awareness, Citizen Archive of Pakistan, Open Society Foundation, Alf Aelan and Punjab Education Foundation at Children Library Complex, here today. Federal Secretary for Education & Training Ahmed Bakhsh Lehri, former Federal Minister for Education Zubaida Jalal, Managing Director Oxford University Press Amina Syed, Managing Director PEF Dr.Anila Salman and head of Organization of Education and Awareness Bela Raza Jameel also addressed the ceremony.

Provincial Education Minister said that good book is a best friend of the human in both classroom and loneliness. Rana Mashhood Ahmed Khan said that formerly book was an essential part of our life but TV and internet have damaged the culture of book friendship in Pakistan while it is a fact that the nations which invented internet are more interested in reading books. He said that we should motivate our children towards literature so that they could display their talent in their respective sectors. While addressing male and female students of Lucknow, India in Children Literature Festival, he said that we have to fight against extremist elements of India and Pakistan as are creating hurdles in friendship of both the neighbouring countries. He said that we should compete each other in economic, education and sports as by adopting this policy we can change the fate of 1.5 billion people of South Asia. On this occasion, the Minister inaugurated 2-days Children Literature Festival by releasing hundreds of green and white cloured balloons in the air. Thousands of boy and girl students of various schools from Lahore and other cities including special children are taking part in the festival. The institutions which sponsored the festival also set up their stalls.

Meanwhile, Provincial Education Minister Rana Mashhood Ahmed Khan also attended launching ceremony of poetic collection “Mansions of the Mind” of renowned English poet and intellectual Sallmaan Raffiq arranged by Salman Art Circle. Director General Walled City Project Lahore, Kamran Lashari also expressed his views with regard to standard of English poetry in Pakistan.