LAHORE: Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif chaired a high-level meeting, in which the schools secretary briefed the participants on the educational statistics of Pakistan 2015-16 issued by the Academy of Educational Planning and Management. As indicated in the statistics, Punjab has taken lead in the education sector over all other units of Pakistan. The Punjab CM, while praising the entire group for magnificent execution in the field of education, said that the Punjab government had guaranteed provision of unavailable facilities in the schools with billions of rupees, which had driven into noteworthy laud in enrolment by diminishing dropout rates. He said that Punjab had opted for merit policy at each level. He said that in order to address the issue of lack of educators at schools, two million talented teachers had been recruited over the past eight years. Likewise, work on construction of additional classrooms at schools was pushing ahead rapidly, while walls of all schools of the province would be completed by March 2018, he shared. CM added that a programme had been devised to light up the schools via solar panels that were without electricity before, as 20,000 schools would be provided electricity under Khadim-e-Punjab Ujala Programme. He said that 83,000 children had been liberated from child labour at brick kilns and were brought to school by providing them with stationary. “Today these children are not only getting their education but also monthly stipend from the Punjab government.” While directing to ensure hundred percent implementation of the decisions made to promote education, the CM said that the survey results were encouraging. The meeting also approved several proposals to increase enrolment at schools. Punjab Schools Education Minister Mashood Ahmad Khan, Finance Minister Dr Ayesha Ghaus Pasha, Adviser Dr Umar Saif, Special Assistant Malik Mohammad Ahmed Khan, Punjab Education Foundation Chairman Engineer Qamar Islam Raja, the additional chief secretary, the planning and development chairman, Punjab Educational Endowment Fund vice chairman, educational experts and other authorities concerned attended the meeting. Meanwhile, progress on the programme of establishing e-libraries in the province was reviewed at a meeting presided over by Shahbaz Sharif. Speaking on the occasion, the CM said that the Punjab government was setting up state-of-the-art e-libraries in various cities of the province, which would give study opportunities to residents in a conducive atmosphere, besides helping restore the dying reading culture. He said that the foundation of e-libraries was imperative for advancement of education so work ought to be sped up on the venture. The CM issued directives for providing international newspapers at the e-libraries, and in the wake of setting up 21 e-libraries, he said that a plan should be introduced to build libraries at parks. “Fabulous administration model ought to be selected to run these libraries,” he added. Dr Umer Saif while briefing on the project shared that digital books, novels, magazines and newspapers would be available at libraries. Separately, British High Commissioner Drew Thomas called on Shahbaz Sharif on Thursday and discussed issues of mutual interest, advancement of Pak-Britain relations and collaboration in various fields. While congratulating the CM for successfully holding PSL final in Punjab, Thomas said that credit of organising the match in a peaceful environment in Lahore goes to exceptional abilities of Shahbaz Sharif. He said the praiseworthy endeavours of CM to raise the expectations for everyday comfort of the general population of Punjab were yielding great results. Shahbaz Sharif said that successful final match in such a serene condition in Lahore was rampant victory of Pakistan and annihilation of the foes of peace. He said that Pakistanis’ sacrifices in the war on terror were undying and every one of them was standing together to tackle the scourge of terrorism.