LAHORE: Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has said that education is the only way for overcoming poverty, ignorance and unemployment and putting the country on the road to progress and prosperity.
He said Punjab government is making all out efforts for the promotion of education throughout the province, adding that cash prizes of more than Rs 1 billion have been distributed amongst the position-holders during the last eight years while 100,000 talented and deserving students are being given scholarships from the income of Punjab Educational Endowment Fund.
The chief minister expressed these views while addressing a prize distribution ceremony for position-holders in the annual examination of Matriculation and Intermediate at Aiwan-e-Iqbal on Friday. He awarded prizes of Rs 180 million among the students.
A contingent of police presented guard of honour to the position-holders. Addressing the ceremony, the chief minister said that it is a historic day as position-holders from all over Pakistan have gathered at Aiwan-e-Iqbal. He said that Punjab government holds this function every year and it reflects national solidarity. “This ceremony is a milestone in the promotion of national unity, brotherhood and inter-provincial contact. Thousands of talented students are pursuing their educational activities with the educational fund of Punjab government and are becoming doctors, engineers, bankers and economists to serve the country,” he added.
Shahbaz said that the number of scholarships would increase to 200,000 during the next year, adding that an important element of educational programmes of Punjab government is that the students of Azad Kashmir, Gilgit-Baltistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan and Sindh have also been included, which is resulting in promotion of national unity, brotherhood and provincial harmony.
He said that unfortunately, the former rulers during the era of dictatorship indulged in massive corruption in Punjab and the hard earned money of the poor nation was mercilessly looted. He said that had the national resources not been plundered in the past and the funds been spent on promotion of education, the nation would have been closer to achieving its goal. “The present government has promoted corruption-free culture in the province and no one can accuse it of misappropriating even a single penny. Under the leadership of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, the principle of hard work, honesty and commitment will be adopted and an era of progress and prosperity will be ushered in the country,” he added.
Shahbaz said that through the programmes of Punjab Education Foundation, children of poor families are being imparted modern education. In order to promote information technology, IT labs have been set up in high schools throughout the province while 400,000 laptops have been distributed among the students, the CM said, adding that the former rulers of Punjab had set up a secret fund of Rs 400 billion and no one knows where this amount was spent.
DAILY TIMES.
YEMI.
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