THE Punjab Government deserves credit for launching a series of policies and programmes for promotion of education in the province and affording opportunity to graduating students to engage in fruitful economic activities. The Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz formally inaugurated Pakistan’s largest Honhaar Scholarship Programme, pledged to establish campuses of major foreign educational institutions at Nawaz Sharif IT City and announced full financial support for students admitted to foreign universities.
Quality education is deeply linked to the welfare of individuals, families and the society but with the passage of time ordinary people find it next to impossible to afford proper education for their children because of the rising cost. In this backdrop, the decision of the Punjab government to launch the largest scholarship programme purely on merit, distribution of lap-tops to students from January 2025 and steps to provide more e-bikes to students will go a long way in fulfilling dreams of ordinary souls to acquire knowledge and that too from quality institutions. It is hoped that the provincial government will move quickly to translate its pledge of establishing campuses of famous educational institutions in the IT City. Similar campuses should also be set up in other cities and towns so that students could get education close to their homes. Fresh graduates face difficulties in securing employment in the given economic environment and this leads to their frustration. The decision to offer internships to them in various government departments against a stipend of Rs. 60000 a month and the plan to provide loans to graduates for establishing their own businesses will surely help address this issue. While appreciating the pro-education moves of the provincial government, we would urge it to play its role in updating the obsolete syllabus and facilitating universities to set up modern labs and linkages with the industry.
