Daily Times

LAHORE: Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday said that the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government would continue serving masses with dedication despite hue and cry by the opposition.

“Provision of the best healthcare and educational facilities to the people is among the top priorities of the Punjab government and the use of information technology in education sector has produced wonderful results,” he added.

The chief minister said that the government’s efforts for increasing schools’ enrolment and reducing the drop-out ratio had proved fruitful.

He said that outsourcing of schools had helped in improving the quality of education adding that this outsourcing model would be further promoted. Teachers were the architects of bright future of the country and giving them high social status and respect and honour was their moral obligation, he said. Shehbaz said that teachers’ training programmes would be continued to improve overall quality of education, and the latest concepts and educational models would be adopted for giving world-class training to teachers.

The chief minister said: “Thousands of new classrooms were being constructed in public sector schools across the province, adding that Rs8 billion were being spent on repair and maintenance of dilapidated school buildings.

Under the Punjab Educational Endowment Fund (PEEF) programme, more than Rs15.5 billion had been distributed among the needy but bright students as stipends.

He went on to say that the provision of high-quality education to all the children was the first priority of the PML-N-led provincial government and no child will remain deprived of base right of education due to lack of resources. Serving the hapless communities was my mission and no stone will be left unturned to rid the people of their deprivations, concluded the Chief Minister.

Separately, the chief minister has expressed a deep sense of sorrow and grief over the demise of senior politician and former MPA Malik Ashiq Hussain Awan.

He prayed to Almighty Allah to rest the departed soul in eternal peace and grant courage and strength to the members of the bereaved family to bear the irreparable loss with fortitude.

Separately, Shehbaz Sharif has expressed grief and sorrow over the death of four persons of a family in a road accident on Indus Highway near Rajanpur. He has also extended sympathies to the heirs of the bereaved family.

Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif has recently been elected president of the PML-N after the Supreme Court of Pakistan disqualified former prime minister and his elder brother Nawaz Sharif as the party’s head.

Published in Daily Times, March 7^th 2018.