In a special meeting held in Lahore under the chairmanship of Maryam Nawaz Sharif, several important decisions were made to improve the province’s education system, including scholarships for students, free IT courses, and the provision of modern facilities.
It was decided in the meeting that, with the collaboration of Google, 100,000+ students in Punjab will be offered free certification courses. These three- to six-month courses, which typically cost between $400 and $1,000, will cover fields such as business intelligence, artificial intelligence, and cyber security.
The Chief Minister approved establishment of modern IT labs in 166 public colleges throughout the province. Moreover, for the first time, performance indicators (KPIs) will be set for the public universities vice chancellors, college principals, teachers, and institutions.
The meeting also approved the expansion of the Honhaar Scholarship Program, under which, 62,949 students will receive scholarships at once, for the first time in Punjab’s history. The Chief Minister directed that all qualified students be awarded scholarships without discrimination and billions of rupees have been reserved for this program in different phases.
Furthermore, it was decided to affiliate 36 commerce colleges with 19 public universities spread across 29 districts. These institutions will offer 14 different BS programs, including business, accounting, finance, banking, IT and e-commerce.
Additionally, the Chief Minister ordered that special and minority students be included in the second phase of the laptop program on an open merit basis and approved the supply of electric bus facilities for students. Over 38,000 students benefited from the first phase, while 142,000 applications have been submitted for the second.
While reviewing educational performance, it was reported that 994,000 students appeared in Grade 8 assessment exams, with a pass rate of 84% for boys and 92% for girls. The Chief Minister expressed satisfaction over girls securing the top three positions.
Maryam Nawaz Sharif also instructed the authorities to act quickly to upgrade educational facilities in Sargodha and other areas.
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