By: Maria Talal
Member Provincial Assembly Punjab
Nida, a 16 years old girl from a remote village near Kasur city was married to a boy who was also a student and could barely afford his own fee let alone her. Yet she dared to dream and became the first person in the family to attend University was on the verge of being drop out due to inability to pay her fee. She wrote a letter to the Chief Minister Punjab Maryam Nawaz Sharif that became the spring board behind the “Honehar” (meritorious) Scholarship program. Nida is now in second semester aspiring to become a teacher.
Under the leadership of the first ever lady Chief Minister of Punjab Maryam Nawaz Sharif ,the largest province of Pakistan, a very ambitious and extensive school reforms program has been launched that focuses on empowering youth especially girls in the rural areas.
In a short span of one and a half year, several measures have taken place. So far 4000 primary schools have been upgraded to ensure that students in the rural areas do not have to drop out after class 5 due to lack of nearby middle schools. Digital learning rooms are being established in over 6000 schools across Punjab in remote villages where chalk and duster were once the only learning tools. Children now explore Science, Art and Technology through screens that connect them to the globe.
30,000 new school teachers are being recruited with a dedicated teacher training and curriculum development Institution with continuous professional development programs aligned with 21st century learning goals. Pakistan‟s first internet city and Artificial Intelligence University are also being established.
An English language pilot programme is also underway, targeting 300,000 children to achieve proficiency in spoken English at IELTS Standard-4 level within six months. Additionally, 10,000 classrooms have been established across Punjab for Early Childhood Education.Over 400 toilet blocks are being constructed in girls‟ schools to improve sanitation. Training programmes for teachers and students, including Google-based digital education, are progressing successfully.
The Chief Minister has directed the establishment of 6,000 STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) labs across Punjab and emphasised the need for quality teacher training, rationalisation of school staff, and uniform improvement of school entrances across the province. Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz‟s „School meal program‟ has helped reduce malnutrition among students.
In its first phase, the program saved Rs1.780 billion while impacting the health and well-being of thousands of children. The program has also witnessed remarkable success in boosting school enrolment. Within months of its initiation, over 55,000 new students enrolled in schools, demonstrating the program‟s positive effect on student attendance and engagement.
In addition, the initiative provided 40 million milk packs to schools in Muzaffargarh, Rajanpur, and Dera Ghazi Khan, benefiting more than 35 million students in these districts. Student attendance has risen significantly since the program‟s inception, with the number of students increasing from 361,000 to 416,000.
The chief minister has directed that the „School meal program‟ be extended to more remote districts in south Punjab. After strong success in the initial districts, the program plans to expand in 2025 into 10 more districts in South Punjab and other areas needing help. This expansion will cost about Rs 15 billion, and the government is talking with global partners to support funding. Schools meals help tackle child hunger and malnutrition, especially in rural or lowincome zones.
Well-fed students attend school more regularly and can pay better attention in class. The school system in Punjab has also achieved a monumental breakthrough by its public-private Partnership model that allows schools to be outsourced to households. This has played a pivotal role in increasing the number of enrolment in schools by 99% and number of teaching staff has surged by 114%, creating about 60,000 jobs for the youth.
It is the largest partnership in the world between government and the private education sector with the province having 1.3 million out of its 2 million students learning under the partnership as it outsources more schools next year. These revolutionary steps are truly transforming the educational landscape in the province and the special focus is given on expeditious and speedy implementation and proper vigilance and monitoring of these reforms.
