Daily Times

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif Wednesday said that the coalition government’s tenure will end on August 14 and the date for the next polls will be announced by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) either in “October or November”.

“Our government’s tenure will end on August 14 […] the election commission will decide when the polls will take place – whether in October or November,” he said during the Education Endowment Fund launch ceremony in Islamabad on Wednesday. “…whosoever forms the next government after elections, their top priority should be education so they can make this nation great,” the prime minister said.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif launched the Pakistan Endowment Fund for Education along with incorporation of computer coding and constitutional studies in the National Curriculum.

Addressing the launching ceremony, he said Rs 14 billion had been fixed for the programme for next four years out of which Rs 3 billion would be spent during current fiscal year. He expressed his wish to continue this project forever with increased funding to provide opportunities of higher education to maximum deserving students.

He recalled that he, as Chief Minister Punjab launched the Punjab Education Endowment Fund (PEEF) in 2008 with an annual allocation of Rs 2 billion. The prime minister said over 400,000 students benefited from this Fund who were now serving the country in different professions.

He said promotion of education was not aimed at politics but he consider it as worship. He vowed to pay special focus on the less developed areas of the country where the young people could not complete their studies due to lack of resources.

Today, he said the board meeting of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) was going to be held which would hopefully approve the $3 billion stand-by agreement with Pakistan. “This is not a matter of pride but an alarming situation that why we always ask our friendly countries and the financial institutions to help us saving from default,” he added.

Now in any case, he said “we should face the situation and show determination to make serious efforts for the development and prosperity of the country”. Giving the example of China, the prime minister said Pakistan could also regain its lost glory by paying special focus in various sectors especially on education. He said China is Pakistan’s best friend that disbursed $5 billion in last three months while Saudi Arabia also sent $2 billion and another $1 billion would be received from UAE in a day or two. Earlier, PM Shehbaz Sharif also distributed the scholarships cheques under the newly launched project among the talented and deserving students.