LAHORE: Punjab Chief Minister Punjab Maryam Nawaz Sharif has taken revolutionary decision for the promotion of quality education and decided to introduce “CM Education Card” for school education in the province.
Students who score more than 80 percent marks will get ‘CM Eminence/Star Card’.
Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz presided over a special meeting on school education in which it was informed that the number of students has increased by 52 percent and the number of teachers by 89 percent due to outsourcing of schools. After 5863 Public School Reorganization Program, the number of students has increased by 242,000 to 368,000.
After the first phase of outsourcing in Punjab, the number of teachers has increased from 8037 to 15,114, while their salaries witnessed threefold increase. After the outsourcing of schools, the number of chairs and desks for students has increased from 371,000 to 523,000. It has been decided to establish new and modern schools of eminence of uniform type in Punjab. A school of eminence will be established in every tehsil of Punjab.
The Chief Minister announced the establishment of a state-of-the-art lab for Matriculation Tech and directed to take steps to include technical education as a subject from class five. A record Rs1 billion saving has been made in the textbook project of the Text Book Board. CM Punjab gave a deadline of 90 days for provision of drinking water, furniture and doing whitewash in schools, besides setting the enrollment target of two million children every year.
She ordered to take immediate steps to launch the school meal program in Bhakkar, Layyah and other districts. She directed to implement a KPI system to monitor the performance of education officers and teachers. On the direction of CM Punjab, a pilot project of English conversation classes was launched in 338 schools of Lahore. It was agreed to conduct international courses of English conversation in government schools along with issuing certificates.
The CM directed to ensure strict implementation to make Zebra crossings on roads in front of schools across the province. For the first time in Punjab, the target of providing books at the beginning of the academic session in March has been successfully accomplished. Five teachers of government schools will go on a study tour of Scotland with the assistance of the British Council.
The CM congratulated Bilal Hussain, Waqas Ahmed, Jahangir Ahmed and Yasmin Sadiq. The school meal program is successfully underway in three districts, the physical development of children has improved and enrolment as well as attendance has also increased. After the school meal program in Muzaffargarh, Rajanpur and DG Khan, the number of students will increase from 361050 to 416247. Four crore packets of milk packs were given to students in Muzaffargarh, Rajanpur and Dera Ghazi Khan schools.
Nawaz Sharif Center of Excellence for Early Childhood Education project was reviewed. The Minister for Early Childhood Education directed to increase the number of children in the education centre from 250 to 1200. CM Maryam Nawaz appreciated the admission of Education Minister Rana Sikandar Hayat’s son in the Early Childhood Education Centre and deemed it as exemplary.
The CM was informed in the briefing that 12,500 interns will be recruited across Punjab under the School Teacher Internship Program. More than 568,000 candidates submitted their applications under the School Teacher Internship Program. After outsourcing, 35 new classrooms and 459 construction and renovation work will be completed in a few months. After outsourcing, 110 new toilets were built in schools, 2762 buildings were constructed and renovated. Boundary walls of 158 schools were constructed and 1389 water supply pumps were also installed.
After outsourcing, new and modern computer labs were built in schools under self-help, while 235,000 students were admitted to 2,000 schools of Matric Tech Punjab. For the first time, agriculture session, fashion design, health sciences, information and communication technology will be taught at the matriculation level. The process of appointing 287 posts of CEOs, DEOs and education officers across Punjab was completed.
On the direction of CM Punjab, the Education Minister personally interviewed all the education officers. New grounds, buildings and classrooms will be built in government schools with the support of Alumni Association. 2 million saplings were planted across Punjab under the “One Plant, Teacher’s Name Program”. 30,000 classrooms, 600 elementary schools and 400 high schools will be built across Punjab in phases over a period of five years.
The CM said, “Improving the quality of education in Punjab is our primary goal. It is imperative to make students aware of the importance of love for the country and adherence to ethics. New innovations are being introduced in education sector through Matric Tech.”
She added, “The Punjab government is investing liberally in improving the quality of education. Expenditure without vision tantamounts to wasting funds. There is a need for revolutionary and innovative ideas in the education sector.”
She said, “The culture of “Teach or not teach, one gets paid” has to be changed. It is my vision to bring the quality of government schools at par with the best private educational institutions. Encouraging results are surfacing by carrying out outsourcing of schools.”
